TTU Teacher Education Sees Stabilized Enrollment, Down From 10 Years Ago

Tennessee Tech’s prospective teacher enrollment has stabilized over the last few years, but remains down from a decade ago.

Office of Teacher Education Director Amy Brown said that their undergraduate numbers used to sit around a 300-student average. She said they now sit around a 200-hundred student average. She said she attributes that to potential education students looking at money.

“You always look at, for college students, the lack of funding,” Brown said. “Not only in their yearly salaries, but also in the funding for school systems, and school districts, and particular schools. So I think that’s always a concern.”

Brown said that despite undergrad numbers being lower, their alternative pathways program numbers have significantly increased. She said that she thinks that’s an indication of the alternative pathways and people wanting to become teachers, but maybe not initially out of undergrad.

Brown said that they are doing everything they can to reach out to students, both in high school and underground, to try and recruit the next generation of educators. She said when it comes to the future of the education field, she thinks Tennessee Tech is doing all the right things to get their teachers started in their careers.

“Our efforts to recruit, we have approximately 50 plus partnerships across the state of Tennessee, we activate those and communicate with those at all times,” Brown said. “We are also part of two state grants that are promoting the education profession. And so I think we’re doing all the right things, but we’re always searching for new or bigger and better, or different things we can do to entice and recruit educators.”

Brown said that if there is anyone interested in learning more about their program and becoming a licensed educator, to reach out to the College of Teacher Education at Tennessee Tech at 931-372-3170.