6 Tips from Education Experts on How to Make Your Teachers’ Lives Better
In the previous blog, we discussed the importance of keeping teachers engaged. In its most basic definition, teacher engagement is what drives learning outcomes. Teacher engagement is your school’s motor.
Unfortunately, we are inundated with clickbait, outcries about schools that are failing our students when, in fact, many schools and school districts are failing our teachers. Teachers are burning out and leaving the profession. Add a world of social media influencers who promote “self-care” and “mindfulness”, and we’ve been sold an idea that we can just meditate our stress away. Burnout, then, becomes a personal failure, not a systemic one.
Beware of quick fixes. We need to dig deep and understand what our teachers are going through and how to help them.
What is the main cause of teacher burnout?
The Rand Corporation administered a survey in 2024 to a sample of K-12 ATP (American Teacher Panel) educators nationwide. Approximately 1400 teachers were surveyed.
The main causes of teacher burnout include (in order from most to least):
- Managing student behavior
- Low salaries
- Administrative tasks outside of the classroom
- Excessive working hours
- Extra hours helping students because of lost class time
- Extra hours helping students with their mental health and wellbeing
- Preparing students for standardized tests
- Unattainable expectations
- Lack of support from the administration
- Extra work because of staff shortages
Other causes include politicians and non-educators making curriculum decisions, a surplus of district initiatives, and a lack of respect. Teachers are caught in a cultural crossfire, navigating seemingly arbitrary curriculum changes (often because of politics), the rise of technology, shifting student needs and attitudes, and a growing number of children who lack basic support at home. As these pressures pile up, teachers are stretched to their limits. They are expected to be instructors, counselors, social workers, tech experts, and advocates all at once, and they are often micro-managed by administrators, district leaders, and even parents.
“Stress and exhaustion is pushing too many out of the profession, but it’s not up to educators to find better ways to “cope.” The responsibility to improve working conditions lies with those lawmakers and officials who dictate what a teacher’s day looks like.” ~ Tim Walker, NEA Today Senior Writer/Editor.
How to Improve Teacher Engagement
If your school and school district are ready to put in the work, there are incredibly effective ways to improve teacher engagement. Here’s how:
- Administer a Teacher Engagement Survey: This survey will give your school and school district leaders information about what your educators are experiencing in their current educational environment. It’s a way to look at data by demographic (school, grade level, subject matter, tenure, and more), and take a deep dive into identifying areas that are successful and areas that need support. Develop action plans based on survey results. Do not ask if you are not going to act.
- Provide Meaningful Career Development Opportunities: Customize professional development to each educator’s personal and professional goals, tailored to what they need and want. Provide them with flexible ways to access information and reach these goals.
- Trust Your Teachers to Teach: Give your teachers the autonomy they need (and want) to get the job done. Get out of their back pockets. When teachers are micromanaged, they feel crushed. With standardized testing and State mandates, we understand teachers have to meet certain requirements. Nevertheless, schools can involve teachers in decisions about their curriculum, delegate authority, and create supportive environments for them to take initiatives, giving them the autonomy they want.
- Recognize Good Work: It’s not only about test scores. Recognize a teacher who has made a difference in the lives of their colleagues, a teacher who goes the extra mile for a student, a teacher who handles a complicated situation well. Acknowledge the good stuff, loudly and often. Be specific and make it meaningful. Teaching is hard. Creating a culture of recognition matters.
- Give your Teachers Time: Time to collaborate, time to plan classes, time to have a coffee break, time to grade papers, time to study, time to grow. Rick Smith said, “Being a new teacher is like trying to fly an airplane while building it.” Let them finish the plane! When you provide your teachers with uninterrupted blocks of time, they can become the teachers they imagined they could be. You allow them to reach their potential. Time creates a much-needed balance in hectic days.
- Give your Teachers Resources: There’s a funny, anonymous quote. “Teaching: the only profession where you steal things from home and bring them to work.” Based on your teacher survey, supply them with the resources they need.
By asking, listening, and acting, you can change your school and school district by improving teacher engagement.
