Teachers have been saying for years that their morale at work is low, and they鈥檙e frustrated with many aspects of the job. But administrators don鈥檛 always see it that way.
Two nationally representative EdWeek Research Center surveys conducted as part of our new The State of Teaching project鈥攐ne of teachers, the other of school leaders鈥攆ound a disconnect between the two groups. Nearly half of teachers said their morale has worsened over the past year, but only 32 percent of school leaders perceived this decline among teachers. Forty-five percent of school leaders said teachers have mostly good morale鈥攚hile just 26 percent of teachers agreed.
While some of the factors behind teachers鈥� poor job satisfaction are out of administrators鈥� control鈥攊ncluding, often, teachers鈥� salaries and the amount of money they have to channel into resources for schools鈥攐thers are not.
New national data on the teaching profession, vivid reporting from classrooms, and resources to help support this essential profession.
Explore the Exclusive Report.
Education Week reporters asked five teachers from across the country what school or district leaders could do that would lead to a significant, positive improvement toward their feelings about their jobs.
Their answers have been edited for length and clarity.
More support for students鈥� social-emotional needs
鈥淎t our school, we have a lot of great resources. But I know our social worker, she鈥檚 bombarded and she鈥檚 full of cases, because kids are mentally exhausted at this point. [69传媒 are] sensitive, and they鈥檙e emotional, and it鈥檚 just so hard for them. Having more support staff available for the students [would be a positive improvement].
As a teacher, I also have to play that social worker role a lot. So it does take time away from the classroom, because I have to go and check on students to make sure they are OK. If they鈥檙e mentally not there, they鈥檙e unable to learn. We have a great social worker, but I just know she also needs more support. If there are people who could check in with the kids more often, then I feel like it鈥檒l help instruction flow more smoothly. In turn, that鈥檚 going to help everyone succeed and do better.
Even for teachers, giving us mental health days would really help. Teacher burnout is a crucial issue that often gets overlooked. Granting teachers mental health days allows us to regroup and recharge, [which fosters] more effective and meaningful classroom interactions. I believe mental health days can be one key out of many to help with nationwide teacher shortages. Personally, my most innovative ideas for my students come when I am free from the stress of daily classroom responsibilities.鈥�
鈥擧elen Chan, 4th grade math teacher at South Loop Elementary School in Chicago
More support for working with English learners
鈥淸Having] iPads, at least for these non-English-speaking students, so they can be more successful, more independent.
Also, training. We do have training available for gen. ed. teachers, [and English-for-speakers-of-other-languages teachers in the district]. But I think that if we make it more [accessible]鈥攚e have early release days on Wednesdays, for instance, and maybe if we bring [in training] once per semester, twice a year, where we can share with the gen. ed. teachers strategies and model how to use them with their kids, they鈥檒l be more successful.鈥�
鈥擥riselle Rivera-Martinez, an ESOL teacher at Enterprise Elementary School in Enterprise, Fla.
鈥淭here are so many kids who are not native English speakers, especially with all the children coming from Venezuela. It鈥檚 difficult to teach them [without an English-as-a-second-language certification]. Technology helps, obviously. But there could be more support.鈥�
鈥擟丑补苍
鈥淲e have a really significant population of emergent multilingual learners, and that has been a personal research interest of mine. The amount of teachers that I see who don鈥檛 know how to navigate teaching those students鈥擨 feel like we could try to find more ways to foster a sense of community for them, involving them in all the things that we have going on in our school districts.
There鈥檚 definitely an effort [to do so]. But the places that I鈥檝e seen execute this in the most utopian kind of way鈥攊t takes a huge investment, especially from administrators, honestly. They have to put in all the legwork to get parents to come, and you鈥檝e got to figure out what鈥檚 going to get them to come. Not just that, but asking your teachers to also invest in it. That鈥檚 hard when teachers already give so much.
I hope to see school districts where emergent multilingual learners have teachers who know how to hold them accountable for high-quality work that鈥檚 going to help make them into competent ingesters of information and members of our society鈥攂ecause they deserve that. That鈥檚 the way that they get to build a beautiful life, however it is that they define a beautiful life. And I want that for my students who fall into that category.鈥�
鈥擲ofia Alvarez-Briglie, a 7th grade science teacher at Alcott Middle School in Norman, Okla.
More money
鈥淚 think it is so easy to tie in so many problems with the current teacher situation into teacher pay. Teacher pay is woefully underfunded, especially in the state of Texas, [and] is used as a political tool to get other things that have nothing inherently to do with teacher pay and teacher satisfaction.
Both [my partner and I] are teachers. We鈥檙e fortunate financially in comparison to what a lot of ... teachers across the state. And yet, inflation has directly impacted us. We鈥檝e noticed our grocery bill going up, gas bill going up, and our teacher pay hasn鈥檛.
We were the only, as far as I know, employees from the state that weren鈥檛 given a raise at the last special session. And now, as this debate about school vouchers is happening, the special session is using teacher pay as a political tool to attempt to get some people that are holding out on vouchers鈥擨 hate to be childish, but that鈥檚 not fair. [Editor鈥檚 note: The Texas legislature without passing either the school voucher program or the teacher pay raise.]
鈥擣rank Rivera, a middle and high school English/language arts teacher at Chaparral Star Academy in Austin, Texas
More respect
鈥淎ppreciation. I鈥檓 not looking for a stipend, or kudos. I just want that respect. I鈥檓 sick of hearing that teachers don鈥檛 get paid enough. You didn鈥檛 go into education for the money. Younger generations, they鈥檙e leaving in droves. But we do want to be acknowledged for our work.鈥�
鈥擩acqueline Chaney, 2nd grade teacher at New Town Elementary in Owings Mills, Md.
More support with parents
鈥淚 think an issue that occasionally rises up is parents thinking that they can complain to admin. as opposed to directing the complaint to the teacher so that it doesn鈥檛 escalate into something more serious or concerning. And the admin. is usually鈥攂ut not always鈥攑retty good about directing the parent to talk to the teacher initially.
I think sometimes things get brought to the admin. or the school board that could be handled just by parents talking to the teacher and not having to鈥攑ardon the clich茅鈥�"Karen鈥� your way into talking to their supervisor.
Talk to the teacher, understand their situation, make your situation understood, try to treat them with respect. They鈥檒l treat you hopefully with respect, and if that happens, you鈥檝e solved the situation before it becomes anything more than it needs to be.鈥�
鈥擣rank Rivera
