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WANTED: Ag Ed teachers

 

An emergency certification program and growing number of ag education majors is helping to address teacher shortages in Michigan.

“We don’t have enough teachers still.  We’re like every other state in the country looking for ag teachers.”

Mark Forbush, Michigan FFA State advisor, tells Brownfield the limited supply of ag teachers has capped what schools can offer or expand ag ed programs.  “Teachers are getting harder to find, especially in areas of career and technical education.  When we don’t have teacher candidates and we don’t have people ready to do that, schools will shy away from starting a program when they know they can’t find a teacher.”

He says despite those challenges, four new chapters will be chartered during this week’s Michigan FFA State Convention, two of which are operating with industry professionals at the helm.  “We do have some people that have just done an outstanding job that have come back to be teachers that have left the industry of agriculture and decided to help.”

Forbush says industry professionals need to have 4,000 hours of recent, relevant experience and support from the local school to receive annual career and technical training certification to teach.

Michigan is one of 40 states that’s received a grant to promote ag education from the National Association of Agriculture Educators. Forbush says that, along with scholarships which pay for nearly 40 percent of student teachers’ unpaid internship year, is starting to help fill the pipeline of ag ed teachers in the state.

AUDIO: Interview with Mark Forbush