well for years apprenticeships have helped train the next generation of plumbers welders and electricians and now it could help solve New Jersey's problem attracting new teachers to the profession Montclair State University is offering one of New Jersey's new earn as you learn programs giving par professionals and teachers AIDS a clearer path to becoming certified teachers while never having to step away from the classroom Ted Goldberg reports a new partnership between Wayne Township Schools and Montclair State could help address the shortage of teachers in Wayne when I finding recent College grads and we have to resort to hiring teachers from other districts which doesn't necessarily make you very popular when you meet with other superintendant and they have vacancies and you don't superintendent Mark toak isn't running a popularity contest but he says hiring teachers from other districts is how Wayne makes up for fewer young people going into teaching there's concern about pay there's is concerned there's there's obviously a lot of um over the past few years there's been a lot of turmoil associated with public education and so I think there's a lot of students that hear and see things that make them say you know what I'm just going to do something else for a living we've been under attack I think uh especially during the pandemic people are looking at displeasure of that period of time where children had learning loss where we're now recouping that so it's not an easy job to begin with you need dedication you need to want to be able to do it Montclair State's new program will allow power professional in Wayne schools or teaching assistants to work towards their teaching certification while keeping their jobs the program will take two or three years and is the first teacher Apprentice certification program in New Jersey backed by the US Department of Labor the advantage is that they already understand what teaching is about they're working in the program they see it they have a love of working with children this is a natural Next Step it's tapping into a population of students adult Learners who might not have completed their bachelors that who are working in school settings who want a pathway into the a career in teaching but it's not available acting associate Dean sui hagara says montclair's history and teaching makes it a great school for this kind of program there's uh an incredible investment in what mentoring means right mentoring isn't just you know having someone assigned in the classroom it's also us going to the classroom to support the student other Garden State schools have similar programs to address the shortage of teachers at Ramapo College the TA to teacher program helps teachers assistants complete a degree in teacher education in one year or stay two years and earn a master's in special education that's the hook of the idea right that you can be something you can change your life as a power professional you're not stuck in that job for 20 years when someone like that comes across our desk who's dual certified with a masters in special education uh those are huge unique uh components for us as as educational leaders uh we need those types of kids Monclair is still in the process of finalizing details for its first class of new teachers they gave out a survey to Wayne Township employees gauging interest in signing up that survey collected 90 names and so the clearly the demand is there um we have to go through those applications and interest to ensure it's a it's a good sort of um compliment to the goals and the the the criteria and the expectations of the program it would definitely fill a number of vacancies that we have for special education or positions that we'd love to have but there's just nobody out there right while the first year of this program is focused on folks in Wayne Township that could change in the future and expand to other school districts as places like Montclair try to make it easier for people to become teachers while holding on to their day jobs in Monclair I'm Ted Goldberg NJ Spotlight News