10 Things That Need To Change If You Want Teachers To Stop Quitting

When I was a kid and you told someone you wanted to be a teacher when you grew up, it was seen as such an admirable and honorable career to take on. Presently, when I tell someone I am a teacher, they either look at me as if I punched them in the face or tell me that I am a “hero.” The sad part is that through the pandemic, I learned that if society calls you a hero, all it means is that you are completely disposable, expected to work in the shittiest conditions, and there will always be someone to replace you who is willing to work for even less. The only problem is that teachers do not want to be called heroes. They never wanted that because it gives others around them, like the administration and parents, extremely high expectations. Because of these expectations, educators are quitting at alarming rates.

So many of us came in bright-eyed and truly believing that the world’s future was in our classroom and that we could help change the trajectory of the education field. Now we are all just trying to survive the day. And is that really what life should be about? Should we sit and ask ourselves every day, “Is this it? Do I give up? Do I resign?” Here are a few suggestions that could help with the drop in teachers quitting.*

Smaller Classrooms. 

Depending on the school year or district, a teacher could have an uncanny number of students in one singular classroom. Having one teacher per 35 students is one of the most outlandish expectations we have put on our educators. There is no way every student gets the help they need, and there is no way that the lesson the teacher is trying to teach will have the ability to reach every child. Contrary to their ability to move to another grade level, they still need to catch up on the help they need and ultimately fall behind. Not to mention a teacher will never be able to catch up, not on the curriculum or grading, and they will never truly get to know their students. Don’t we want our teachers to build close and caring relationships with kids?

Better Unions. 

There are some things that politics should not be brought into, yet education is one of the things we have made the most political atmosphere. Most union members are other teachers who want to avoid pushing the envelope for fear of potentially losing their job or getting a terrible placement the next school year. Unions are supposed to help improve things, generate better contracts, and protect us. How can they protect us when they also need protection? Unions should consist of teachers, parents, and, most importantly, lawyers. This way it isn’t teachers against teachers and all of us against The Board of Education. 

Pay Us More. 

This one is the simplest yet most complex for others to understand. A teacher needs to be paid more even if they are in the highest-paid district. We are not paid livable wages. Many people like to call teachers professional babysitters, but in reality, the hourly wage babysitters charge per child is much more than what teachers get paid per child. If a parent pays a babysitter $10 an hour for eight hours a day, it’s $80; multiply that by 180 legal school days and it’s $14,400, and then multiply that by the 20 other kids in the room, which is about $288,000. So, if you’d like to call us professional babysitters, pay us like them. OR you could stop calling us babysitters and call us teachers and just pay us a FAIR salary, one that doesn’t include teachers buying their supplies for their classroom.

Cancel Testing. 

State testing has always been a wrong way to show what students do or do not know. Any teacher will tell you that students cannot show their accurate intelligence and ability through a standardized test. They will also tell you that we have to teach the test and accommodate every single type of learner. We do all of that, yet every single kid gets the same test, no matter their learning level, and they are all expected to get proficient scores. Standardized tests set teachers, students, and districts (predominantly urban areas) up for failure. These tests also affect the funding of each district. Imagine telling a kid to their face, “Hey, you failed this test, so now you don’t get funding.” They don’t do that because that would be unlawful and terrible, but they love to tell teachers it is their fault. Could you picture having that kind of pressure on you every single day? Make sure a kid learns and gets everything they need, but also, if they fail this test, the work you put in was USELESS.

Positive Work Environment. 

A positive work environment is always essential, but somehow the administration, who used to be teachers, forget what it is like to teach in the classroom every day. The most minor thing a leader could do is make sure everyone is okay, and yet we are met with backhanded compliments and criticism that add to the pile of items needed from us. 

Prep Time. 

I know that no one wants to hear this, but teachers are not contractually obligated to bring work home. We don’t have to grade papers or tests in our living room, we are not required to stay after school for hours to set up activities for the next few days, and we don’t get paid for all the hours it can take to write differentiated lesson plans. We do get preps, but those preps are usually taken away due to substitute shortages or meetings where we are usually told how to be “better” educators or another application they feel we could use in our classroom.. Even though it’s known that our prep time is constantly taken away, we are still expected to get work done efficiently and on time. 

Fewer Meetings. 

Along with prep time, please stop making teachers attend meetings where all you do is pile more and more work on them. Teachers have yet to leave weekly meetings feeling fulfilled and helped, and usually, they are left with another thing to do. Teachers leave these meetings feeling like failures, anxious, and worried about not completing more unnecessary items. 

Clothing Regulations. 

This one is simple. A child will learn if a teacher is in jeans, and they will also learn if a teacher is in dressier attire. Also, the part where we must pay to wear our jeans should stop. 

Pay Student Teachers. 

There is no reason that student teachers should be required to do a full-time job for five months straight for free, and the only thing it is preparing them for is lack of pay and knowing they still have to have a second job after work. 

Let Teachers Teach. 

Let us teach. We are expected to accommodate each student, which teachers gladly do daily. The only thing that makes it hard is that the community around us expects every teacher to teach the same way. This is not really practicing what is constantly being preached on the inclusivity end. Treat us better and fewer of us will quit. 

*These views are based solely on complaints from other teachers, Facebook groups, TeacherTok, and my opinions over the last six years of teaching.