In the last few years we have seen teachers leaving the education field in vast numbers. What we may not realize is that teachers have been crying out since the shutdown, however few ears are hearing their pleas.

In an article by Devlin Peck from May 2023, it’s reported that 48% of educators are planning on leaving the field because they don’t feel they are receiving fair compensation for their work. 42% of teachers have already left the field due to burnout.

In counseling many teachers during my years of practice, the issues I hear are that the classrooms are over capacity. There is more paperwork and demands on teachers than ever before. It’s difficult for them to focus on educating. In addition, the lack of respect from parents and students is another factor. Finally, another major issue is that the compensation for the work educators do is quite low. It’s not a fair wage for the amount of hours they put in each day, month, or year.

There is no mental health support provided by the districts for their staff. They rely on private insurance or possibly an EAP program to provide for the mental health of educators. We are not only failing our teachers as a society, in turn we are failing our children. My fear is at the rate teachers are leaving, we’ll be left with inadequate staff who are not prepared to manage the large class sizes, but who also aren’t equipped to manage the stress that comes alone with the job.

Education is the core of our society. If we fail our educators, we will fail as a society.