|Photo by Michael J. Metts|

While the job market is tough for all graduates, Spring Arbor University Education majors have been hit particularly hard. In May of 2009, 52 Education graduates began their lives after college. However, by November of 2010, only 13 of those graduates will have teaching jobs.

As adverse as the situation might seem, there are some bright spots.

U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan points to what could be a massive exodus of retiring baby boomers, possibly one third of the nation’s teachers and administrators leave the work force in the next four years. This may come later than expected, however, because the current recession is making retirement difficult.

The Obama Administration is also increasing spending on education, despite the recession.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the Department of Education will receive $9.3 billion under its new Race to the Top program as well as through the $787 billion stimulus package and the 2009 budget.

However, college graduates as a whole are experiencing difficulty finding jobs across the board. While the unemployment rate for college graduates over the age of 24 is better than the national average, at 4.9%, the rate for graduates in the age range of 20-24 is 7.6%, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Recent college graduates aren’t just competing with each other, but with more experienced workers who may have graduated three to four years before but are now unemployed because of budget cuts and layoffs, according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

“We tell our teachers it’s not a really good job market right now,” said Dr. Linda Sherrill, Dean of the School of Education.

Sherrill notes that the more open students are to variations in location, speciality, age group and even school type, the more likely they will be to find employment.

Part of this will involve looking for employment out of state. Michigan’s education situation is particularly bleak after a statewide education budget reduction of $165 per student was signed into law in October. Lawmakers are currently considering an additional cut of $127 per student.

According to Sherrill, Michigan administrators will likely have no choice but to lay off staff, making a tough market even harder.

Duncan encourages new graduates to look in high-poverty locations as well as rural schools.

Sherrill mentioned the possibility of students receiving a federal grant for teaching a highly-demanded subject for five years in a high-need school, which is defined by a large population of at-risk students which is monitored by free and reduced lunch programs.

“There are areas that the government designates as ‘high-need’ areas and right now, those are Math, Science, Special Education and World Languages,” said Sherrill.

These areas are analyzed by the U.S. Department of Education as having a high demand and a low supply.

SAU’s School of Education also works to build relationships with high-need schools so that graduates will have greater opportunities for employment out of state and in urban areas.

Graduates take varied approaches.

Angie Barney, a member of the class of 2009 whose concentration was in early childhood education, feels lucky to have found part-time employment at Jackson Christian School.

Barney felt the portfolio she made as a part of graduation preparation at SAU was very helpful. In fact, the principal who hired her mentioned the portfolio of work she had from SAU as a key factor in employment.

Tabetha Friz, another 2009 graduate, decided to take a brief hiatus from searching for education jobs. After student-teaching in the fall of 2009, she was given the opportunity to substitute teach the same class during the spring of 2010.

“While [teaching] is really good and I loved it, I didn’t want to get tied down to a school district and do all that work to establish myself and then have to uproot myself if I decided I didn’t know where I want to be,” she said.

While location was a big factor, the economy and tough job market also weighed into Friz’s decision to postpone the search.

“I knew it would have been hard to find a job in Michigan if that’s where I wanted to be,” she said. “It would have been a lot of hard work because there’s not a lot of availability around here.”

Friz remains determined to teach, even if it’s another year before she searches for a place to take root.