Two years of pandemic teaching have left teachers exhausted. What do they need in order to stay in the classroom?

Teaching has always been a demanding profession, and over the past two years, the demands have only increased. When school buildings closed for the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, teachers were asked to work under conditions for which they were not prepared (Carpenter & Dunn, 2020; Elgart, 2021; Marshall, Shannon, & Love, 2020). And when the 2020-21 school year began, some schools reopened entirely in person, with guidelines in place for masking and physical distancing; some schools opted for remote learning for the entire year; and others switched between in-person, hybrid, and remote learning throughout the school year (Marshall & Bradley-Dorsey, 2020, 2022). Teaching under these circumstances was not easy. It was especially difficult for those who were learning new technologies (Juan-Ignacio et al., 2021; Marshall, Shannon, & Love, 2022); recreating their lessons for a virtual format (Love & Marshall, 2022); teaching students in the classroom as well as those on Zoom simultaneously (Bartlett, 2022); or doing all of the above in the same school year.

During the 2021-22 school year, teachers continued to work through the many challenges of the pandemic while at the same time returning to more normal classroom practices and expectations. A majority of the classrooms across the United States returned to in-person instruction, mask mandates were dropped, and state standardized testing returned. Yet amid this so-called return to normalcy, teachers began reaching their breaking point, with many choosing to leave the profession (Noonoo, 2022; Steiner & Woo, 2021).

The challenge of teacher retention has always existed, especially in schools in urban, rural, and/or high-poverty settings (Ingersoll, 2003; Papay et al., 2017) and in subjects like math and science (Fuller & Pendola, 2019), as well as in special education (Billingsley & Bettini, 2019; Powell et al., 2022). But the problem of retaining teachers has gotten worse during the pandemic. A January 2021 RAND report found that nearly one-quarter of all teachers indicated that they were likely to leave their jobs before the end of the 2020-21 school year (Steiner & Woo, 2021). The latest PDK Poll found that only 37% of respondents would want their child to become a teacher, an all-time low since the poll began asking the question in 1969 (PDK International, 2022). Unfortunately, research we recently conducted suggests that these trends could continue.

Teachers’ mental health and well-being

Teachers have always taken on many different roles, which can lead to hectic workdays and limited time to complete tasks. The pressure goes up when school districts implement new curriculums and initiatives (Ferguson, Frost, & Hall, 2012). The increased workloads that come with new initiatives often lead teachers to experience higher levels of exhaustion and lower self-efficacy and self-esteem (Bottiani et al., 2019; Skaalvik & Skaalvik, 2015). But previous research has found that administrators who support teachers with managing student behaviors (Bottiani et al., 2019); limit the pressure put on teachers for academic achievement (Ryan et al., 2017); and develop positive relationships with teachers (Margolis & Nagel, 2006) have a positive influence on teachers staying in the profession.

More than three-fourths (76.4%) of teachers surveyed considered leaving their position during the 2021-22 school year.

The COVID-19 pandemic has drastically impacted teachers’ mental health and well-being, leading many to leave the profession altogether (Madigan & Kim, 2021). One study (Kim, Oxley, & Asbury, 2022) attributes these mental health declines to a variety of factors, such as additional job demands (e.g., increased workload, multiple roles, and uncertainty) and a lack of job resources (e.g., social support, work autonomy, and coping strategies). Several studies have noted the relationship between teacher burnout and increased workloads during COVID-19 (Pressley, 2021a; Răducu & Stănculescu, 2022; Sokal et al., 2020). And, just like before the pandemic, administrative support and workday expectations continued to influence teachers’ perspectives on staying in the profession (Pressley, 2021b; Pressley & Ha, 2021; Sokal, Trudel, & Babb, 2021). Specifically, teachers who planned to leave shared negative comments about their building administrators and blamed them for issues that led to burnout. In addition, teachers who considered leaving shared feelings of being “devalued and disregarded” (Sokal, Trudel, & Babb, 2020, 2021).

Additional contributors to teachers’ declining mental health and well-being that are specific to the pandemic are the lack of connection to students and the challenges associated with online teaching (Baker et al., 2021; Cormier et al., 2022). Remote learning has made it more difficult for teachers to build meaningful relationships with their students, posing a significant barrier to both students’ and teachers’ personal development (Rodriguez et al., 2022). Teachers also have reported high levels of burnout and stress, as well as low levels of job satisfaction, due to the challenges of teaching during the pandemic (Minihan et al., 2022; Walter & Fox, 2021).

Teachers weigh in

To better understand the experiences of teachers at the conclusion of a second full year of teaching during a pandemic, we surveyed teachers nationwide in early May 2022. We asked about the support they received, the challenges they faced, their morale and mental health, and how they perceived the changes made during the pandemic. A total of 830 teachers participated in the study; they predominantly identified as white (86.8%) and female (87.8%) and had an average age of 40.4 years. The average participant had been teaching for 13.3 years. More than half of our sample (61.4%) indicated that they teach in a Title I school. Just under half (48.1%) teach in a school located in a suburban setting, about a quarter teach in an urban setting (25.3%), and the rest teach in a rural setting or small town.

More than three-fourths (76.4%) of teachers surveyed considered leaving their position during the 2021-22 school year. Some were looking for jobs at another school and not leaving the profession entirely; however, more than half (57.6%) looked at non-teaching job postings, and more than one in five (22.4%) applied for a job outside education during the past school year.

There are several reasons for this. First, teacher morale is suffering, and the departure of their colleagues has increased the pressure on the teachers who remain. When we conducted similar survey research in May 2021, 29.5% of teachers surveyed reported experiencing low levels of morale. When we asked teachers the same question in May 2022, that figure jumped to 53.6%. As one teacher shared, “Morale is very low due to teachers quitting en masse and administrators not working as hard or as many hours as teachers and other staff.” Another teacher listed many of the difficulties teachers have faced throughout the year that led to low teacher morale: “Teachers quitting, too many meetings, too many times having to cover other classes, disruptive students, [being] cussed out by parents and students, violence, weapons brought to school, huge classes, and a new principal.”

Teacher mental health is also a factor, and the ongoing pressure over two years of pandemic teaching has caused mental health concerns to mount. As one teacher shared, “Everyone is mentally, physically, and emotionally spent.” Similarly, a second teacher shared the impact of teaching during the pandemic on teachers’ mental health in her school:

Everyone in the school system [is] exhausted. The amount of internal coverage that teachers and administrators have done for one another is astronomical. The effects of COVID-19 within our on-campus families are far-reaching. Teachers have lost immediate family members and continue to show up in the classroom. Teachers continue to work because they have used all of their sick time and still need to pay bills. Teachers work and do not take mental health days because there are NO subs available.

Almost one-third of teachers surveyed sought counseling to support their mental health issues during the pandemic, compared to 20.3% of all adults, according to the most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Terlizzi & Norris, 2021).

The teachers who felt respected and trusted to make decisions about their teaching and who felt supported by parents and their school leadership were more satisfied with their jobs.

The teachers who felt respected and trusted to make decisions about their teaching and who felt supported by parents and their school leadership were more satisfied with their jobs and less likely to pursue employment outside education. One teacher who felt supported by both parents and school administrators shared, “Administration and parents were very supportive. They all understand what we were going through during COVID. The understanding provided relief during stressful times.” Another teacher mentioned the importance of support from everyone in her school community:

My teaching team is incredibly supportive and amazing to work with. My parents this year have also been understanding and encouraging, and I have made sure to tell them how much their support means to me. My principal trusts me to do my job well.

However, not all teachers had such a positive experience. One teacher shared that “Parents are super-critical, and kids are blatantly disrespectful. It feels like everything is getting worse.” Some complained that their administrators continually assigned more work and did not have their backs with parents: “Administrators cater to the parents, and teachers are often left out of the loop. Teachers are given more expectations and responsibilities with no additional time or compensation.” The lack of support extended to district administrators, as one teacher explained:

Central office and the state have made decisions that just get put onto teachers. They make the decisions of what we do in the classroom; then we get blamed when their decisions don’t work. Parents have been unsupportive. Issues will be my fault instead of the student who has had plenty of opportunities to complete work.

These findings were consistent regardless of teacher race or gender or whether they taught in a rural, urban, suburban, or Title I school.

How to support teachers

Our findings are not surprising but are very concerning. They also offer a path to improving conditions for teachers that is consistent with past research into teacher retention. It appears that teachers who have supportive administrators and the space and flexibility to do their professional work are less likely to consider leaving the classroom. Those with a stake in stemming the flow of teachers out of the profession can provide support in multiple ways.

First, school leaders and policy makers should limit the extra work they ask from teachers. Many states require teachers to attend extra professional development or complete additional certifications to stay in the classroom. For example, to be eligible to teach reading, Texas now requires teachers to attend reading academies, above and beyond usual certification requirements (Texas Teachers of Tomorrow, 2022). School leaders and policy makers need to be realistic about their expectations for teachers and recognize that teachers need a break to refresh after more than two years of teaching through a pandemic. Additionally, school leaders need to find ways to support teachers’ mental health by, for example, offering mental health days or access to counseling services in person or via telehealth. Teacher support groups have also been found to improve teacher mental health by helping educators realize what is within their control and what is beyond their control (Stark, Daulat, & King, 2022).

Additionally, parents need to remember that teachers often are just the messengers implementing requirements from school leaders and policy makers. Taking their frustrations about school policies or testing requirements to school leaders will likely be more effective than blaming teachers for issues beyond their control, and it won’t add to teachers’ stress. In most cases, the best way for parents to support their children is to work with teachers rather than against them. Research has found a positive relationship between good parent-teacher communication and student achievement (Sirvani, 2007; Wang & Sheikh-Khalil, 2014). Teachers who perceive parents as supportive also report greater levels of job satisfaction and professional accomplishment (Skaalvik & Skaalvik, 2009) — both of which are likely to keep teachers in the classroom.

School leaders and policy makers need to be realistic about their expectations for teachers and recognize that teachers need a break to refresh.

Finally, school leaders and policy makers need to recognize the crisis that a teacher shortage may bring. It may lead to larger class sizes or less-qualified classroom teachers. For example, this year, teacher and substitute shortages were significant enough in some states that members of the National Guard had to step in to act as teachers (Fordham, 2022). Therefore, policy makers and school leaders must take concrete steps now to keep teachers in the classroom. For example, Alabama lawmakers just passed a record education budget that included raises for all teachers, of up to 21% for the most experienced teachers, as well as additional money for teachers to purchase classroom supplies; the state also raised substitute pay by one-third in the hope of increasing the number of substitutes within the state (Crain, 2022). Such steps not only make teachers feel valued but can have a real impact on keeping talented teachers in the profession.

Every student deserves an excellent education and outstanding teachers. Our research suggests that there is a crisis emerging in public education. If policy makers and school leaders across the United States do not find ways to support the talented teachers already in the classroom, they might watch those teachers leave for greener pastures outside of the classroom.

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This article appears in the September 2022 issue of Kappan, Vol. 104, No. 1, pp. 6-11.