After a decline in enrollment in education programs for eight consecutive years, enrollment in education programs at UNC System schools increased slightly by 6 percent in 2017. Several factors can be linked to this change, including legislation and increased incentives for those looking to become teachers.
As a part of a national and statewide trend, NC State’s enrollment in the College of Education saw a dramatic decrease around 2010 and for several years after.
This drop was caused by several forces, including the discontinuing of the Teaching Fellows scholarship program and low, stagnant pay within the profession of teaching, according to Michael Maher, assistant dean for professional education and accreditation.
“A lot of the decline had to do with the loss of the Teaching Fellows and a number of other things happening in teacher preparation at the time,” Maher said. “Salaries, elimination of master’s pay [and] general, negative feeling about entering the profession contributed to the loss of enrollment.”
After several years of stark decline, the college has received better news from the enrollment office recently.
“Last year, we were about even from where we were from a year before, and this year, we have increased slightly,” Maher said.
Maher believes that there are several potential reasons as to why the increase in education enrollment has occurred.
“We have worked really hard to recruit students,” Maher said. “It is important to note that a lot of the enrollment increase at this college has come as a result of work by our faculty and staff.”
The increased attention to promoting teaching and the College of Education has come primarily from recruiters, professional advisers and faculty who took the time to call prospective students and encouraged them through the process, while promoting being a teacher.
“We are making a bigger effort in our recruitment,” said Kelsi Harris, a third-year studying elementary education and secretary of the Education Council. “We have gone through a rebranding with the college. We just got a new dean in the last two years and have redone our website and done a better job with publicity.”
One of the primary focuses of the college recently has been transfer student outreach.
“One of the biggest things we have started doing is accepting transfer students into our education programs, which we haven’t in years past because we are on a cohort model,” Harris said.
This model is specific to the College of Education, where students are assigned to a cohort and learn in those cohorts for three years, which can create issues with transfer students who have been on separate curriculums.
Robin McWilliams, director of the Students Advocating for Youth (SAY) Living and Learning Village in the College of Education, believes that the spike in enrollment is because of the marketing of education programs.
“There has been a re-emphasis on teaching,” McWilliams said. “The profession itself has been marketed better.”
McWilliams said that through programs such as the SAY Village, College of Education students and others who are in different degree programs have an opportunity to mentor children in public schools, which promotes and exemplifies what being in education is all about, according to McWilliams. Several students have even changed their program to that of education after a positive experience in these types of programs, according to McWilliams.
Legislation has also been a possible attribute to the improved attitude towards education. Bills have been passed that are bringing back the scholarships of the Teaching Fellows, higher pay for starting teachers and incentives for teachers working in high-need subjects and low-performing school systems.
When asked on what he thought the change in enrollment was a result of, Maher responded, “I’m not really sure. Nothing huge, but little pieces in the right direction are there.”
