Legislators out there reading this, I don't envy you right now. As I said in the intro post, everybody out there with an interest in the teacher shortage has their opinions on what "they" should do to solve it.
And I think for a big chunk of people, "they" is you.
This is a tough time to be a legislator, and teachers and education are rarely high-profile in your list of priorities. Bigger fish to fry, as they say. I get that.
But hey, you clicked over here, so I may as well try!
Of the seven reasons most commonly cited for teachers wanting to quit, you as legislators, I believe, have the ability to have a big, positive impact on three of them of them - over-assessment, salary, and support. What's nice about only affecting three is that what we need from you is narrow and focused.
The accounts of teacher burnout being published come with suggestions for major, systemic changes that I hope you're taking seriously and moving quickly to enact. However, I think that, for you in particular, doing a few big things really well would be better than trying to tinker with a lot of individual changes. As I said - narrow and focused. You'll notice as well that much of my advice deals with what you can stop doing.
Just think, with a few priorities and a few things you can stop doing, you can have a HUGE impact on the teacher shortage in your state or city! Here are five ways you can help influence our schools so that the teachers working there today stick around and the ones you need in the future want to join you.
1. Fund salaries
This one doesn’t need much explaining. Part of the current teacher shortage is a salary shortage, full stop.
2. Fund social services
One of the big reasons teachers stop teaching is that we just can’t do it all. We can’t be the teacher and the counselor and the social worker and the shoulder to cry on and the daycare and …
We want to. We really do.
Most of us started teaching because we wanted to change lives - and even save lives. But the reality is, once we start, if you want us to teach, that alone is a full-time job. We need counselors and social workers and support people to do the other work. We wish we didn’t, but we do. When there’s a six week wait for our kids to see a social worker, we’re a wreck for six weeks. Our teaching suffers. We feel like failures. And we decide to quit.
3. Fund protection
The teachers in your jurisdiction work in a country where there is a decent likelihood that a mentally ill person will come into the school and shoot them or their students. Yes, we actually worry about this. Please hear me say that clearly - yes, we actually worry about this. I wish this weren’t the case, but schools need all the security they can get. We know with certainty that there will be more school shootings. There is no doubt about this. Nothing short of state-of-the-art security equipment and personnel will do. If you want people to keep working in places that active shooters seek out, they need to feel secure.
4. If it doesn’t have to do with funding, probably stay out of it
As a legislator, your job is to fund schools and classrooms. They know what to do. Give them the money and let them do it. You’re not an expert on education, and we don’t need to be the pawns in your social issue games. The future of society is in our classrooms, and you shouldn’t treat them like they’re just an easy piece to move in your political game. We don’t like that, and we wont keep showing up to be a part of it.
5. If you can’t stay out of it, make sure you’re solving problems by subtraction rather than addition
And I think for a big chunk of people, "they" is you.
This is a tough time to be a legislator, and teachers and education are rarely high-profile in your list of priorities. Bigger fish to fry, as they say. I get that.
But hey, you clicked over here, so I may as well try!
Of the seven reasons most commonly cited for teachers wanting to quit, you as legislators, I believe, have the ability to have a big, positive impact on three of them of them - over-assessment, salary, and support. What's nice about only affecting three is that what we need from you is narrow and focused.
The accounts of teacher burnout being published come with suggestions for major, systemic changes that I hope you're taking seriously and moving quickly to enact. However, I think that, for you in particular, doing a few big things really well would be better than trying to tinker with a lot of individual changes. As I said - narrow and focused. You'll notice as well that much of my advice deals with what you can stop doing.
Just think, with a few priorities and a few things you can stop doing, you can have a HUGE impact on the teacher shortage in your state or city! Here are five ways you can help influence our schools so that the teachers working there today stick around and the ones you need in the future want to join you.
1. Fund salaries
This one doesn’t need much explaining. Part of the current teacher shortage is a salary shortage, full stop.
2. Fund social services
One of the big reasons teachers stop teaching is that we just can’t do it all. We can’t be the teacher and the counselor and the social worker and the shoulder to cry on and the daycare and …
We want to. We really do.
Most of us started teaching because we wanted to change lives - and even save lives. But the reality is, once we start, if you want us to teach, that alone is a full-time job. We need counselors and social workers and support people to do the other work. We wish we didn’t, but we do. When there’s a six week wait for our kids to see a social worker, we’re a wreck for six weeks. Our teaching suffers. We feel like failures. And we decide to quit.
3. Fund protection
The teachers in your jurisdiction work in a country where there is a decent likelihood that a mentally ill person will come into the school and shoot them or their students. Yes, we actually worry about this. Please hear me say that clearly - yes, we actually worry about this. I wish this weren’t the case, but schools need all the security they can get. We know with certainty that there will be more school shootings. There is no doubt about this. Nothing short of state-of-the-art security equipment and personnel will do. If you want people to keep working in places that active shooters seek out, they need to feel secure.
4. If it doesn’t have to do with funding, probably stay out of it
As a legislator, your job is to fund schools and classrooms. They know what to do. Give them the money and let them do it. You’re not an expert on education, and we don’t need to be the pawns in your social issue games. The future of society is in our classrooms, and you shouldn’t treat them like they’re just an easy piece to move in your political game. We don’t like that, and we wont keep showing up to be a part of it.
5. If you can’t stay out of it, make sure you’re solving problems by subtraction rather than addition
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If there comes a time when an issue arises and you can’t solve it with funding or stay out of it, the first thing to do is to assume you made a mistake - that you actually can solve it with funding or stay out of it. But if that’s really the case, make sure the legislation you pass takes away more than it adds to the plates of schools. (This goes double for assessments - take away two for every one you add. Or just take away two without adding any.) We’re already supposed to solve all of society’s ills. Want us to solve a new one without driving us to jobs in the private sector? Don't create any new ones for us. There you have it. Five ways for you as a legislator to single-handedly have a positive impact on the teacher shortage. |
She wisely chose subtraction as the path to results.
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- Fund salaries
- Fund social services
- Fund protection
- If it doesn't have to do with funding, probably stay out of it
- Solve problems by subtraction rather than addition
Is more needed than just this? Absolutely. I'm sure you've seen more of the teacher burnout reports than I have (I've only seen this one and this one) The bigger, systemic changes suggested in these are important and serious. But to package a lot of them into fewer, more manageable buckets, I suggest thinking about a lot of it like this.
If you manage to master even 1-2 of these and word gets out, I suspect you're city or state will weather the teacher shortage better than anyone else around. You may even poach a few teachers from other locales looking for a better place to practice their craft. To think, you - yes YOU - can help end the teacher shortage.
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