Schools struggle to find substitute teachers

Nebraska isn't reducing requirements to make things easier, but you may already qualify.

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – We’ve seen many schools trim the workweek to get through this period of staffing difficulties, and in some cases classes have been postponed altogether.

Different places are trying different things to work around the problems. In Kansas, for example, the requirements for potential substitute teachers have been temporarily lowered. In Nebraska, though, the usual standards are still in place.

Jane Blum, Director of Field Experiences at the University of Nebraska at Kearney explains, “You have to submit evidence of human relations training. That’s one thing. Also, for a local sub commit, you do have to have 60 hours of college coursework credit, with credit in education-related coursework.”

That means a college education is a start, but that special training is required on top of your usual studies. How then, can you get this training if you’ve long since graduated?

“Here at UNK, we offer a one-credit hour online human relations training course,” says Blum. “Because ours is offered through teacher education, we do fulfill both requirements of human relations training and the education-related coursework.”

Here’s the kicker, though: you may have already taken care of that requirement without even realizing it.

“It was kind of funny how it worked out for my husband,” recalls Blum. “Of course, we graduated a long time ago. He had coached, and they asked him to get his coaching endorsement. Because of that, he had taken this human relations course back in 2007.”

In that case, the course number wasn’t a match, but it turned out that it was the correct class to meet the requirement. “We didn’t even know it. He could have been subbing,” Blum laughs.

So if you want to help, dust off the old transcript and see if you meet the qualifications, because there’s a decent chance that you do.