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It’s no secret that teaching has become a much harder job these past two years than it has been in the past. Not that teaching 4 years ago was exactly a walk in the park either, mind you. But COVID has wreaked havoc on the educational system, causing teachers to leave in larger numbers than ever. So what is it that school districts continue to get wrong about education, and what should they do to fix these problems? Here’s a starter kit of issues we face and some potential solutions to them.
Problem #1: It’s all about the money
This is one of those problems with the most obvious solution. Yes, it’s probably the longest-standing grievance teachers far and wide have uttered for decades, but it continues to be an issue everywhere you go. While a few states have started to pass legislation to address the issue, the gap between teachers and other college-educated professionals continues to widen. A recent report shows teachers make 20% less than other professionals with the same level of education and experience.
Solution: Show me the money!
OK, so this solution is a pretty easy one: pay teachers more money. But money has to come from somewhere right? And that “somewhere” is usually the government. Now, we could fill a library writing books about how the government wastes billions of dollars every year, so one solution would be to make sure we elect officials that actually care about investing in education. Easier said than done for sure. Another solution would involve asking school districts to take a long look at the money they do get and prioritize teacher salaries over, let’s say, spending money on the latest educational program that comes with a cool acronym that teachers don’t want to use in the first place.
Problem #2: Prioritizing attracting new teachers over keeping experienced ones
It seems like a simple solution to a simple problem: “As more teachers leave the profession, we should offer bonuses and rewards to new teachers graduating college to get them to replace those teachers.”
What ends up happening, however, is new teachers end up at the most difficult schools, where the openings are. They feel disillusioned or worn out and move on to greener pastures or a different profession altogether. Those schools become meat grinders with no consistency and never improve. Meanwhile, every year they burn out a new crop of teachers that don’t stick around.
Solution: Reward longevity and excellence
Instead of offering bonuses to brand-new teachers to go teach in rougher schools, why not offer bonuses to older teachers instead? And make the bonuses actually worth going after. Moving a few really good, experienced teachers into those schools would decrease the turnover there and build more consistency. Suddenly those schools aren’t as difficult as they used to be. Let the new teachers build themselves up on a slightly easier difficulty setting until they figure out what they’re doing, and give the wiser educators out there a chance to make some real money by giving them a challenge.
While the current educational climate looks pretty bleak, simple solutions to these problems can greatly improve it. The question is whether districts will implement them.
Problem #3: Little or no classroom support
Class sizes keep increasing, positive student behavior keeps decreasing, but one number doesn’t seem to change: the amount of help teachers get to manage it all. Teacher aids, paras, and other support personnel are a dwindling resource for many schools, leaving teachers all alone to manage their classrooms. More students are getting identified as needing 504s, RTIs and help with ESOL, ELL, and ESE services. When districts can’t provide the staff to support these students, it becomes another task piled onto a teacher’s workload.
Solution: Prioritize the support and let support staff actually do their job
Many schools hire ESE and ESOL personnel but don’t actually use them as classroom supports. Instead, they fill gaps if there aren’t enough substitutes, or if teachers leave mid-year or if there’s some other shortage throughout the school. Let these people do the job you hired them for! Of course, that would require schools to have enough subs to go around first, which ties in very nicely with….
Problem #4: Taking time off is more stressful than working while sick
Ask any non-teacher professional about what happens when they call out sick and it sounds something like this: “I call my boss, tell them I’m sick, and they tell me to stay home and feel better soon.”
Ask a teacher what calling out sick is like and you’ll hear something like this: “Well, before I can call in sick, I need to check with administration first to make sure it’s OK to take time off. Then I need to fill out the proper paperwork and find my own substitute to cover my class for me. Then I need to write out plans for the substitute to follow, including notes on lunch procedures, and seating assignments. And the plans must be easy enough for someone to follow and detailed enough to keep students busy all day.”
See the problem here?
Solution: Let time off be time OFF
Right out of the gate, administrators should never, EVER guilt a teacher out of taking a sick day. Words like, “You know we’re really short-handed this week, so only call in if you’re REALLY sick,” are demoralizing and make teachers feel bad for taking care of themselves. Secondly, the reason administrators want to say things like that is because there is a nationwide shortage of substitute teachers. You know why? They’re paid terribly and treated even worse. Make substitute teaching a more attractive option and you have a solution to two problems at once.
Problem #5: No time for self-care
The concept of “self-care” really came to the forefront during the 2020 quarantine, but teachers have needed it for far longer than that. Unfortunately, between meeting lesson plan and grading deadlines, making phone calls to parents, and attending an endless slew of meetings, there’s very little time left in the day. Many teachers don’t even get to enjoy a daily planning period anymore where they can at least sit in silence for a few minutes. Often, grading and parent contact invades their quiet time at home as well. And no, we don’t need to sit through a 60-minute faculty meeting teaching us the importance of self-care. Especially when we could have spent that time caring for our actual selves.
Solution: It’s time to re-prioritize the school day
Let’s face it, most faculty meetings could (and should) be emails, especially when they drag on with endless Q&As from that one teacher that has “just a quick question.” Instead, why not have administrators hold weekly Zoom meetings before or after school for teachers to pop in and ask those questions? It’s more efficient and lets teachers without questions get more done.
And when teachers leave school for the day, they should be allowed to leave ALL of it for the day. How many other professionals bring mountains of work home with them to do while they’re off the clock? Not many. The solution to this problem is to treat teachers like professionals, plain and simple.
Problem #6: Letting the animals run the zoo
Long, long ago, a parent/teacher conference was where teachers let parents know their child was, shall we say, falling short of expectations. Nowadays they’ve become opportunities for parents to launch into tirades about how this teacher is failing to meet the needs of their precious angel.
In the classroom, it’s even worse. Teachers are being abused verbally, psychologically (and sometimes physically) by students. And often when this happens teachers are told to just “toughen up” or “control your class”. The blame for student behavior has somehow landed in the lap of teachers.
Solution: Real consequences for serious actions
This is where administrators can really make a large impact. They excuse too many bad behaviors and do not hold students (and parents) accountable. Many administrators are loathed to suspend a child from school because they may (gasp!) fall one or two days behind in the quest to pass the almighty standardized test. But sending a child home for a couple days is a solution to many problems. First, it gives the teacher a break from dealing with that behavior. Secondly, it lets other students know there are actual consequences. Third, it forces the parents to deal with the issue. Maybe they have to take a day off to watch their child. Maybe the parent is upset they had to do that. Or maybe, just maybe, they’ll work a little harder to correct their child’s behavior so it doesn’t happen again.
Even if the behavior isn’t suspension-worthy, holding students to a higher standard is better than no standard at all.
Problem #7: Total lack of appreciation
Sure, there is a National Teacher Appreciation Week where for five whole days teachers are patted on the back and told how wonderful they are. It’s cute but often rings hollow. Teachers have been put through the wringer these last two years and have increasingly felt a lack of appreciation from… well… everybody really. Administrators, parents, superintendents, you name it. Psychologically it wears teachers down and affects their ability and desire to perform at their best in the classroom.
Solution: A little love goes a long way
Teachers are, believe it or not, an easy group of people to satisfy. We don’t need ticker-tape parades or lavish parties, and for the last time… letting us wear jeans for a day isn’t the Earth-shattering reward you think it is. We just need to know that we’re being seen and recognized for the job we do. Even something as simple as a “Teacher of the Month” award that comes with a plastic trophy and a $5 Starbucks card can drastically improve morale at a school. The solution to this problem is basic respect and admiration.
