Teaching, as has been said, is the profession upon which all others are built — and the critical ingredient to a functional and inclusive society. Teachers build our nation daily. How we support them or come up short on that score goes a long way in determining how the common good flourishes or flounders in the future.
And while we’ve seen a slight easing in teacher shortages over the last year, in truth, it’s a de minimis decrease. Nearly half of schools across the country reported having difficulty filling positions. The challenge is often far greater in school systems serving Black, Brown and lower-income communities. Many historically difficult to staff areas — special education, mathematics, and more — remain stubbornly hard to fill.
Teaching and learning needs a powerful accelerant: better supporting our teachers and making the profession more attractive and sustainable.
While our school systems grapple with these enduring shortages, national assessments like the Nation’s Report Card indicate student achievement is languishing. Students at every achievement level and grade saw declines or were stagnant between 2019 and 2022. Teaching and learning needs a powerful accelerant: better supporting our teachers and making the profession more attractive and sustainable.
There was a brief moment during the pandemic when the public rallied around teachers, expressing empathy for the sudden demands they faced. States around the country even finally raised teacher salaries — which had remained strikingly low compared to professions requiring similar education levels. But that moment of goodwill seems to have faded. The national consciousness has reverted back to the mean in its outlook on the profession.
This is why it’s time for a new teaching social contract — a renewed commitment to honoring, supporting, and elevating the teaching profession in our social and cultural fabric.
By committing to financial, structural and cultural changes, we can build a teaching profession that attracts, sustains and respects those who dedicate their lives to education.
1. Support that goes beyond empathy
A new social contract for teaching must create a truly sustainable teaching profession, one with deeper, more enduring forms of support including meaningful financial and structural assistance. Housing affordability is a vital lever.
Teachers should be able to live in the communities where they work without being burdened by the rising cost of living. Every new teacher should receive some form of housing or rental support so long as they pledge to live in the community where they teach and for those already on the job, tax abatements and providing down payments for teachers with five years or more in the field can help make housing more affordable without contributing to gentrification.
Discounted or subsidized public transportation and other civic gestures like these recognize teachers as essential contributors and have a real impact on the pocketbooks, wallets, and spending power of educators.
2. Make teaching accessible and affordable
Second, we need to make the pathway to teaching affordable and accessible.
Aspiring teachers should not be burdened by debt to take on this essential role. President Biden recently announced $4.5 billion in new student debt relief for public service workers, including teachers. However, given the impending presidential transition, the outlook for impact of these funds is murky at best.
States and local systems can do their part on the front end by expanding scholarships and grants for aspiring educators. Such funding can reduce the need for debt forgiveness and make it possible for more individuals to pursue teaching without financial hardship. Programs which aim to ease financial barriers — like the proposed Philly Educators Promise — and the Center’s Black Teacher Pipeline Fellowship are good starting points.
Reducing the costs of entry to the profession and easing the financial strain of the early years of teaching — when salaries are lowest and student debt is often seemingly insurmountable — would mean that during the critical first five years of teaching, new educators feel far more financially stable. Without that sense of long-term financial stability and big student loan balances, even some of the most passionate educators won’t last long in the field.
3. Reimagine professional development and career pathways
Professional development, often targeted at early career educators, should be available for veteran teachers and supervisors as well. Long-serving educators also benefit from fresh ideas, insights and strategies. Similarly, it’s time to stop viewing and treating teaching as a single-track career. Career lattices and ladders allow teachers to move into different roles, specialize and grow without necessarily having to leave the classroom for administrative positions. In the world’s best education systems, esteem, compensation and responsibility can grow across a teacher’s career while instruction remains their primary responsibility.
At the same time, the daily work of teachers shouldn’t be siloed and private. It should be collaborative, with support in place so that teachers aren’t expected to handle everything themselves. Other professions have specialized roles and collaborative teams to help them meet diverse demands. Teaching should be no different. Implementing structures of collaborative support can prevent burnout and enhance classroom effectiveness.
4. Establish strength through diversity of backgrounds and thought
A teaching workforce that reflects the diverse makeup of its student body is not a luxury; it’s a necessity. The positive impacts of students of all backgrounds being taught by diverse educators is well documented: from better academic outcomes to improved social and behavioral wellbeing. Schools that have greater diversity in their teaching force are also more high functioning. No teacher should have to be the “lone and lonely” in their school. A truly equitable teaching environment means that teachers and students alike benefit from a learning culture that is both inclusive and affirming.
Within the teaching day, incorporating Black pedagogical frameworks and cultural intelligence into teacher development programs can have a transformative effect. For Black and Brown students, in particular, having teachers who understand their histories, aspirations, and experiences can be empowering. A different form of AI, ancestral intelligence as suggested by thinkers like Dr. Ruha Benjamin permeates, informs and weaves together the wisdom and curiosity of elders and youth. This is the way that real and powerful learning can take shape and sustain.
Moving powerfully forward
As a child, I was taught to stand when a teacher entered the room — a sign of respect that I didn’t see happening by the time I entered high school. Today, we need to similarly begin again to “stand” for teachers — in material and sustained ways. This means not only ensuring they are fairly compensated but also fostering a cultural shift where the role of teachers is celebrated and respected publicly.
A new teaching social contract is nothing short of a necessity for the future of our schools. By committing to financial, structural and cultural changes, we can build a teaching profession that attracts, sustains and respects those who dedicate their lives to education. This isn’t just about better wages or benefits — it’s about creating an environment where teachers can thrive, students can excel, and schools shine, reflecting the high value our communities and society place on them.
Sharif El-Mekki, former principal of Mastery Charter School Shoemaker Campus, is founder and executive director of Center for Black Educator Development. Read more of his writing for The Citizen here.
The Citizen welcomes guest commentary from community members who represent that it is their own work and their own opinion based on true facts that they know firsthand.
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