Teachers are not only burnt out and undercompensated, they are also demoralized. They are being asked to do things in the name of teaching that they believe are mis-educational and harmful to students and the profession.
To stay in their profession, said a union leader, educators need "professional respect" including fair pay and the right "to make teaching and learning decisions for their students."
The number of teachers and education staff fell dramatically during the Great Recession and has failed to get anywhere near its prerecession level,
About 8% of teachers leave the field each year, due to long workdays, low salaries and challenging conditions. Some predict a gap of 112,000 teachers by 2018. Some states are lowering the bar for teaching jobs. But there are plenty of good ideas about how to support teachers and improve the jobs in order to lower turnover and improve morale.
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