No matter
what profession you are in, a positive work environment is key to work
productivity and job stability. However,
with the ongoing budget, staffing and curriculum changes in school districts
across the country, morale has been at an all time low.
Recently, there was a study
conducted by Gallop on teacher engagement.
The survey which was administered by telephone, connected with 6,711
full-time teachers across the country about enthusiasm, emotional connection to
work and time off[i].
The results
of the Gallop Survey found that 30% of the teachers reported being “actively
engaged” in their jobs. Fifty-Seven
percent responded they are not engaged at work and 13% reported they are
actively disengaged and they “act out their unhappiness in ways that undermine
their coworkers accomplish. It is
believed that teachers who are disengaged account for 2.3 million missed work
days.[ii].”
The results
of the Gallop Survey are concerning. The
concern is that although it is well known teacher disengagement is a problem,
very little has been done to address teacher disengagement. One of reason very little has been done maybe
due to the perception about the teaching profession and the teacher union.
While there
is a symbiotic relationship between the teaching profession and the teacher
union, they are two distinct entities.
However, whenever there is a problem there is a tendency to place blame
on both. Evidence of this can be seen in
ongoing fights over collective bargaining between teacher unions and school
districts. While union officials were
negotiating to keep their members from having to pay a co-pay for medical
visits, teachers were portrayed as greedy for not wanting to make concessions
that everyone else was making as states and districts continue to recover from
the economic crisis and diminishing resources.
It was never mentioned the unreimbursed money teachers spend on supplies
and incentives to keep students engaged and improve self-esteem or the unpaid time
at home spent grading papers and writing lesson plans. Neither was it mentioned that teacher salary
is not competitive with other professions or how staffing cuts of teachers and
non teaching staff affected the teachers who were not laid off, but would have
to take on the additional duties of lost staff.
Lastly, the
results of the Gallop Survey are disheartening because of the untold impact. A disengaged teacher has given up and becomes
harmful to the learning process. A
disengaged teacher is most likely a teacher who gives passing grades for
students who do little to no work.
Finally, a disengaged teacher has students who are not learning, not meeting
their potential and are at risk to give up on education and drop out. This never seems to be considered in the
discourse on teacher disengagement.
It would
have been nice if the Gallop Survey asked the participants what keeps them engaged? How to reengage them or if they understand
the impact their disengagement has on their students?
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