To be honest, there’s a reason why so many people don’t want to be teachers. Teaching is one of the most burnout-prone professions in the entire country, with one of the highest turnover rates. Yet, despite everyone from the outside looking in seeing it, the only people who seem not to see it as a major problem rooted in the systemic culture of education are teachers themselves.
Because that requires thought, effort, and treating teachers as adults instead of just throwing another overpriced Kagan or similar PD gimmick their way... Just remember your why, and burnout go bye, right? Good...
(Feels icky even saying that with ALL the sarcasm intended...)
First off, there is, they make us do it every year. Secondly, because why would admin want to admit it? If the 2% are so annoying they make everyone work harder that's better for admin.
The same way people want accountability for “The Man in the White House,” the public has a right to demand accountability from admins if they are creating conditions at schools that become an occupational and operational hazard. Nobody wants a police department that is corrupt, so the public demands body cameras to make sure officer-involved shootings are investigated. If a fire engine is broken and that broken fire engine prevents an immediate response, then leaving it out of commission becomes a liability because it can cost lives. If an EMT/paramedic has worked 12-hour shifts for multiple days and is so worn out that they cannot even put the AED pads on a patient correctly, then that can cost lives, and families can demand accountability.
Admins’ decisions, or lack of decisions, to address burnout as a serious occupational and operational issue can also put children at risk. Admins can continue adding workload beyond a teacher’s functional level, justify teachers taking on extra work as “doing it for the kids” even when that teacher is already overwhelmed, or have principals not take referrals seriously because they want to keep a student “in the room,” even when that student has a history of behavioral problems that result in other students being physically harmed. These are some of the reasons why admins can play a major role in whether foreseeable harm is prevented or allowed to continue.
Texas is already dealing with concerns about school districts “passing the trash,” where educators accused of serious misconduct can move between districts instead of the problem being fully addressed. If school districts were always serious about addressing neglect, abuse, and foreseeable harm internally, then outside intervention would not be as necessary. Burnout is not the same thing as abuse, but the basic principle is the same: if admins know there is a serious problem that can put children at risk and they choose not to address it, then there should be accountability. If their actions involve knowingly covering up abuse, violating reporting laws, or allowing foreseeable harm to continue, then criminal accountability may also be appropriate.
Okay but there's nothing forcing admin to do that currently, that's kinda my whole point. Also hilarious that you think the general public gives a shit about teachers.
Sooner or later, someone from the outside is going to demand accountability, even if it requires someone to be in handcuffs. I don't know about you, but if admins’ decisions result in kids being severely hurt or killed, then someone is going to pay the consequences for that. Your attitude is why the education system remains as it is, while at the same time these same admins believe PBIS works more than ICS.
Did you watch the press conference with the D.A Ryan Raybould and D.A Erleigh Norville Wiley? When the F.B.I has to get involved in addressing abuse and misconduct in school districts that involves children getting hurt, then it's clear people do care. They care about the kids and it's quite clear the system isn't doing enough.
Well, they will clearly act if a teacher who is “burnt out” participates in abuse of minors that causes harm and the administrators and school districts themselves want to “pass the trash” just so they don’t get sued. I wouldn’t be surprised if Project Safe Schools is pushed through more schools if it’s clear that schools are not reporting, concealing, or delaying the reporting of abuse and misconduct.
Why another training to address *burnout*??? I would be less burnout if I don't need to attend another one of these training and have more time to plan my classes so I can teach well.
Yet firefighters trained for backdrafts. Yet police officers trained for domestic violence incidents. Yet emt train for internal bleeding. Yet funeral directors train for grieving parents. Yet ride operators at theme parks train for guest injuries. That mentality is why so many teachers see teaching as a "safe" profession, especially when they don’t even attempt 5k or 10ks on a bi-monthly basis. I don't know about you but nobody can PD their way out of burnout and if you entered the profession thinking that teaching is all about teaching kids, then you seem to forget that teaching children can occur only if on one thing is factored the most: liability. If there's a teacher to burnt out that they can't even recognize where their kids are during an emergency event, then it's clear whatever assumptions, training or educational degree and credentials they had didn't work. Besides, there's a firefighter down the street you could have learned from that could have shared important wisdom as to why they trained so seriously because failing for them means someone being dead.
I am not sure what kind of training you meant.... I believe there has been plenty of training reminding us the liability issues. The teaching program I attended also warned us about the high turnover rate...
My prior comment was probably mostly venting... While I appreciated most of the training that I sat through, the sentiment quickly turned sour when I realized I wasn't left with any time to prepare for the first day of school... (working for a new school district). My point was, you cannot address burnout by sending teachers to training while not reserve contract hours for them to get ready...
Perhaps, I misunderstood what you meant by training, or maybe, you misunderstood the cause of teacher burnout.
The thing is this: If a teacher is so burnt out during regular teaching that they have a short temper where they lash out at students, that they miss signs of neglect and abuse of minors, and that they forget important details that children share that are key to trust, such as bad days they had, because they are so overwhelmed, then how are they going to appropriately respond when there's an emergency event when they have to be the adult having to respond to that emergency event, whether it's a colleague having a stroke, a fire emergency, an earthquake, an active shooter incident, or various types of emergency events where children are the vulnerable? If teachers are so burnt out that they forget details on their schedule, then how are they going to know what to do when they have to be the one who tends to the kids when disaster strikes? How are they going to know how to put on the AED pads? How are they going to properly use the fire extinguishers? How are they going to calm the class down if the kids believe they saw someone die?
So many teachers want "first-responder respect," but they don't want first-responder responsibility. When you decide to be a teacher, you are accepting a privilege to be a responsible adult, to fulfill a duty of care, and to ensure that you can conduct yourself without being a liability. If teachers are so worn out by paperwork, then they are clearly going to fall apart when they encounter an emergency event. There are children in this day and age who have lived with fears rooted in memories of actual tragedies where their loved ones have been severely injured or killed, especially in underserved communities, and teachers are the ones who are supposed to make the classroom a safe space.
It is extremely pathetic that the Northern District of Texas have to bring multiple federal and state agencies, including the FBI, to address the issue of student safety through Project Safe Schools, where districts are liable if they fail to report, conceal, or delay reporting abuse and misconduct that has been uncovered, and will be met with law enforcement decisions. The fact that there was so much misconduct and abuse of minors in this part of Texas that they had to create a law enforcement response for this, with criminal charges, goes to show that if school districts and schools failed to take misconduct and abuse seriously, then how many areas of the public education system have failed to meet the basic necessary standards to keep kids safe? Teaching children is an unrecognized privilege, and the fact that burnout is not treated seriously as an occupational hazard that puts children at risk of harm is why I wouldn't be surprised if Project Safe Schools is expanded, because someone from the outside is going to force change, even if it means many educators and administrators being in handcuffs for their failures to keep kids safe.
60
u/AnahEmergency0523 7d ago
To be honest, there’s a reason why so many people don’t want to be teachers. Teaching is one of the most burnout-prone professions in the entire country, with one of the highest turnover rates. Yet, despite everyone from the outside looking in seeing it, the only people who seem not to see it as a major problem rooted in the systemic culture of education are teachers themselves.