Hamilton County high schoolers can now explore careers as school psychologists or physical education teachers through the expansion of a future ready institute at Tyner Academy.
The UTC Institute of Teaching and Learning at Tyner Academy launched in 2018 as a partnership between Hamilton County Schools and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and largely focused on preparing students to become secondary teachers. Through a continuation of the partnership, the program will expand to provide students opportunities to also explore other education-related careers beyond teaching.
"What we're most excited about is expanding the opportunities, not just for teachers, but thinking about social workers, school psychologists and all the other roles that we know we need in schools and, right now, are really hard to staff," Superintendent Justin Robertson said in an interview. "So creating an early pipeline for those professions is exciting."
School district and UTC officials signed a contract Wednesday to extend the university's sponsorship of the institute. Each year, UTC will support the program through in-kind staff service or an up to $50,000 donation.
"They say if you want to change the world, be a teacher," UTC Chancellor Steve Angle said during the contract signing ceremony. "Some of us are doing it in higher ed, some of us in K-12, but it's about that pipeline and getting young people inspired, and so this is such an important opportunity for students."
Students in the institute participate in work-based learning opportunities, and Tyner Academy Principal Tiffany Earvin highlighted the work students in the program are doing to serve other students by tutoring at Bess T. Shepherd Elementary and Harrison Elementary.
"They're working in classrooms," Earvin said during the ceremony. "They're teaching lessons of various types — just to make sure they're pouring back into their own communities. ... It is critical for us to make sure our younger students can also see the importance of teachers, not just teachers that are certified currently, but the ones that are leaving their own classrooms and coming back to work-based learning programs to provide access and opportunities for our younger students."
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The UTC Institute of Teaching and Learning is one of four future ready institutes offered at Tyner Academy. Across Hamilton County, there are roughly 30 future ready institutes, which aim to embed small learning communities at the district's traditional high schools that focus on a variety of industry themes with the goal of preparing students for careers after graduation.
Olivia Bagby, the district's future ready students director, said the decision to expand the teaching and learning institute came as students' expressed their desires to explore other education careers.
"A big part of future ready institutes is what we refer to as institute refinement," she said in an interview. "We are constantly surveying the students ... and so we take that feedback very seriously and identify what's the next iteration of the future of future ready institutes. It's through those student feedback that we identify this is the next need."
Contact Shannon Coan at scoan@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6396.