Teachers Are Out Of Energy. We Can Replenish Them.

This is the first in a series of pieces exploring why some teachers are leaving the profession and others are thriving in their careers.

There’s nothing like the energy of the first day back to school. Nervous new learners lining up to enter the schoolhouse door. Old friends uniting after summer break, excitedly waving as they tumble off buses. Clumps of teens, backpacks scattered all around them. Staff mixing and mingling, welcoming students of all ages to a new year of learning.

As powerful and palpable as that first day of school energy is, it can be a long school year for teachers. While well publicized news of mass resignations and stories about school districts struggling to hire paint an uneven picture, there is still reason for concern. All in all, the energy reserves of our teaching force are gravely low. Teachers have told us they’re exhausted.

In addition, we need more high-quality teachers entering the profession. The pipeline for new teachers isn’t producing what’s needed. With enrollment at many teachers’ colleges down significantly, we are facing a daunting future in our beloved profession.

How can we attract more teachers into our classrooms and keep the ones we already have? Over the next few columns, we’ll talk with teachers from all across the country. Through their experiences, we will explore the challenges and opportunities facing today’s teachers. We will look at what teachers need — agency, meaningful professional learning, mentoring and coaching, adequate pay — and how we can work to better support them.

We will look across the country to learn about successful U.S. initiatives and look to our international colleagues to see what lessons we can learn from across the globe.

But let’s start where it all begins. With teachers. Let me introduce you to two excellent teachers who, unfortunately, won’t be back in the classroom this year:

Sara

For the first time in nearly two decades, Sara won’t experience the “amazing energy” the first day of school brings.

Sara was one of the most respected teachers in her school, having taught special education for 18 years and been a finalist for teacher-of-the-year. She had earned a masters degree and volunteered for professional committees at her school. She had experience and seniority, but still was required to attend sit-and-get professional development sessions she felt that she got nothing out of. And too much of her time, she told me, began to be filled with duties around the school that had nothing to do with why she became a teacher.

“It adds up, those hours,” she told me. “Wasted PD that I didn’t need to be part of, lunch duties, and my before and after school duties. Then I ended up taking all (my classroom) work home with me because it still needs to get done.”

That’s a recipe for burnout.

Sara left teaching in the spring of 2022. She did not regret the decision as the first day of school rolled around. The energy, her passion for the work, is just gone.

Tim

Tim was an enthusiastic, new music teacher. But after four years, he’s humming a different tune professionally.

For nearly all of Tim’s short career, he went without a pay increase because of a contract stalemate in his district. He also went without a direct supervisor he could turn to for support and guidance.

While he lacked guidance, he also lacked independence. He found a music method book he thought was better for his students than the one the district currently used, but he was forced to continue with the default curriculum.

A lack of agency and a lack of compensation are among the reasons Tim no longer teaches. Respect, from the community, is another.

“It just wasn’t making me all that happy, going into school and teaching,” he said. “And I think the most demoralizing part about it is feeling like the work that you’re doing isn’t really being fully appreciated.”

One thing Tim enjoyed about teaching was giving advice to students about navigating their young lives and mapping the future. “I really liked having those conversations with kids about what they’re going to do next,” he told me. “Talk to them about some things that I think that they’re good at and where I could see them going. And I have to say, I would not recommend to any student that they go and get some kind of an education degree and pursue a teaching career.”

These kinds of experiences in teaching should give us pause. While the data is mixed about whether there is a teacher shortage crisis or not, it’s clear that we should take a hard look at the conditions that make teaching an attractive profession and where there is impactful support for educators already on the job.

Had Sara been teaching in a place such as Singapore, she would have had more time in her day to collaborate with fellow teachers and to create the kinds of learning experiences that her students needed. Throughout her career, she would have been given the opportunity to lead professional learning sessions, not have to sit through ones of questionable relevance, over and over.

Had Tim taught in a system like those in Finland or Shanghai, he would have experienced an early career induction and mentoring system that would have provided him with a trusted relationship of support with a more senior teacher. Through this relationship of mutual support, he would be empowered to do his best teaching and continuously improve his craft.

The good news is that we are seeing districts around the U.S. make important changes that could turn the tide. Master schedules are being reworked to provide additional time for collaboration and action research. New induction, mentoring and professional learning opportunities are spreading. In my next interviews, we’ll meet teachers who are thriving in these new professional environments.

District and state leaders can take important steps to better support their teachers. They can improve teaching conditions by giving teachers leadership roles while staying in the classroom. They can ensure pay and respect reflects the role teachers play in shaping our future. They can make teaching more rewarding so that more of the Tims and Saras of the world decide to stay on the job and do it well. If they do, the future Tims and Saras of the world will see life in the profession as both attractive and sustainable.

Teacher burnout is real, but it’s not inevitable. The evidence of how we can make it less likely is all around us. We must learn the lessons and act on them.