Why Are Teachers So Unhappy?

This post was originally published on Word In Black.

Four years after a global pandemic completely disrupted their profession, a new survey of the nation’s public school teachers found disturbingly high, across-the-board percentages of them who are stressed out or upset about nearly every aspect of their career, from work-life balance to institutional support and low pay.

But the Pew Research Center survey also found even higher levels of frustration among teachers working in high-poverty schools, which tend to have large percentages of Black and Latino students.

Besides dealing with poverty, chronic absenteeism, and mental health issues in the classroom, those teachers say they also must manage disengaged parents, student disruptions that sometimes become abusive, and school administrators who they believe don’t really support them, according to the survey. And, like their colleagues in more affluent districts, they wouldn’t recommend the job to anyone.

“Teachers are really not happy with their jobs,” says Luona Lin, a Pew research associate focusing on social and demographic research. “Seventy-seven percent say they frequently find their job to be stressful. Sixty-eight percent say it’s overwhelming. And it’s also quite interesting to see the extent to which poverty, chronic absenteeism and mental health stand out, as the major problems teachers say that other schools are facing.”

“The vast majority of teachers say that the overall state of public education has gotten worse,” she says. “We also asked them to look to the future, how it will be in the five years from now. And a narrow majority say that they expect the state of education to be worse.”

The Pew report shined yet another unsettling spotlight on the state of teaching, a workforce of 3 million charged with educating the nation’s children. Experts say the profession is at an inflection point, one that could shape the course of public education arguably for the next generation and beyond.

Even before the pandemic, educators reported increasing levels of burnout, stemming from long hours, relatively low pay, and the escalating academic, social, and psychological needs of students. Though it’s not unusual to hear them talk of the profession as a calling and not a job, rising disillusionment, and workload have led a growing number of teachers to call it quits.

The Extra Burden on Black Teachers

Things are even worse in high-poverty schools — long considered a euphemism for majority Black or Latino schools located in minority urban communities with high concentrations of poverty. Typically under-resourced and underserved, Black teachers in those schools tend to carry an extra burden, serving as counselors, role models, and substitute parents for Black children who may come from dysfunctional or impoverished households.

According to the Pew Report, the Pew survey is based on questionnaires distributed to 2,531 K-12 teachers from Oct. 17-Nov. 14, 2023. Teachers were asked their opinions on a range of topics, including job satisfaction, classroom challenges, workload management, problems their students face, and what they think about the state of public education.

A Slew of Pressing Problems

The top issue among teachers in all districts was rising levels of poverty among students, with roughly 60% of teachers in both urban and rural schools identifying it as a significant problem, according to the survey. Next was absenteeism, defined as students missing a substantial number of days, particularly in high school; 61% of high school teachers said it affected their view of their job, according to the survey.

The third universal problem teachers identified was student anxiety and depression was significantly high: the survey found 69% of high school teachers and 57% of middle school teachers say this is a major problem among their students,

“Most teachers say that the impact of the pandemic, on students behavior, academic performance, and emotional well-being has been negative,” Lin says.

While those issues cut across school socioeconomic levels, teachers in high-poverty schools identified more acute problems that drag down their job satisfaction and hinder students’ ability to learn.

Seventy-three percent of teachers in high-poverty schools say the academic performance and behavior of most students at their school are fair or poor, while 64% say students’ behavior at their school is fair or poor, according to the survey. The numbers around absenteeism are similar: “Majorities of teachers in high- and medium-poverty schools say chronic absenteeism is a major problem where they teach (66% and 58%, respectively),” according to the survey.

While 68% of all teachers say they have experienced verbal abuse from their students, such as being yelled at or verbally threatened, only about 1 in 5 say it happens at least a few times a month. In high-poverty districts, however, 67% of teachers say it’s a daily occurrence.

And while substantial majorities of high school teachers overall believe students’ parents aren’t engaged with their child’s attendance, don’t hold them accountable for misbehavior, or don’t help them with homework, those percentages jump north of 80% in high-poverty schools.

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Why Are Teachers So Unhappy?

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