New Report: Teaching for a Living: Voices from the Classroom

Posted by on October 26, 2009

Forty percent of America’s K-12 teachers disheartened

A new report from Public Agenda and Learning Point Associates offers a comprehensive look at how teachers across the country differ in perspectives on their profession. The study, based on a nationwide survey with more than 100 questions of nearly 900 teachers, revealed three broad categories that the researchers labeled Disheartened, Contented, and Idealistic. The view that teaching is “so demanding, it’s a wonder more people don’t burn out” is pervasive, particularly among the Disheartened. This group, which accounts for 40 percent of K-12 teachers in the United States, tends to have been teaching longer and be older than the Idealists. More than half teach in low-income schools. By contrast, teachers in the Contented group (37 percent of teachers overall) view teaching as a lifelong career. These teachers tend to be veterans — 94 percent have been teaching for more than 10 years, the majority have graduate degrees, and about two-thirds are teaching in middle-income or affluent schools. However, it is the Idealists — 23 percent of teachers overall — who voice the strongest sense of mission about teaching. More than half are 32 or younger and teach in elementary schools, and 36 percent say that although they intend to stay in education, they do plan to leave classroom teaching for other jobs in the field.

Read more: http://www.publicagenda.org/pages/three-distinct-sensibilities