Question 1

What Gets Teachers to Stop Teaching?

Accepted Answer

When asking present and former educators why they left or are considering leaving their jobs, we get answers that go beyond wages and class sizes. Often, they go into some of the societal changes we’ve seen over the past few years.

For example, teachers report feeling they have less and less autonomy to do their job according to their own standards without interference from the government or parents.

The other issue is recent school shootings, in the context of generally increasing violent crime nationwide, that have forced more teachers to grapple with the idea of their personal safety in the classroom.

Politics and Education

There have always been tensions between various levels of government and stakeholders in the education system. Common subjects of disagreement include how funds are distributed, safety and equity regulations, and various aspects of what is taught in schools. In other words, schools have never been immune to political forces at the local, state, or national levels.

But at the beginning and well into the pandemic, necessity and opportunism have seen politics inserted into schools in entirely different ways, from mask regulations to guidelines on when and how to reopen.

In addition to that, the nationwide protests against police brutality, triggered by the murder of George Floyd, made teaching race more controversial as well.

“Without question, the politicization of education, especially as it relates to [racial] and gender issues, is creating new obstacles to complicate the challenges teachers already face,“ Professor Gibbons says.

Tony Holland, a former teacher, says that “the politicization of education, too much parental input on the curriculum, and too much red tape around the coronavirus” introduced enough added stress to get teachers to “leave the profession due to better opportunities elsewhere that are considered to be more lucrative or less stressful.”

School Violence

School shootings are, unfortunately, too common in the United States, and 2022 is on pace to be a record year in those terms. EdWeek has been tracking shootings on K-12 properties that result in injury or death since 2018. So far this year, there have been 27 of these shootings. In 2021 there were 34, the most since the publication began keeping track in 2018. However, in 2020, there were only 10, much less than in 2019 and 2018, which each saw 24 shootings.

A more comprehensive and searchable data map of school shootings is made available by the Center for Homeland Defense and Security at the Naval Postgraduate School.

The unique circumstances of one of the latest school shootings, which occurred in May at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, has had a negative effect on many teachers, experts say.

“The perceived inaction of some of the first responders has led many teachers to feel less valued and less supported than ever before,” Gibbons says.

Question 2

What Can Schools Do to Get Teachers Back?

Accepted Answer

According to former teachers and education experts we’ve talked to, many leave teaching for diverse types of jobs — from joining the military, to business consulting, to software engineering. Depending on a teacher’s interests, specializations, and willingness to return to school or enroll in a bootcamp, they can end up just about anywhere.

Many organizations value former teachers’ ability to control a room — and to teach. Oftentimes this takes place in the corporate setting, with adults instead of children, and for much more lucrative salaries.

Holland says some teachers he knows left to pursue their original ambitions in the fields of law, business, or medicine. That would likely involve some level of re-education, but to many, it’s an investment that will allow them to leave teaching without looking back.

So what can schools do to get their most important resource – teachers – back in the classroom?

The most common answers from the former and current teachers we spoke to involve better compensation and more respect for themselves and their profession.

Unfortunately, both are perhaps symptoms of larger, interlinked societal problems that will take some time to solve. Low teacher salaries have been the norm for decades now, and that may reflect the idea that society undervalues teachers.

Some places are loosening requirements to teach, which may be a way to get a broader and more diverse group of educators into classrooms. Other areas have used some federal emergency money to offer signing bonuses for teachers and other school employees that are in short supply.

But teachers want more than one-off bonuses or for elected leaders to pay lip service to the importance of teaching in our society. They want better salaries, better benefits, and better class sizes. They also advocate for more input in what and how they teach, a greater sense of safety in their schools, and appreciation in their communities — even from parents who may not agree with every detail of the curriculum.

“Even though I loved teaching, I didn’t want my life consumed by it anymore,” says Rowe, the former teacher from Maine. “Especially since it seems like everyone but teachers decides what happens in a classroom these days.”

“In general, I don’t feel teaching is as respected as it maybe once was, and that is a huge drawback to getting more people to become teachers,” says Rowe.

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