UArizona's College of Education enrollment numbers are up amid ongoing national teacher shortage

TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — With almost every school district back in session, Arizona still has more than 2,000 teacher vacancies.

“Things like the economy impact teaching quite a bit, certainly COVID has had a huge impact on enrollment across the university and across education,” said University of Arizona’s Department Head for Teaching, Learning & Sociocultural Studies, Marcy Wood.

“One of the things that we’re really interested in this year is our enrollment is up across all of our programs,” said Wood.

The university’s College of Education has seen an increase in enrollment in its early childhood, elementary and secondary programs.

Faith Abercrombie

“We don’t have enough teachers and so the kids suffer,” said UArizona Junior, Haley Dabovich.

Dabovich changed her major from psychology to education after she learned about child development.

“We’re really building our future and if I can just make a little impact in that and in their futures, then I’ve done my job,” Dabovich said.

As part of her curriculum, Dabovich spent time in a third grade class for her field-work experience, working hands-on with students.

Haley Dabovich

“I think that teaching gets a lot of negative aspects towards it, but really it is so rewarding and it’s so fun when you’re actually in it,” said Dabovich.

The College of Education said it hopes to provide more rewarding experiences for students leading to higher enrollment and teacher retention.

“Our program involves a lot of time out in classrooms with students,” said Wood. “Learning to teach, there’s a lot of things you need to learn with books and talking to faculty, but there’s also things you can only learn by being in classrooms with students.”

In total, the school will have about 40 more new future teachers entering their programs this fall compared to the fall of 2021.

“There’s always things to learn with teachers, but folks leave us and they are ready to start in the classroom and work with students and help them succeed,” said Wood.

Dabovich will be ready to start teaching in her own classroom in 2023.

“You forget about all of the negative things, you forget about the challenges because in the moment, all you see are those kids,” Dabovich said.