Administration Pushes for Better Pay and High Quality Pathways

The U.S. Department of Education (ED), in coordination with the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), has announced new initiatives to expand pathways into teaching, increase pay, and improve working conditions for all levels of the field, from early childhood through higher education. Joining the administration-wide Good Jobs Initiative, ED published Good Jobs Principles for Education to guide employment practices and working conditions in education. According to a U.S. Department of Education statement, “The Good Jobs Principles for Education encourage all education institutions, systems, and organizations to provide quality jobs that provide a competitive wage, family-sustaining benefits, job security, safe working conditions, and access to career advancement opportunities as the foundation for good quality jobs.” In addition to establishing a set of principles alongside the Department of Labor, the two departments will expand access to affordable, high quality pathways into teaching; manage expanded grant programs for Teacher Quality Partnership grants, the Augustus F. Hawkins Centers of Excellence program, and the National Professional Development program; and offer new technical assistance including DOL support for apprenticeships titled the Educator Registered Apprenticeship (ERA) Intermediary.

To view the Good Jobs Principles for Education, go here.