Educator Professional Development - Fall 2024

ATEC Academy is a fresh initiative led by executive leadership, addresses the escalating difficulty in recruiting and retaining skilled instructors amidst the rising demand for technical workforce.

ATEC Academy ran its first cohort of students in March 2024, with rave reviews. Facilitators have taken feedback and lessons learned during the initial course to make improvements to the curriculum, to include adding a section specifically addressing teaching of hands on labs.

Conducted by a seasoned educator with years of experience teaching teachers, and supported by a group of expert A&P master teachers mentoring participants, the course is limited to just 20 seats.

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About the Course

Part 147 schools cite the availability of qualified instructors as a top challenge to growing their programs. Difficulty finding and retaining instructors (in both education and industry settings) is becoming more acute as technical workforce demand increases. Schools are arguably hit the hardest when faced with industry competition (and associated salaries) for the same talent. A new initiative aims to tackle the shortage of aviation instructors by aiding professionals transitioning to the classroom and addressing challenges programs have to retain new educators with minimal teaching experience.

A significant number of new educators transition directly from industry, with minimal or no prior teaching experience. Training programs may not have the resources to adequately train these instructors or lack orientation programs that specifically address teaching methodologies and best practices. Consequently, new instructors often find themselves unprepared for the challenges of teaching and must learn on the job.

To assist recently appointed instructors to overcome challenges they’ll encounter in the classroom, ATEC has launched the ATEC Academy. The Academy’s second professional development course will kick off August 10-11 in Norman, Oklahoma, and then seamlessly transition to a virtual environment throughout the fall of 2024, culminating in a safe landing in November 2024.

This three-month course is designed to provide comprehensive training in active teaching strategies, student behavior management, assessment and evaluation methods, lesson planning, and current trends in higher education, with a specific focus on teaching technology. While the course was built with the new educator in mind, it can also be a resource for industry training personnel and seasoned instructors that want to learn new techniques or take information back to staff and colleagues.

Trainees will benefit from the face-to-face two-day session and subsequent virtual classes. In addition to class attendance, instructors will engage in assignments tailored to enhance their teaching skills and interactions with students. Recognizing the significant investments made by aviation maintenance programs in their instructor hiring practices, this immersive approach aims to improve student and instructor retention and persistence rates.

Leverage the ATEC Academy to provide your new instructors with a clear runway to success!

Register early, seats are limited.