Just got off the phone with one of my co-teachers. You see we start work a week from today. Yup, 24th of August in a cement building built in 1961, and I teach on the second floor. Today and tomorrow the temperatures will reach in the mid-90's. It is forecasted to reach as low as the mid-80's by next week. My friend is dreading going back to school, and it's not just from the potential heat-stroke we've all experienced in the building numerous times over the years, but it's the mounting mandates and lack of administrative support that really has teachers hot under the collar.
You see there is a National Teacher Shortage right now. Do you wonder why? I don't! To be a High School Subject Matter teacher in the State of Massachusetts, one must have not one, but two Master Degrees; one in your Subject area and one in Education. I think it's even more difficult for the elementary teachers, in terms of licensure, but I'm not sure of that. From the time you pass the MTEL (state licensure testing evaluation) for your first license, you have 5 years to receive both Masters and have worked in and received stellar reviews and Professional status in one school district.
This is getting increasingly tough to do, as the review process and the common core mandates piled on these new teachers (as well as those with Prof. status ~ tenure is a term no longer used to mean safe ~ all teachers are evaluated regularly now, it's just the frequency that changes) makes the stress levels high. So forget about having to pay back college loans while getting two masters and then being required to take additional graduate level courses in both your Subject Area and Secondary Education forever, paying for them out of pocket, and not having that be a pinching reality. You also have to jump through an every increasing number of digital data hoops that you have to design yourself, implement, analyze, graph and file for review as proof of your good teaching practices and how your students are empirically benefitting by them.
Most teachers do NOT have the summers off. They teach summer school, take graduate courses, ramp up their second or third jobs as tutors, landscapers, coaches, writers, or all of those in some combination. Their windows of time not working can be two weeks really "off" in the summer or not being "off" at all. I'm lucky in that I can manage, with careful budgeting to truly take the time off. But I still lead a HS trip Down Under, finished a Grad Class and took a week long writers workshop (which equals 5 weeks out of my 8 spent "on", not off). Now I'm lucky that I love traveling(which pays for the teacher to lead), teenagers (my own and students), writing (course work and my own) and thinking (about all of the above). Most teachers do not have this luxury and almost all take at least one course during the summer for continued Professional Development credits and to stay current (again, out of pocket).
I know of no other profession where all of the above is true. Also where it's true and the professional is often unsupported in the district where they teach. So much so that nationally 3 out of 5 new teachers quit the profession before they reach Professional status (3-5 yrs). Many older teachers are retiring early, as they can't take the continuously changing challenge of meeting new mandates and being responsible for data that we don't have the real resources to complete successfully. The stress for the young and old is mounting.
I'm in the middle as a career-changer who joined the teaching world in my 40's. The 20 somethings and 60 somethings are bailing at an alarming rate. Now the mid-career folks are shifting districts, thinking that with more resources or a better managed district the classroom will be more in their command. But there really is no geographical solution (although resources and great management help). Just like Medicine, Publishing, or any other profession where the life of the mind meets human interaction, the one size fits all, bottom line and data driven models are running rampant. We're losing the experienced and knowledgable teachers, doctors, nurses, editors, agents and artists who don't want to work for conglomerates or the political ~ philosophical paradigm of the year.
That's the other side of this frantically fast and ever moving policy shifts; nothing ever stays in place long enough to really see how any of it works or doesn't and why! Each new politician, Superintendent, CEO, Board of Directors, wants to put their own signature on the process, without ever asking or listening to how they may be repeating past mistakes or not taking into account the reality of so many hours in a work day (although all professional people bring home work now-- no teacher ever leaves all their work in the classroom or employee all their work in the office...not if you want to stay up to date and relevant )! So people are working longer hours, for less money (inflation has not kept up with the cost of living, Doctors insurance rates are ridiculous, Cities/towns aren't always voting to give monies to their school districts ==fire & police, probably, teachers not likely) and feeling less useful as a result.
We are currently without a contract in the district where I teach. There was talk last Spring of a Work to Rule decision, if we should come into this Fall with no movement forward. I've heard nothing and school starts in a week. Our 3% annual raises of 10 years ago were reduced to 1% and now they have flatlined. Yet we're expected to do all of what I've stated above...Graduate class expense have gone up more than 1-3% in the last decade, so has gas, school supplies (don't get me started) and so on.
My co-worker is usually an easy-peasy kind of person. But this last year, without a Principal, and no leadership, forget about support, the spirit in the building was crushed. I'd hoped the summer would allow my colleagues to regroup, refresh and come back nourished with the time and distance we need to charge our batteries (teachers make more decisions in one day than doctors do). But instead my pal is worse, as several colleagues have left (early retirement or resigned) and others still wish to leave. The idealism of "changing lives" and "making a difference" has been left in the wake of impractical schedules (we're supposed to have 3 preps, but with limited resources and large classes it can really be 4-5) and seemingly arbitrary solutions that won't really benefit the student.
So I told this person that I'll try to make them laugh, I'll keep doing the best in my classroom no matter what is happening in the administrative avenues, and that no matter how hot it gets in my room (100+ one year on a thermometer), I'll keep things chill! Good thing I took that writing and meditation workshop this summer!!!
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