It’s tough being a teacher.
They are underpaid, under-appreciated, and serve as the primary scapegoats for whatever ills face the public education system.
But most of all, teachers have lost most of their autonomy over the past 50 years. As this country focused on school reform, we talked ourselves into believing that teachers had too much autonomy and couldn’t be trusted. We handed over authority and power to school boards, state boards of education, and state legislatures to make decisions that historically had been left to the classroom leader.
Recently, EducationWeek online published an article discussing the topic of teacher autonomy:
“When it comes to why teachers stay in or leave jobs, measurable factors like pay and health benefits tend to get a lot of attention. More subjective issues tend to fly under the radar, despite their potential to heavily influence job satisfaction as well as the decision to remain in or resign from a position. Autonomy, defined as ‘a teacher’s perception about the degree to which they can make decisions related to their work,’ is one such factor.”
“Consider this example: Following the 2022-23 school year, 38 teachers or about 10 percent of all employees in Virginia’s Prince Edward County school district, resigned. They were asked to complete an exit interview explaining why. Twenty-five percent of respondents blamed ‘a lack of autonomy in instructional decisions and/or classroom management,’ while 28 percent pointed to salary. This recent example correlates to research by the Learning Policy Institute, which found that teachers with greater levels of perceived classroom autonomy were more likely to report higher levels of job satisfaction. The opposite is also true: A perceived lack of autonomy reduces teachers’ job satisfaction.”
“Today’s teachers confront several realities that challenge their professional autonomy. Prescribed lesson-plan expectations, standardized tests, and data collection oftentimes drive instructional decisions. Further, teachers increasingly find themselves caught in the crossfire of political and cultural conflicts, frequently leaving them uncertain or even fearful of how to address topics deemed controversial, like race and gender.”
The article goes on to give three pieces of advice to teachers so that they can feel increased autonomy. Here they are:
- Look beyond the ‘what’ to the ‘how.’
- Earn trust to build a gateway to autonomy.
- Give teachers a voice at the proverbial ‘table.’
Sorry. None of that advice is going to work.
The “what,” meaning what is being taught inside the classroom, was always the main thing to me as a teacher. I’m guessing other teachers feel the same way. Being encouraged to focus on the “how,” or how information is presented, is further relegating the classroom professional to something less than a professional.
“Earning trust to build a gateway to autonomy” sounds nice, but trust between a teacher and their students usually depends on an interesting curriculum, engaging instructional strategies, and a solid evaluation plan. Today, it seems all of this is being taken away from the classroom teacher. Curriculum departments tell teachers what they are going to teach, model lesson plans are provided to instruct the adult classroom leader about what learning strategies will be employed, and states have long controlled the evaluation plan – namely high-stakes testing.
When it comes to “Giving teachers a seat at the proverbial ‘table,’” that hasn’t worked about as long as we’ve been working on public school reform in this country. Most of the time, teachers aren’t seen as professionals, only glorified baby-sitters who seem to need administrative support with everything that happens inside a classroom.
No, I’m afraid the future of teaching isn’t a good one. But there is another way.
If you are a teacher who doesn’t feel you are receiving the appropriate professional autonomy and respect from your school leadership, or if you know a teacher who is struggling inside the classroom with all the current top-down mandates, there is hope.
Become a learning coach for a group of homeschoolers, learning pod, or microschool.
Learning coaches can make up to $100,000 to $120,000, depending on the size of the learner cohort you serve.
Learning coaches get to decide how money is spent on their learners.
Learning coaches get to design learning plans for all of their young learners.
Learning coaches get to work with young learners’ families on reading, writing, problem-solving, and character development improvement.
And the list goes on and on.
Why would you want to stay in a old, tired system that is struggling to survive given increased outside mandates by people who really don’t have the adult learning leader – young learner relationship at heart?
Now is the time to find your learning cohort, create a budget, start working with your families, and begin building learning plans for young learners that really matter and will make a difference long-term.
What are you waiting for?
It’s good to be back. Til tomorrow. SVB
A Better Path to Learning 
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