Teacher Burnout And Its Effects On Students

It is interesting to note that many people believe the stereotype that teaching is a stress free job. They get the summers and weekends off, as well as a shortened workday, and typically is a job that people only do because they cannot do anything else. The old adage that people teach who cannot do is widely believed. However, the reality is that there is a high degree of stress associated with being an educator. There have been various research studies that indeed

Fifty percent of new teachers quit with in the first five years of teaching (NEA, 2015), with this number being so alarmingly high it begs the questions: Why do so many teachers leave after going through years of college for this profession? Were teachers not prepared for the job, through college training, what should colleges teach in order to better prepare teachers?

The past decade has been hard on teachers, especially in 2002, when President George W. Bush’s No Child Left Behind went into effect. This brought about yearly testing from 3rd grade to 8th grade. If every child was not “proficient” and was “left behind” by the the education system then the school would be subject to sanctions. The worst

Teachers today face a number of challenges that contribute to a lack of job satisfaction, leaving schools for other professions that are more lucrative, low comparative compensation, and poor working conditions:

Many states across the country are experiencing teacher shortages. Without enough teachers, we can not successfully educate our children. According to Glori Chaika “Forty-two states issue emergency credentials to people who have taken no education courses and have not taught a day in their lives. Many teachers are hired based solely on their experience leading church or camping groups.” (Chaika) Due to the shortages, States are allowing those who are not even qualified to teach. One can not believe that children are being educated as best as they can be, if those teaching them have no experience or training before hand. Another problem is that teachers are not being place in the fields were they can perform at their best, Glori Chaika also states that “One-fourth of new teachers -- if they are licensed -- are not licensed to teach in the field they are teaching.” (Chaika) Many teachers have very little knowledge on the subject they are teaching, “About 55 percent of students taking physics in the United States, for example, are taught by someone who never majored or minored in the subject.” ( Asimov) As a result of the current teacher shortage, the quality of America’s educational system has gone down. People are being hired with no teaching experience and teachers are being forced to teacher subjects that they are not familiar with. Adding to the current teacher shortage is the problem of teacher

This source provided useful information into the negative effects that standardized testing has on the teachers. The majority of the focus is usually centered around student setbacks, however, this source sheds light on the emotional effects that teachers face in this stressful environment. Crocco and Arthur provide insight into how this negative environment creates poor job satisfaction which translates across the board for the students’ educational experience. The teacher’s opinions will be a strong source to support my reasoning of the negative environment

Inexperienced teachers could face unnecessary pressure to employ different approaches for teaching, and teachers that find this difficulty this way may quit their job.

We also know that disruptive behavior interferes with overall classroom functioning and individual student academic achievement (Atkins, Hoagwood, Kutash, & Seidman, 2010), and effective classroom management can reduce disruptions and improve learning (Reid, Gonzalez, Nordness, Trout, & Epstein, 2004). There is growing evidence that implementing EBIs to promote positive student behaviors may reduce emotional exhaustion and similar constructs among educators (e.g., Ross, Romer, & Horner, 2012). However, much less is known about the driving factors behind this association, and whether the same effect occurs in urban schools, where higher levels of teacher stress and numerous organizational barriers are often reported (Shernoff et al., 2011). Organizational barriers (e.g., school leadership and teacher collegiality) are particularly significant due to their frequent association with teacher stress (Dorman, 2003). The current study advances understanding of stress and satisfaction among teachers in urban schools by examining predictors at three levels (individual, classroom, school-wide) and how training in and use of EBIs may impact them.

The United States is currently facing a difficult time with teacher shortages. In North Carolina alone, 14.8 percent of teachers left the profession in the school years of 2014-2015 according to the Public School Forum (Barth et al. 23). Teacher shortage is a crucial topic to keep at the forefront of discussion because it affects the quality of education that students receive and, subsequently, the future of the United States. It is crucial for the United States to enhance student performance in order for the economy and our technological industry to continue improving. One factor that causes the teacher shortage are the different qualifications needed in order to get certified to teach in a certain subject. However, even after completing these qualifications, there have still been cases in which teachers are not being hired because they are either over-qualified or under-qualified. In addition to these educational barriers, North Carolina has some of the lowest numbers for teacher salaries which has led to a decrease of people desiring to enter into this profession and, as a result, those people choose to not major in education or move to other states to teach instead. After all this, it is very clear that one has to be passionate about working in the education profession. Unfortunately, even those who power through these first few hurdles, there are many negative factors that come into the picture as a result of remaining a teacher. Two possible solutions that can help the

The issue of teacher shortage today is continuing to grow. The effects of the achievement gap are reaching the teachers, not just the students: “...good administrators and teachers, who are doing their best under difficult circumstances, will be driven out of the profession…,” (Boyd-Zaharias 41). The achievement gap is part of the reason teachers feel they are underpaid, which happens to be one of the leading cause in teacher shortage considering, “Teachers were paid two percent less [than comparable workers] in 1994, but by 2015 the wage penalty rose to 17 percent,” (Long). Being a teacher requires passion in order to stay in the field, especially if the money in teaching is decreasing. Money is an important aspect for people when it comes to their careers, therefore, fewer people want to become teachers. This lack of teachers and the lack of college students studying to become a teacher leads to unqualified teachers and larger classroom sizes (Ostroff). Both of these causes are eventually affecting students’ learning environments. I chose this issue in education for my project because I have personally felt these effects, and I know others who have as well. As a future educator, I want to see better wages and better benefits, but this can only happen with qualified, passionate teachers. I plan on being one of them, and I plan on sparking a change. I am a future educator fighting to end teacher shortage.

The concern for teachers was that they did not have adequate training and their professional life on a whole was unacceptable (Gardner, Larsen, Baker, Campbell, & Crosby, 1983, Kottkamp, Provenzo, & Cohn, 1986, Heynes,

The purpose of exploring this phenomenon of teachers leaving their profession early in their career is to determine why it is happening and how it can be prevented in the future.

Disruptive behavior in schools has been a source of concern for school systems for several years. Indeed, the single most common request for assistance from teachers is related to behavior and classroom management. Classrooms with frequent disruptive behaviors have less academic engaged time, and the students in disruptive classrooms tend to have lower grades and do poorer on standardized tests. Furthermore, attempts to control disruptive behaviors cost considerable teacher time at the expense of academic instruction. School discipline issues such as disruptive behavior and violence also have an increased effect on teacher stress and burnout (Smith & Smith, 2006). There is a significant body of research attesting to the fact that classroom organization and behavior management competencies significantly influence the persistence of new teachers in their teaching careers (Ingersoll & Smith, 2003). New teachers typically express concerns about effective means to handle disruptive behavior (Browers & Tomic, 2000). Teachers who have significant problems with behavior management and classroom discipline often report high levels of stress and symptoms of burnout and are frequently ineffective (Berliner, 1986; Browers & Tomic, 2000; Espin & Yell, 1994). The ability of teachers to organize classrooms and manage the behavior of their students is critical to achieving both positive educational outcomes for students and teacher

James Shaw and Jodi Newton wrote an article entitled “ Teacher Retention and Satisfaction with a Servant Leader Principle”. In this article it examined a study done in 1994, when teaching was a promising time, and how teachers began to leave the profession. In 1994 the secretary of education did a study the United States would hire two million teachers. In 2004 the United States actually beat their goal and hired 2.24 million teachers. According to the study, during the same decade 2.7 million teachers quit; Ten percent in 2007, then twelve percent in 2009 (Shaw & Newton, 2014). The trend has steadily remained the same over the past few

When I think about teachers that I have had in the past, several different ones come to my mind. Each of these educators stands out in my mind for a variety of diverse reasons. Whether it is their sense of humor, their tactfulness, their love of the subject matter, their fanatical and sporadic behavior, or their yearning to be childish themselves, I can still remember at least one quality of every teacher I have ever encountered. Every one of these teachers conveyed subject material to their students just as they were educated and employed to do. However, I trust that every professional in the world has an abundance of opportunity for improvement; teachers could discover and improve themselves merely by having