Education
"What's really going on with the teacher shortage"
"Why so many teachers are leaving, and others stay."
Retta, Mary. “What's Really Going on with the Teacher Shortage.” Teen Vogue, 16 Sept. 2022, www.teenvogue.com/story/why-teacher-shortage-in-us.
Why so many teachers are leaving, and others stay. (2022, May 12). The Cult of Pedagogy Podcast. episode.
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The podcast helps see and reason why educators are staying or leaving teaching.
"There was never trouble like the brutality of the treatment by our own leadership during the pandemic." (5:36)
Administration fails again and again by not listening to teachers when they are reaching out a begging for help and resources.
The podcast was produced in 2022 making it close and relevant to today. Jennifer Gonzalez interviews educators, students, administrators, and parents to gather a wide array of perspectives and information.
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The article was posted by Mary Retta who is an education columnist for Teen Vogue. The cite provides a multitude of sources and interviews to back their date and research. It was also posted in 2022 making it very relevant.
Will use article to shed light on the way educators feel towards education/ shortage/ funding and how it has affected students.
Educators have to deal with stresses due to COVID, conservative school boards, working conditions, and the creation of laws that deter the teaching of true history.
"Schools across the U.S. are facing a shortage of 300,000 teachers and staff." (Retta)
"A union poll from the NEA released at the same time also found that 55% of educators were considering leaving earlier than they had originally planned." (Retta)
"My students have lost important years of learning because they did not have qualified teachers for a full year." (Retta)
Educators feel chronically overworked, underpaid, and deeply disrespected.
There has been a rise in homelessness and poverty within students who do not have health care. This causes educators to fill those gaps.
Teacher prep enrollment has gone down 1/3 between 2010-2018
" 'I Work 3 Jobs And Donate Blood Plasma to Pay the Bills.' This Is What It’s Like to Be a Teacher in America"
Reilly, Katie. “Exactly How Teachers Came to Be so Underpaid in America.” Time, Time, 13 Sept. 2018, time.com/longform/teaching-in-america/.
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Katie Reilly is a reporter for TIME magazine. This article includes many perspectives of educators that are struggling and having to branch out for stable living. There are also a multitude of information that compares the past to the present.
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"This financial juggling is now a part of her everyday life—something she never expected almost two decades ago when she earned a master’s degree in secondary education and became a high school history teacher." (Reilly)
The U.S.'s multi-million full-time public-school jobs are going through a wage stagnation that is terrible compared to other professions.
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Will use to shed light on how educators are struggling to live a stable life while giving their life to their profession.
(In 1994, public-school teachers in the U.S. earned 1.8% less per week than comparable workers, according to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), a left-leaning think tank. By last year, they made 18.7% less." (Reilly)
Educators are being hit with a decrease in benefits as well as new goals for student achievement, standardized tests, curriculum changes, and educator evaluations.
"Teaching has long been dominated by women, and experts say the roots of its relatively low pay lie in sexism. “The ‘hidden subsidy of public education’ is the fact that teachers for many years were necessarily working at suppressed wage levels because they really had no options other than teaching,” says Susan Moore Johnson, a professor of education at Harvard and an expert in teacher policy." (Reilly)
Many argue that benefits and the summers off validify the present pay, but most summers are spent working a second job, creating lesson plans, and taking educational courses. All in all, turning into a year-round job.
Both article touch base on the treatment of educators and the affects it has had on educators, students, faculty, and parents.
"The Message We Miss: Banned Books, Censored Texts, and Citizenship."
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The study offers a multitude of data tables, interview point of views, and provides resources to back research. Although the study was published in 2018, it is still a relevant topic today.
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"When introduced to banned and censored texts related to citizenship, teacher candidates conceptually appreciated the notion of exploring controversial citizenship issues with students." (Lycke, 1)
Teaching students about controversial topics opens their minds and has them think critically about a democratic society.
The study covers a controversial topic in today's classrooms. Teachers are being punished and restricted for what they teach. The study touches base
"Freedom of speech go hand-in-hand because in order for a school to have good citizenship, students need to feel free to speak about how they feel about issues taking place inside and outside of their school. Children should have the freedom to speak freely within schools while maintaining a high level of respect for teachers and administrators." (Lycke, 17)
The idea of censorship in education is huge. A lot of curricula are restricted to ensure ideas are not altered due to true history. Censorship lets the dominant culture teach history.
The study takes teacher candidates and asks for their views on a democratic society and how it affects teachers, students, and the administration.
Lycke, Kara, and Thomas Lucey. “The Messages We Miss: Banned Books, Censored Texts, and Citizenship.” Journal of Social Studies Education Research, vol. 1, no. 3, 1 July 2018, pp. 1–26., dergipark.org.tr/en/pub/jsser/issue/43625/534221.
"Given the professional reality that teaching represents a social and political act, teachers and educators represent models and authority figures for their students, and thus possess serious obligations to consider the influences of their social positions on the extent to which their students approach to teaching about citizenship as a state of responsibility, leadership, or social change." (Lycke, 2)
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“How Do School-Based Prevention Programs Impact Teachers? Findings from a Randomized Trial of an Integrated Classroom Management and Social-Emotional Program.”
"Waiting for Superman."
“Reasons Why Teachers Are Underpaid.”
"Teacher emotions in the classroom: associations with students’ engagement, classroom discipline and the interpersonal teacher-student relationship."
Domitrovich, Celene E., et al. “How Do School-Based Prevention Programs Impact Teachers? Findings from a Randomized Trial of an Integrated Classroom Management and Social-Emotional Program.” Prevention Science, vol. 17, no. 3, 2016, pp. 325–337., https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-015-0618-z.
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This source helps show the importance of classroom prevention techniques and the needed funding that comes behind those techniques.
There have been many classroom preventions techniques implemented but there is no research to show how teachers are affected by these techniques.
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"These findings suggest that school-based preventive interventions can have a positive impact on teachers’ beliefs and perceptions, particularly when the program includes a social-emotional component. (Domitrovich, 1)"
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The article was posted in 2016 so it is relatively relevant. It was posted by multiple authors with credible backgrounds like Dr. Domitrovich who has all of her education/ occupations and a reachable email listed. The article was revised by Penn State's Individual Conflict of Interest Committee and researched was supported by grants from the institute of Education Sciences and the National Institute of Mental Health. There is also a large number of references.
Hagenauer, G., Hascher, T. & Volet, S.E. Teacher emotions in the classroom: associations with students’ engagement, classroom discipline and the interpersonal teacher-student relationship. Eur J Psychol Educ 30, 385–403 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10212-015-0250-0
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The source provides information on the authors. Providing their occupational locations and ways to reach them. There are many citations and tables to back research.
This source will help show the significance of a healthy relationship between a teacher and a student. It shows how the teacher's perceptions can indicate a student's behavior.
"The scale measuring self-efficacy in teaching content contained four items (α=0.72; e.g. “I am confident that my teaching style is effective and that students learn a lot in my class”) and the scale measuring self-efficacy in classroom management, three items (α=0.86; e.g., “If a student becomes disruptive and noisy in my class, I feel assured that I know some techniques to redirect him/her quickly”). In contrast, the scale to measure self-efficacy in relationship building was newly developed for the present study, as this dimension has not been treated as independent in prior research. This original scale contained five items (α=0.84; e.g. “It is easy for me to connect 390 G. Hagenauer et al. well with my students”; “Even if my students behave reserved, I am able to shape positive relationships with them”)." (Hagenauer, 6-7)
Studies show that teaching is an emotional occupation and teacher emotions can correlate with their wellbeing and quality of teaching.
Ravitch, Jones. “Reasons Why Teachers Are Underpaid.” College Us, 10 Feb. 2023, https://college.us.com/reasons-why-teachers-are-underpaid/#:~:text=Despite%20their%20vital%20importance%2C%20many%20teachers%20are%20often,lack%20of%20investment%20in%20teacher%20training%20and%20development.
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This source will be used as deeper information to add to my other sources that touch on the why of underfunding.
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There is not much to back the credibility of this website. The reason I chose to use it was for extra information to back my other credible sources.
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"In many states and cities, funding for education has been reduced in recent years, as governments struggle to balance their budgets in the face of rising costs and declining revenues. (Ravitch)"
Due to lower salaries, educators have had to receive pay cuts and accept benefit reductions (healthcare and retirement).
“Waiting for 'Superman' (2010).” WatchDocumentaries.com, 1 Jan. 2022, https://watchdocumentaries.com/waiting-for-superman/.
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This documentary follows teachers, parents, and students to understand their journey through different education systems. This helps display the range in different education systems and how some are luckier than others. Meaning geographics and economics decide if students get a well-rounded education or not. This documentary helps showcase the failures and triumphs of the U.S. educational system.
This documentary shows the depths of the effects the education system has on administrators, teachers, and families. It grasps onto the emotional aspect.
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"My feelings about public education didn't matter as much as my fear of sending them [his children] to a failing school." (3:46)
Teachers are like superman. They embody a sense of hope within students. Students look up to them as a mentor.
Many countries focus their budgets on healthcare and defense compared to education.
Emphasis on standardized testing to determine funding has led to lower funding.
"Instead, teachers are often expected to focus their efforts on preparing students for standardized tests, which takes time and energy away from other areas of their work, such as lesson planning, professional development, and community outreach. (Ravitch)"
"However, many schools and districts do not provide the necessary resources and support for teachers to engage in ongoing training and development, which can lead to burnout and frustration among teachers, and can contribute to a cycle of teacher underpayment. (Ravitch)"
Perceptions of education are based off of misunderstandings of the occupations demand and failure to seek the significance of a teacher which leads to the battle of a fair wage.
The documentary shows the inside of families and their struggles and how it effects children.
A lot of students have negative feelings towards school because they are struggling. They feel it is too hard or complicated and do not have the correct resources to excel.
"We place our students and their futures in the hands of luck" (4:31)
"You see a huge number of minority kids go from B students to D students" (18:50)
Student misbehavior has a negative association with student learning and teacher functioning.
A classroom environment that focuses on academics and engagement is built off of a positive teacher who promotes learning and knows how to gage misbehavior.
"A number of classroom behavior and social-emotional learning (SEL) programs have been tested and shown to have positive impacts on a range of students’ outcomes, including aggressive behavior problems, substance use, and academic performance (e.g., Ialongo et al. 2001; Durlak et al. 2011). (Domitrovich, 1)"
"Approximately 17 % of new teachers leave within their first 5 years of teaching (Gray and Taie 2015). Although it is difficult to determine the root cause of turnover, student misbehavior is a major contributor to stress, burnout, and job dissatisfaction (Evers et al. 2004; Geving 2007; Klusmann et al. 2008; Maslach 1998). (Domitrovich, 2)"
"Teachers follow different teaching goals, observe the behavior of students related to their goals and then appraise this behavior (e.g. in terms of goal attainment), which contributes to their respective emotions. For example, if a teacher judges a situation as goal congruent (i.e. students are motivationally engaged; see also the research on teacher motivation by Mansfield and Beltman 2014) and manageable (secondary appraisal; Lazarus 1999), it is likely that positive emotions would be experienced (e.g. satisfaction or joy; Schutz et al. 2011). (Hagenauer, 2)"
"Research has shown that primary and secondary teachers’ emotions are strongly connected to positive interactions with their students (e.g. a breakthrough of a learner, showing appreciation of the teachers’ work), evoking responses such as joy and satisfaction (Hargreaves 2000). Conversely, in terms of negative emotions, a recent study by Chang (2013) showed that negative emotions of teachers (e.g. anger and frustration) were frequently related to students’ misbehavior or lack of classroom discipline, which increased the risk for burnout over time (Tsouloupas et al. 2010). Classroom discipline problems have also been found to be one of the main predictors of teacher stress (Abel and Sewell 1999; McCarthy et al. 2015) and also impede on teacher enthusiasm (Kunter et al. 2011). (Hagenauer, 3)"
Higher teacher self-efficacy leads to better content, better classroom management, and higher relationship building.
The bond between a teacher and student goes well beyond the eyes.
Teachers are not only caregivers but also care-seekers.
"Therefore, positive teacher emotions may not only be essential for the wellbeing of teachers, but they may also affect students’ wellbeing and, in turn, learning in class. (Hegenauer, 14)"
"Instructional strategies that aim at fostering the interpersonal TSR have been largely overlooked in teacher education curricula. As Jennings and Greenberg (2009, p. 495) have observed, “the current educational system appears to assume that teachers have the requisite SEC [socio-emotional competence] to create a warm and nurturing learning environment, be emotionally responsive to students, form supportive and collaborative relationships with difficult and demanding parents […].” In fact, (socio)-emotional competence can be regarded as a competence cluster that requires training just like other teacher competencies. There is emerging evidence that TSR issues tend to evoke tensions and dilemmas accompanied by various emotions, particularly in beginning teachers, which reflects insecurity in regard to relationship issues (Pillen et al. 2013). Thus, reflecting on social interaction in the classroom and its accompanied emotions should be an important component of teacher pre- and in-service education programs, with a view to develop and enhance teachers’ (socio)-emotional competence (Garner 2010; Jennings and Greenberg 2009) (Hagenauer, 14)"
"Therefore, it is important to account for teacher perceptions of school health when considering the impacts of classroom-based interventions. Furthermore, ecological models of development highlight the significance of the transactional relationship between the individual and the environment, suggesting that if a preventive intervention successfully improves some aspect of the classroom context or school health, it has the potential to impact the teachers in that environment. (Domitrovich, 2)"
"Studies suggest that teachers’ ratings of their own social and emotional skill positively relate to how they manage stress and their levels of burnout (Brackett et al. 2010; Chan 2004). Interventions with SEL content help students develop and internalize specific personal and social skills, such as those needed to regulate behavior and develop positive social relationships. These components also tend to foster emotionally supportive environments and positive relationships among students, teachers, and peers through communication about emotions and the use of social problem solving to resolve conflicts. (Domitrovich, 3)"
Implementing coaches for teachers is a great way to have support and aid. A coach provides practical guidance and emotional support.
When the education system starts failing students, students believe it is their fault. They start to lose their self-efficacy and doubt they have futures.
"I started high school but my mom had her own business and I had to help her. So I decided to leave." (20:00)
"16% of inmates are high school dropouts." (24:57)
"Were stuck. It's not fair, but this is where we live." (34:09)
"Our schools haven't changed but the world around them has." (1:07:12)
Many are scared of contradicting opinions and ideas. Administration cares more about their positions of power. This reasons why a lot of educators and students go unheard.
"Teachers need seats at the table where all decisions are being made. Every school board should have a teacher who is elected. Every school board should have a student that is elected" (11:40)
"If people knew how powerful they are." (13:45)
Administrators that do understand and care go unheard because they don't speak up.
Educators are exhausted, and as more and more leave, those that stay have to triple the work to keep our education system running.
"Enrichment sounds like a good thing. Turns out enrichment is just a euphemism for test prep." (25:40)
An educators workday goes beyond school hours. They are constantly lesson planning and receiving emails from parents. These emails include abusive language and doubt.
There is no time for educators to implicate self-care into their lifestyles.
People love to throw around the concept of diversity but then refuse to add those into the system. Providing less and less safety and protection for students.
Schools focus on comparison of other schools and meeting goals/ standards instead of individual student learning.
"No one cared about my well-being. No one cared about the student's well-being." (35:50)
"I think so many people that make the decisions about our schools and our children are so far removed from actual classrooms that they do not understand what is happening." (36:25)
Empathy, understanding, and open ears keep teachers and show them that they are important and heard.