On January 13th the Tennessee Department of Education announced that it will start trailblazing paths for educator workforce development across the country with the creation of a teaching-based apprenticeship program. The program hopes to start building a teacher pipeline that will promote building their own talent pools through partnerships with Clarksville-Montgomery County School System as well as Austin Peay State University’s Teaching Residency program. The program comes in response to the decreasing amount of qualified educators across the nation as they hope to eliminate the financial barriers that are often factors when pursuing higher education.
“As the first state to establish a permanent teaching apprenticeship program, Tennessee has a unique opportunity to lead the nation in education and workforce development,” Gov. Bill Lee said. “These apprenticeships will create a pipeline of experienced teachers with valuable on-the-job training and help ensure quality education for generations of Tennessee students.”
Bill Lee, Governor of the State of Tennessee
In 2018, Austin Peay’s College of Education formed a groundbreaking partnership with their local school district that would go on to provide 20 recent high school graduates as well as 20 teacher’s aides with an accelerated, free path to become full-time school system teachers in just three years. Following that initiative the Grow Your Own Residency Program proved to be so successful that it was eventually adopted by colleges of education and school districts across the state. Tenessee is thought to be one of the first states in the country to sponsor a Teacher Occupation Apprenticeship Program and believes that its efforts can help jumpstart workforce development with the nation’s increasing skilled worker shortages in the education sector. This program will join 65 other Grow Your Own programs that help provide free opportunities to start the process of becoming an educator in the state of Tennessee while also paving the way for other similar programs across the country.
Read full article here: https://www.apsu.edu/news/january-2022-grow-your-own.php
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