For substitute teachers with non-teaching training background, Ping County Government cooperates with the "Teach for Taiwan Foundation" to organize professional growth workshops. (Photo provided by Pingtung County Government)
The wave of teacher retirements in Pingtung County has reached its peak this year. Many acting teachers have taken advantage of the trend to become full-time teachers, which has also increased the demand for acting teachers. Local governments are scrambling for people, and recruitment is more difficult than in previous years. As a result, the proportion of acting substitute teachers without teacher certificates who are open after the three recruitments has increased. How to allow substitute teachers with non-teaching training background to exert their "immediate combat effectiveness" in the classroom will test the local government.
According to statistics from the Education Department of Ping County Government, 61 teachers have retired from junior high schools in Ping County this year, and 181 have retired from elementary schools and kindergartens, a record high in the past three years. This has also greatly increased the number of teacher selection vacancies for this school year (115). Junior high schools originally planned to admit 92 people, but actually completed the distribution of 74 people. Elementary schools originally planned to admit 125 people, but actually completed the distribution of 124 people. The portion of the insufficient admissions was included in the vacancies of acting teachers in each school.
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Recruitment of acting teachers is not easy. Some schools in Ping County were unable to fill the full complement of teachers one week before the start of the school year, and some even found people only after the 20th recruitment. According to statistics from the Education Department, the number of acting teachers in Ping County in the past three years was 240 in junior high schools, or 12%, in the 113th school year, and 785 in elementary schools, with an agency rate of 21%. In the 114th school year, there were 333 students in junior high schools, with a proxy ratio of 16%, and 454 students in elementary schools, with a proxy ratio of 16%. In this (115) school year, there are 228 junior high school students, with an agency ratio of 11%, and 488 elementary school students, with an agency ratio of 16%.
There were 162 acting teachers without a teaching certificate in the last (114) school year in junior high schools, accounting for 8.11%, and 321 in elementary schools, accounting for 11.43%. Statistics are still being compiled for this (115) school year, and the evaluation of the Education Department will continue to increase slightly, attracting attention from the outside world.
For substitute teachers with non-teaching training background, the Education Department pointed out that it continues to cooperate with the Teach for Taiwan Foundation (TFT) to implement the "Professional Growth Plan for Unlicensed Substitute Teachers" and arranges a 12-hour teaching professional introduction workshop, which includes positive classroom culture, class routines, education regulations and notifications, parent-teacher communication, basic counseling, curriculum design and teaching evaluation; professional abilities are improved through study, co-preparation and companion tutoring.
An acting teacher in the county said that he is working hard to adapt to the teaching scene. His personal career plan is to take a pre-service teacher education course, hoping to eventually obtain a teacher certificate and improve his professional qualifications and teaching skills.
The Department of Education analyzed that starting from next year, the retirement index for public school teachers to receive full monthly pension will be raised to 85, and the age limit will be adjusted from 50 to 55. Therefore, the number of retirees will increase this year. Under the gradual changes in education policies, the demand for agency teachers is expected to gradually slow down in the future.
For related news, please see:
Special Topic on Teacher Retirement Wave 2-1》The pressure on teachers to retire is still there, and the number of teachers in Ping County is expected to increase again next year
