Voicing their concerns over mounting problems in schools, teachers say colleagues are “leaving in droves.” Ahead of Teacher Appreciation Week, which runs from May 8 through May 12, multiple teachers took to the news outlets, citing schools’ growing challenges with behavioral issues, classroom politics, and faculty shortages.
“Three-quarters of U.S. states now report that they are short on teachers. We have teachers leaving the profession in droves and I think that puts a lot of stress on the teachers that are in the classroom teaching. They’re not as well staffed, classes are overcrowded, and that’s a big stressor on teachers today,” said elementary school teacher Brook Ooten.
Politicized school curriculum, parental rights, and transgender policies are areas of top concern among voters, rendering education a key issue in the 2024 elections.
Another media-interviewed teacher, Daniel Buck, said that the primary reason teachers are leaving the profession is the trend away from classroom discipline.
“There’s kind of a trend away from discipline, from standard punishments, consequences, and behavior is worsening across the country, and it’s affecting everything else in education, including teacher morale,” Buck explained.
Upon the start of Teacher Appreciation Week, educators have also taken to social media to voice their concerns, citing straightforward reasons as to why schools are becoming even more short-staffed. One twitter user simply stated that teachers need to be taken care of for more than just one week per year.
As Teacher Appreciation week nears, understand we have a teacher shortage because we have an attrition crisis. Teachers are leaving in droves because they don’t feel supported, valued, & they are simply burnt out. We need to take care of our teachers more than one week a year.
— 𝐁𝐫𝐚𝐝 𝐉𝐨𝐡𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐧 (@DrBradJohnson) April 8, 2023
School districts across the country were tasked with filling hundreds of vacancies in the final weeks of summer before the 2022-2023 school year commenced, and the same scenario is likely to unfold at the start of the 2023-2024 academic year.
44 percent of public schools have full- or part-time educator openings, according to a poll conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics. The survey also found that 61 percent had at least one vacancy in the school that was due to pandemic-related issues.
Most teachers left the profession for reasons other than retirement, many citing burnout, being pushed out, or even harassment and bullying.
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