Guest Column by Emily McGinnis
How To Keep Teachers from Leaving Their Jobs
There's never been a more stressful time to be a teacher. I say that as someone who worked in K-12 schools for more than 20 years, first as a teacher and then as a principal.
Educators enter the profession out of a passion for teaching and helping kids. But today, they're leaving in droves. Between 2020 and 2022, about 300,000 public school teachers and staff quit. K-12 teachers have the highest burnout rate of any profession. Nearly a third are considering leaving the profession.
For the sake of the next generation, school districts and local governments need to figure out how to keep teachers in classrooms. Improved salaries would help—teachers are underpaid. But even that wouldn't entirely solve the problem. We need to turn schools back into places where teachers want to be. Many of these institutions are no longer havens for learning.
Pressure on teachers has mounted over the years as society has made them scapegoats in cultural and political battles. They face unprecedented criticism from parents and governmental officials.
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