The Canadian Journal of Higher Education, Vol. XXII-1, 1992 La revue canadienne d'enseignement supérieur, Vol. XXII-1, 1992 The Employment Experience of Recent Graduate Education Students* ANNE MARIE DECORE1 Abstract Because it both employs a significant portion of university graduates and provides an early warning of future demand for higher levels of education, the teaching profession affords an instructive illustration of the experiences of highly trained personnel in the labour market. The study is an attempt to elucidate part of the picture of supply and demand for teachers by examining the labour market experiences of recent education graduates of the University of Alberta. Although concern recently has surfaced that a shortage of teachers is imminent, these respondents who entered the labour market in late 1987 or mid-1988 reported that teaching jobs were still in short supply in early 1989. Only 62 percent found full-time employment, though 86 percent sought teaching jobs. Job location, age and the extent of the job search emerged as important influences on employment status. Résumé L'enseignement emploie un nombre important de diplômés de l'université et par conséquent anticipe ce que la demande de /'éducation tertiaire sera à l'avenir. Pour ces raisons la profession enseignante est une bonne illustration des expériences que connaît la main d'oeuvre hautement qualifiée sur le marché du travail. L'étude présente met à jour un aspect de la situation de l'offre et de la demande d'enseignants sur le marché du travail, en analysant les expériences de récents diplômés de /' Université de l'Alberta. Bien qu'on ait fait état récemment d'un manque possible d'enseignants dans un avenir proche, les diplômés qui sont entrés sur le marché du travail vers la fin de 1987 ou vers mi- 1988, rapportent que les offres d'emploi faisaient toujours défaut au début de 1989. Sur 86 percent des diplômés à la recherche d'un emploi, 62 percent The author wishes to acknowledge the contribution of research assistant, Mr. J. Meropoulis, particulary in the early stages of the project. t University of Alberta 28 Anne Marie Decore seulement avaient trouvé de l'emploi à plein temps. L'endroit où ces emplois étaient offerts, l'âge, et l'intensité de la recherche d'emploi apparaissent comme les influences déterminantes sur iembauche. Introduction Interest in the link between postsecondary education and economic development grew during the 1960s when a myriad of human capital studies provided 'scientific' credibility to the popular belief that educational expenditures to improve the quality of Canadian manpower would stimulate higher productivity, expedite technological advance and lead to economic growth. The acceptance of human capital theory reinforced pressure for universal access to educational opportunities, provided reassurance that the post-War policy of educational expansion was correct and contributed to the unprecedented expansion of the Canadian postsecondary system during the 1960s and early 70s. Although the idea that education was instrumental in the creation of both individual and national economic wealth was challenged in the United States as early as 1949 by writers like Seymour Harris, it was not until the early 1970s that serious incongruences between the supply of university graduates and the labour market became apparent in Canada (Kushner, et al., 1971). Prior to this period the demand for highly skilled labour in Canada's rapidly expanding economy had far exceeded the supply emanating from the country's postsecondary system. The teaching profession provides an instructive illustration of the experiences of highly trained manpower in the labour market, both because it is an occupation which has traditionally employed a significant portion of university graduates and because it provides an early warning of future demand for higher levels of education. The demographic tidal wave of baby boomers that swept through the educational system between the 1950s and the early 1970s ensured a high demand for educators. As the wave passed through the primary and secondary systems the relative demand for teachers plummeted in most regions of the country. Exacerbated by the country's slower rate of economic growth during the 1970s, the employment prospects of Canada's highly educated manpower, including teachers, deteriorated. Since at least the early 1980s, as funding for education decreased and the size of the school age population stabilized, there have been even fewer new teaching positions in elementary and secondary schools (Decore and Pannu, 1986). At the same time, mobility in the existing teacher work force fell as teachers chose to remain in secure positions rather than take leaves or seek other employment alternatives. The Employment Experience of Recent Graduate Education Students 29 This situation led to considerable concern that that too many new teachers were being trained for too few positions, a situation sometimes resulting in enrolment quotas designed to limit entrants into the teaching profession. By the end of the 1980's, elementary school enrolments once more began to grow as the progeny of the baby boomers began to enter school. The need for more teachers to accommodate larger enrolments is compounded by the fact that the large contingent of teachers hired during the 1960's is reaching retirement age. Hand- wringing about teacher oversupply has turned to alarm about impending teacher shortages that are expected to grow at least into the next century (Globe and Mail, 1989; Alberta Education, 1990) The study reported here attempts to elucidate part of the picture of supply and demand for teachers by examining the labour market experiences of recent education graduates of the University of Alberta. Literature Review One of the first examinations of Canada's well educated manpower resources, Canada's Highly Qualified Manpower, indicated that between 1950 and 1970 the total teaching force had more than tripled as it attempted to keep pace with the enormous rise in enrolments. At the time of the study teachers made up the largest single component of the country's highly qualified manpower (Atkinson, Barnes and Richardson, 1970:169). Kushner, Masse, Blauer and Soroka's less sanguine 1971 study, The Market Situation for University Graduates, concluded that an overall excess supply of university graduates was present, with the most severe area of surplus in the field of education. Continuous increase in the number of Education students was outstripping the slowing enrolment of primary and secondary school students and resulting in an extremely tight job market (1971:20). Subsequent work including Degree Holders in Canada (Ahamad, 1979), Supply, Demand and Salaries (Manpower and Immigration, 1976), Out of School - Into the Labour Force (Zsigmond, et al., 1978), The Class of 2001 (Clark, Devereaux and Zsigmond, 1979) showed falling demand for qualified manpower accompanied by a qualifications escalation and rising unemployment and underemployment. The trends in the teaching profession were even less promising as elementary-secondary enrolments continued to fall during the 1970s. In 1969 more than 30,000 teachers were hired nationally, while in 1976 this figure dropped to approximately 10,000 (Zsigmond et al. 1978:44). Decreasing enrolments were being compounded by an attrition rate among teachers which fell steadily from around 11 percent percent in 1966-67 to just over seven percent in 1977-78. During the same eleven years the recruitment 30 Anne Marie Decore rate for teachers fell from close to 18 percent to approximately seven percent. Although the job market projections were extremely discouraging, the number of degrees and diplomas granted in the field of education remained relatively constant at approximately 24,000 a year from 1972-73 to 1975-76 (Clark, Devereau and Zsigmond, 1979:73). As Ahamad notes, these effects spilled over into other fields as graduates in the social and human sciences who had traditionally been employed in large numbers as teachers were forced to seek employment in more general occupations (1979). A clearer picture of the job market experiences of higher education graduates emerged with the 1978 Statistics Canada study of 1976 graduates. Despite all the problems in the field of education, Bachelor of Education graduates fared better than graduates from most other fields. Within two years of graduation 93.2 percent of all 1976 Education graduates from Alberta universities were in the labour force, compared to 94.8 percent nation wide (Clark and Zsigmond, 1981:170). Although no unemployment data were available for B.Ed.'s in the province, 27 percent of the graduates stated that they were working at jobs which required a lower level of qualification. This figure was similar to the national underemployment rate of 28.2 percent for graduates of faculties of education, which was 8.4 percent lower than for graduates with bachelor's degree in all fields combined. Nationally, only 4.8 percent of people in this category were unemployed in 1978, compared to the overall average of 8.4 percent (358). Picot, in a comparison of these data with those of 1969, notes that the teaching profession played a declining role in absorbing graduates from Canadian postsecondary institutions. In 1971, 42 percent of all 1969 bachelor's graduates were employed as teachers as compared to 37 percent of 1976 bachelor's graduates (1983:51). The best and most recent data on training and employment come from the 1984 Statistics Canada study of 1982 graduates, The Class of '82 (Clark, Laing and Rechnitzer, 1986). Unfortunately, these data pertain to Canada as a whole and any generalization to Alberta is difficult, especially given that the overall unemployment rates were higher in Alberta than in the rest of Canada at the time. Nonetheless, the study found that by 1984, 76 percent of Bachelor's graduates in Education were employed full-time (138), though 19 percent were in jobs not requiring a university degree (141) and 11 percent were in jobs not related to their education (47). Of the remaining 24 percent, nine percent were unemployed and 15 percent were either employed part-time or not in the labour force (30). Compared to the situation facing other Bachelor's graduates, the job market in 1984 was tighter for Education graduates. The Employment Experience of Recent Graduate Education Students 31 Despite the concerns, first, that teaching positions were hard to come by and now, that there will be a considerable shortage of teachers, there are few relevant studies focussed on individual provinces. A 1971 study of University of Alberta graduates found that 72.6 percent of Education graduates obtained employment as teachers and another 4.6 percent were employed in non-teaching occupations. The study, however, gives no indication about how many of these positions were full-time (Zaharia, 1972). In a similar study of 1973 graduates, 82 percent of Education graduates were in full-time employment and 7.6 percent in part-time employment, but no indication is given as what proportion was employed in teaching (Zaharia, 1975). Using data from the Statistics Canada 1984 study of 1982 graduates, Britton examined the labour market experiences of Manitoba graduates in Education (Britton, 1986). By 1984, 80 percent of Manitoba Education graduates had obtained full or part-time teaching related positions. A more recent survey in Ontario of 1985 university graduates found just over 60 percent of Education, Physical Education and Recreation and Leisure graduates were employed full-time, and just under 20 percent were employed part-time, one year after graduation (Denton, et al., 1987). This was comparable to the findings of a similar study of 1982 graduates (Davis, Denton, and Hunter, 1983). Unfortunately, Education graduates were not distinguished from Physical Education and Recreation and Leisure graduates, nor were those working in occupations related to Education distinguished from those who were not. Because these studies date from the period of low teacher demand, they have only limited utility for any understanding of how more recent graduates have fared on provincial labour markets. The Study and Its Findings All University of Alberta Bachelor of Education graduates from the fall of 1987 and spring of 1988 were surveyed to ascertain how many were employed in teaching or other jobs, and how many were unemployed, underemployed or still in school. This group constitutes approximately half of the newly certified entrants into the teaching profession of the province each year. Information was also collected on the location of their employment, how employment was obtained, the problems encountered in obtaining employment and basic background data. The survey was conducted at the beginning of January 1989, just at point when the oversupply of candidates for teaching positions was beginning to shift to greater demand. Eight hundred and sixty-four graduates received questionnaires, 7.4 percent (64) of which were undeliverable and 47.9 percent (414) of which were not 32 Anne Marie Decore returned to the investigator. Questionnaires were completed by 44.7 percent (386 ) graduates who form the basis of this analysis. Although a higher response rate would have been desirable, two checks were made to estimate representativeness. First, a comparison on two variables — sex and year of graduation — for which data on both the respondents and the entire cohort were available, revealed no substantial differences.1 In addition, response rates of those who had permanent addresses in Edmonton, other locations in Alberta or other regions of Canada were similar to the overall response rate of 44.7 percent.2 A second check for representativeness involved contacting as many individuals who did not return the questionnaire as could be located within the Edmonton calling area during July, 1989. In this case, 91 individuals responded in a telephone interview to a short form of the questionnaire focussing on employment status and basic demographic characteristics. Again no major differences were evident in basic demographic characteristics, though some differences which are reported below are evident between the respondents and non-respondents in employment experiences. Of the 386 recent graduates who returned the questionnaire, 81.9 percent (316) were employed in teaching related positions, 12.7 percent (49) were employed in positions unrelated to teaching and 5.4 percent (21) were not employed (see Table 1). While these global figures give the impression that the respondents had been quite successful in obtaining jobs related to their training, 19.9 percent (77) of these respondents were in teaching related jobs as part-time staff, supply teachers, interns or daycare workers and 61.9 percent (239) were employed in full-time teaching positions. For 13 (3.4 percent of all respondents) of the 77 individuals employed in part-time, supply or daycare positions, the employment status was one of choice; but for the remaining 16.6 percent (64) it was involuntary. Tightness in the job market for teachers was also evident among those respondents employed in jobs unrelated to teaching and those unemployed. The attraction of better pay or new challenges, changes in interests and other factors led 6.7 percent (26) of the respondents to choose employment in areas not related to teaching. Likewise, 3.6 percent (14) of the respondents were unemployed by choice some returning to school, some caring for families, and some travelling. Leaving aside the 13.5 percent (52) who were voluntarily not employed full-time in a teaching related position, nearly a quarter (95 or 24.6 percent) of all respondents sought but were unable to find full-time teaching jobs. An examination of the employment experiences of those individuals who responded only after follow-up reveals a less favourable employment picture. Table 1 Current Employment Status responded responded by mail by phone Employed Teaching Full-time Subtotal 239 61.9% 46 50.5% Employed Teaching Part-time part-time voluntary 13 3.4% 3 3.3% part-time involuntary 64 16.6% 20 22.0% Subtotal 77 19.9% 23 25.3% Employed not Teaching could not find teaching position 23 6.0% 7 7.7% found better paying job 7 1.8% 3 3.3% no longer interested in teaching 7 1.8% 2 2.2% variety of other reasons 12 3.1% Subtotal 49 12.7% 12 13.2% Not Employed continuing education 8 2.1% 3 3.3% family responsibilities, travel, other 6 1.5% 2 2.2% could not find teaching position 7 1.8% 5 5^% Subtotal 21 5.4% 10 11.0% 34 Anne Marie Decore Just half (50.5 percent) of this group reported full-time employment in teaching as compared to 61.9 percent of the mail respondents. A larger number of the telephone respondents were employed in part-time teaching, 25.3 percent as compared to 19.9 percent of the mail respondents. In addition, a larger proportion of the telephone respondents were unemployed, 5.5 percent as compared to 1.8 percent of the mail respondents. These observations probably mean that the employment experiences of the cohort were less favourable than the data from the mailed survey indicate. Despite this caution, the data from the mailed survey do give a general though slightly optimistic picture of the experience of the cohort in the labour market. Though a general tightness in the job market affected the employment experiences of these recent graduates, their employment experience compares favourably with that of Education graduates in the 1984 Statistics Canada Survey. In that study, only 57 percent of Education graduates held full-time teaching positions two years after graduation. A logical start for this examination of who found teaching jobs and who did not is the respondents' field of specialization. Given that the baby boom echo is being felt first in the lower grades, it is not surprising that more respondents in the elementary route were employed than was the case for secondary route respondents. This was true for both full-time employment, where 65 percent of the elementary route respondents obtained employment compared to 59.5 percent for the secondary route respondents; and for part-time employment where 22 percent of the former were employed, compared to 17.4 percent of the latter. Overall, then, 87 percent of elementary route respondents were employed in teaching while 76.9 percent of secondary route respondents were so employed. In terms of subject specialization, there are also differences in demand. At the elementary level, early childhood, special education and language (including French) specialists are in high and nearly equal demand, with about 70 percent in full-time teaching employment and over 20 percent in part-time teaching. Interestingly, specializations in the fine arts and in intercultural education do not appear to offer the same employment opportunities, with around 55 percent of such specialists obtaining full-time teaching jobs and 20 percent part-time jobs. At the secondary level, specialization in Business and Vocational Education, and in Math and Science offer better entry into the teaching market than other specializations. Full-time teaching jobs were obtained by 71.4 percent of the Business and Vocational majors and a somewhat lower 63.9 percent of Math and Science majors. The part-time teaching opportunities were also better for The Employment Experience of Recent Graduate Education Students 35 Business and Vocational Majors, with 14.3 percent so employed compared to 5.6 percent of Math and Science majors. Not surprisingly, given that larger numbers of students specialize in Physical Education and Social Studies, these majors were in least demand. Among Physical Education majors, 58.6 percent were in full-time and 17.2 percent in part-time jobs, while among Social Studies majors the figures were 54.1 percent and 21.6 percent. It should be noted that the variability in teaching employment between various specializations was smaller for respondents in the secondary route than for those in the elementary route. These findings are consistent with Alberta Education data from school districts about their needs for particular specializations (2). For respondents in the present study, employment has been complicated by the unavailability of jobs in particular locations. Table 2 examines how employment status is related to why individuals find themselves in that status — whether that reflects personal choice, the availability of jobs in particular locations or the overall availability of teaching positions. Over all employment categories, fewer than half of respondents (42.3 percent) held positions that reflected their choice of location and/or type of position. For a larger proportion (46.3 percent), job location posed an important problem. Of all respondents, 11.4 percent had experienced employment problems because of the general unavailability of teaching jobs. Looking at this in terms of specific employment status, it is evident that for those employed as full-time teachers, more than half (55.7 percent) were in positions outside the location of their choice. Amongst those teaching part-time, nearly half (47.8 percent) had experienced problems obtaining jobs in their choice of location; and approximately one-third (32.8 percent) reported employment problems related to the general scarcity of teaching positions. Unlike those respondents employed in teaching related positions, the status of the majority of those in non-teaching positions (55.3 percent) and those not employed (65 percent) reflected their personal choice. For these two categories, unavailability of work in particular locations was less of a factor than the general unavailability of teaching jobs. Twenty individuals or 30 percent of those in the "not teaching" or "not employed" group experienced underemployment or unemployment related to the general shortage of teaching jobs. Since the location of jobs appears to be most important for those employed in full or part-time teaching positions, Table 3 examines how the identification of location as a problem is related to whether those teaching were in city or in smaller urban and rural schools. Clearly, more respondents employed in city 36 Anne Marie Decore Table 2 Employment Status by Reason for Particular Status EMPLOYMENT STATUS Full-time Part-time Not Teach Not ROW Teaching Teaching Employed Employed TOTAL Personal Choice of 104 13 26 13 156 Location and/or 44.3 19.4 55.3 65.0 42.3% Status 131 32 7 1 171 Location Problem 55.7 47.8 14.9 5.0 46.3% 22 14 6 42 No Jobs In General 32.8 29.8 30.0 11.4% COLUMN 235 67 47 20 369 TOTAL 63.7 18.2 12.7 5.4 100.0% NOTES: 1. Since by definition no respondents teaching full-time could cite a general shortage of jobs as a reason for their employment status, tests for significant differences could not be conducted. As a general rule of thumb, differences of 10% or more were deemed substantively significant. 2. Since the variable reason for particular status entailed the combination and transformation of several different variables each of which had some missing cases, the transformed variable could not be constructed for all respondents. jurisdictions were where they wanted to be. While 61 percent teaching in city schools were in their preferred location, only 26.1 percent of those in smaller urban or rural schools were in their choice of location. This was the case, despite the fact that 85.7 percent of those in smaller urban or rural schools were employed full-time compared to 67.4 percent in city schools. For those employed full-time, the difference is even more dramatic, with 70.5 percent of those in city schools reporting that they were in their chosen location, as compared to 26 percent of those in rural schools. Though it is not possible to tell from the data whether those dissatisfied with their location in smaller urban or rural schools would all have preferred to be in cities, the probability is that