How can teachers advocate for their moral teaching compass in a society where education does not often take teachers’ concerns seriously? First, we need to explain what is happening in schools all across the country. As of recently, the education system and its administrators tend to undermine teacher’s goals for their students. Teachers are leaving in droves, even those with years of experience. Across the board, they are experiencing what Santoro coined the term, “demoralization.” Many have blamed this mass-exodus on “burnout,” but the problem with that term is that it puts the responsibility on the teachers’ inability to be resilient, rather than the source of the problem, which is their lack of respect from administrators or the districts they work for. Teachers are seen as either just a number, or as an annoyance rather than an asset to the school system. With this toxic view of teachers growing worse with time, it is no wonder they are leaving in droves. Despite these struggles, many teachers stay for the students and the impact they can make on their lives, and have found ways of changing their circumstances or the system to stay morally centered and motivated to work for the school system. “Where do you start?,” you may ask. How can we as teachers advocate for ourselves and our students in a climate that values numbers and scores over relationships?
Decide how you want to run your classroom with your students at the center. This could look different for every teacher, depending on your personality. Some teachers will loudly advocate for how they are running their classrooms, others will close their doors and do it quietly. But as long as you are being true to your students, that is what matters most. Follow your gut instinct and use what you have learned about good teaching over the years. You know your students better than anybody else in the school building or school district, so you know what's best for them better than anyone else.
Engage your coworkers and co-teachers in discussions around mandates and district policies and how to engage with those things in your classrooms in ways that best serve your students. Share your plans with one another and collaborate on creating engaging curriculum. Enrich student learning by adding more to your curriculum, filling in the gaps, and finding ways to gear student learning towards real life skills that they can connect to directly. (Santoro)
Take a stand against new policies by talking to your administration about why they wouldn't serve the students. However, far too often, administrators may dismiss, disregard, or disrespect your ideas. You can also utilize your teacher’s union to help and protect you in the fight, although do take a temperature check, as some union leaders and representatives are more or less effective than others. Also, be sure to do research on your rights as a teacher and what district policies can or cannot be mandated. (Santoro)
Apply the idea of design thinking. This idea came to be when addressing teacher attrition. This is the process where tangible solutions are being created and then executed from complex issues happening where you are. The endgame for design thinking is to meet the needs of the people. The process of design thinking has two major stages. The first stage is problem definition where the perception of the problem is given the space to be made visible. After this happens, multiple ideas and solutions can be made, and modifying them. The second stage is to then narrow down the solutions that will eventually be put into practice.
Connect other teacher activists via Facebook groups, twitter threads, blogging, and even established associations, and share your concerns with others there, although remember to be prudent with how you share, as administrators could see certain language as undermining them and their agenda.
Work with your team to provide honest feedback to your administration around specific schoolwide or grade-level issues, always remembering to make students the center. The key here is working with your team. More can be done in numbers than can be done alone.
You could even go as far as engaging with universities and state leaders to support your school in various ways, both financially and educationally. Look for what partnerships you may be able to start. (Santoro)
Allow teachers to be accountable for each other in a healthy manner. According to (Mangin), teachers who are having trouble with work do not necessarily get the help they need from their peers because those peers are not able to see the struggles of the teacher. Through accountability, teachers can then be given the opportunity to realize other teachers’ struggles. Once those struggles are clear, those teachers who are struggling can then get advice and guidance towards improvement.
Unlike a Professional Learning Community (PLC), which is initiated and run by administrators and their agendas, a professional community might happen outside of the school building and encourages real constructive conversations between teachers.
Professional communities are most effective when formed around a plan of action, rather than just having conversations around the topics. At the start, create a goal, and then form action steps to how to reach that goal. Some action plans could include: mentoring, working with coaches, National Board Certification, forming alliances with universities and other organizations. (Santoro)
Create a professional vision as to what the teaching staff in the school should aim for. This has to include an agreed upon set of goals for them to hit. In establishing goals, this can help build trust upon the teaching staff (Mangin).
This can also be a good time to get teachers to gain the perspective of seeing that other teachers are trying to do the right thing. Even if you disagree with one teacher’s opinion(s) on their teaching approach, this can help allow you to see where they are coming from and possibly how to help improve upon their said approaches. The ultimate goal is for knowledge to be built (Mangin).
A few important things to note:
This can look different for every person. Some teachers are comfortable being more vocal, rebelling, and vigorously pushing for change, no matter what others think. While others may prefer to make quieter changes inside their own classrooms or part of a team
Each of these strategies for change will not work well enough on their own, but will need to be utilized together in order to be effective. Out of all the strategies above, professional community is best paired with other strategies because a teacher working alone can end up feeling or being isolated by others. You really want a team to back you up because multiple unified voices are so much stronger than one. (Santoro)
If you are in your first few years as a teacher or you are untenured, be careful with how you implement these strategies, because if you are too vocal early on, you have no protections through the union and your administration could fire you at a moment's notice. I would recommend taking those first five or so years to learn and listen, discover what you value as a teacher, build strong relationships with your co-teachers and students, and then start making your moves once you have tenure.
Above all, it is most important to come at each approach with the lens of what is best for your students. That will speak to administrators louder than your own personal concerns or needs, regardless of how valid they are. When they see that you are putting your students first, they may be more willing to lend you an ear and advocate for change right along with you.
References:
Santoro, Doris A. "Demoralization: Why Teachers Leave the Profession They Love and How They can Stay." Harvard Education Press. Cambridge, Massachusetts. 2018.
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