Alabama will be the latest state to add teaching to the list of registered apprenticeships, thanks to an executive order from Gov. Kay Ivey issued Wednesday.

College students working on a bachelor’s degree to teach will be able to lead their own classroom during their final year of college, instead of student teaching under the guidance of a credentialed teacher.

Formal grow-your-own apprenticeship programs are a relatively new phenomenon in the United States.

The U.S. Department of Labor added K-12 teaching to its list of approved apprenticeships in November 2021, and since that time, more than a dozen states, including Tennessee and Florida, have established programs.

Ivey wants recommendations from the Office of Apprenticeship and State Superintendent for how to get an Alabama program started not later than March 31.

At a recent state board of education work session, State Superintendent Eric Mackey said more information about apprenticeships and processes should be available soon.

“Apprenticeship programs take someone who does not have a college degree, but they’re working as a teacher’s assistant, maybe in special education and they want to become a special ed teacher,” Mackey said. “They can be paid by the district, be working in the classroom to get practical experience and maybe go into night classes or weekend classes to complete both their degree and their certification pathway at the same time.”

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The goal of the pilot program is to improve teacher quality, retention, mentorship and to make becoming a teacher more affordable, according to Ivey.

Ivey’s order directs officials to start the pilot in areas where teacher shortages exist currently. That includes schools in rural and urban areas and among certain subject areas like high school math and science and also special education.

State education officials have made multiple changes to open up the pipeline for new teachers, temporarily lowering the score for certification tests in exchange for higher grades, allowing student teachers to lead their own classrooms, and allowing for-profit teacher preparation programs to operate here.

There are 25 college and university teacher preparation programs in Alabama, which together resulted in 1,930 new teachers earning certification in 2022, according to the Alabama Higher Education Report Card.

The state established an early childhood educator apprenticeship program in late 2021, due to the growing need for pre-k teachers in Alabama.