Higher Education Series RESEARCH REPORT 1961-R12 A Study Conducted by the Research Division with financial assistance from the Ford Foundation Teacher Supply and Demand RESEARCH DIVISION NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION MAY 1961 Acknowledgment This report, fourth in the biennial series, represents an effort of the NEA Research Division to explore the problem of providing competent teachers for all institutions of higher education. Employing officials know that the task is complex, and that conditions vary from campus to campus. It is our hope, therefore, that this nationwide overview will contribute to each administrator's evaluation of his policies and procedures. Changing conditions would seem to make a periodic re-examination necessary. In alternate years the NEA Research Division conducts a detailed study of salaries paid and salary practices in universities, colleges, and junior colleges. A full distribution of staff members from top to bottom of the salary range is provided; separate groupings are by professorial rank, by sex, by type of institution, and by region. We trust that the salary report and the personnel report presented in the following pages are mutually complementary. Detailed investigations, such as these, impose additional burdens upon busy officials who are requested to assemble many specific data. We are grateful for the hearty co-operation of almost all institutions of every type. We also express sincere appreciation to the Ford Foundation and to Philip H. Coombs, Program Director of the Education Division. A substantial grant has made possible the expansion of the investigation, fuller interpretation of the data, and the liberal distribution of free copies of this report. The Research Division studies in higher education are conducted and the reports are written by Ray C. Maul, Assistant Director. He has been ably assisted by the various units of the Division. SAM M. LAMBERT Director, Research Division Major Purposes of the Study Five major goals were emphasized in the investigation reported here. They are: 1. To provide administrative officers with certain important facts, not available through any other channel, concerning the staffing of their classrooms with competent teachers. Such information, if up to date, should support the budgetary proposals to boards of control, trustees, legislative committees, denominational constituents, and all persons interested in the progress of higher education. These facts were sought: a. Qualifications of new teachers b. Sources of new teachers c. Distribution of new teachers among the fields of instruction and d. Positions remaining unfilled due to lack of qualified candidates e. Extent of use of part-time teachers f. The role of women in higher educational service g. Occupations which attract recent graduates at the highest (doctor's degree) level 2. To provide teachers and counselors of students, from high school through the graduate school, with certain up-to-date information necessary for effective counseling in relation to occupational choice. 3. To make available to students themselves the most meaningful facts concerning opportunities, limitations, requirements, and probable competition in the college teaching profession. 4. To provide a broad overview of future needs for instructional personnel. 5. To stimulate a greater awareness throughout the general population of perhaps the most pressing problem confronting higher education. Organization of the Report The NEA Research Division alternates two original studies of important problems in higher education. In the even-numbered years attention is directed to salaries paid and salary practices. In the odd-numbered years the focus is upon the search for competent teachers. The following report covers the fourth biennial investigation of the need for teachers in universities, colleges, and junior colleges. Separate bodies of data were assembled from these three sources: 1. Institutions granting at least the bachelor's degree, both universities and colleges. 2. Junior colleges. 3. Universities granting the doctor's degree. Scope of the Report The findings are organized into three sections. Section 1 follows the pattern of Research Division reports issued two, four, and six years ago. It presents the results of an inquiry addressed to universities and colleges in which the principal objective has been to identify newly employed full-time teachers who were not members of the total corps of university and college teachers the preceding year. These factors were then examined: The distribution of these new teachers among the various fields of instruction • Their division by sex in each field Their academic status according to these four levels of formal preparation: (a) the earned doctor's degree, (b) the master's degree plus at least one year of recognized graduate credit beyond that degree, (c) the master's degree, and (d) less than master's degree status. Section 1 also brings to light these circumstances in universities and colleges: • The number of instructional staff members on leave of absence during 1960-61 for advanced study or for other reasons • The extent to which a shortage of qualified candidates is observed The extent to which positions have remained unfilled due to lack of acceptable candidates • The extent to which qualified women might be used in larger numbers to help relieve shortages • The age of compulsory retirement from full-time teaching service. Section 2 follows the pattern of a Research Division report issued two years ago. It presents the results of a slightly different inquiry addressed to junior colleges. All of the factors explored in Section 1 were covered in terms of the programs of instruction offered in junior colleges. Section 3 follows the pattern of the NEA Research Division reports issued two and four years ago. It presents the results of a completely separate inquiry addressed only to the institutions which grant the earned doctor's degree. The purpose of this study was to examine the occupational distribution of all recipients of this advanced degree during 1958-59 and 1959-60, with particular reference to the availability of these most comprehensively prepared scholars for service as classroom teachers. The findings here point up the seriousness of the shortage of adequately prepared teachers in institutions of higher education. Also, they contribute directly to any nationwide review of the trained manpower needs of the nation. Method of Procedure To assemble the information presented in Section 1, an inquiry was addressed to all institutions listed in the U. S. Office of Education's Education Directory, Part 3, except those of such special types as schools of art, chiropody, design, music, optometry, pharmacy, textiles, and others in which the regularly employed teachers are likely to be rigidly limited to certain fields, and also certain proprietary institutions. These inquiries went to 1248 universities and colleges. Usable replies were received from 1085, or 86.9 percent, before the final tabulations were made. In these reporting institutions the enrollment in October 1960 was 1,994,159 full-time and 647,258 part-time students of college grade-a total of 2,641,417. On this date these reporting universities and colleges were employing 140,385 full-time and 58,324 part-time teachers a total of 198,709. TABLE 1.-NUMBER OF INSTITUTIONS INVITED TO PARTICIPATE, NUMBER AND PERCENT REPLYING, AND FULL-TIME AND PART-TIME ENROLLMENT AND TEACHING STAFF, 1960-61 To assemble the Section 2 information, an inquiry was addressed to all institutions listed in the 1961 directory issued by the American Association of Junior Colleges. This inquiry, with appropriate adaptation of the list of teaching fields, followed the pattern of the one addressed to the universities and colleges. It was addressed to 358 public and 273 nonpublic junior colleges-a total of 631 institutions. Usable replies were received from 530, or 84.0 percent, before the final tabulations were made. In the reporting junior colleges the enrollment in October 1960 was 290,487 fulltime and 276,991 part-time students of college grade-a total of 567,478. On this date the reporting junior colleges were employing 15,438 fulltime and 11,077 part-time teachers a total of 26,515. To assemble the information presented in Section 3 an inquiry was addressed to each institution offering programs of graduate instruction leading to conferral of the earned doctor's degree, excluding medicine and dentistry. To compile the projections offered in Section 4, the Research Division, in addition to drawing upon its own resources and contacts with educational associations, examined many records as well as current reports bearing upon the prospective enrollments in institutions of higher education in the decade ahead. Representativeness of the Data Table 1 divides the participating institutions into 11 types, nine groups of universities and colleges and two groups of junior colleges. The number of each type of institution invited to participate in this study is shown, together with the number and percent responding. Among the four types of multiple-unit institutions designated I, II, III, and IV—the percent of response ranges from 79.7 to 100.0. Of the eight missing state universities, only two are among the largest 25. Of the seven missing nonpublic universities, three are among the largest 25. Of the 15 missing land-grant colleges, five are also grouped with the eight state universities not participating. All 13 of the municipal universities responded. Of the 179 state colleges and 73 teachers colleges invited to participate, only 6.1 and 4.1 percent, respectively, failed to submit usable reports. Of the nonpublic colleges enrolling more than 1000 full-time students 90.2 percent reported, while 86.9 and 78.7 percent of the two groups of smaller nonpublic colleges participated. Juniorcollege participation was at the level of 95.8 percent of the public and 68.5 percent of the nonpublic institutions. The data submitted by these reporting institutions are presented in Sections 1 and 2. 74150 0-61-30 |