Teachers, can we talk about this for a minute? We all want better pay, but I think we’re going about it the wrong way and we’re doing ourselves a huge disservice.
Let me explain by giving you a few examples first.
Recently I saw a post about teacher pay. As I read through some of the comments, one community member ranted about how teachers get the summer and several long holidays throughout the year and if they wanted better pay, they should work more hours like everyone else. A teacher responded by saying teachers do work during the summer and even if they didn’t, they work 50+ hour weeks during the school year to make up for it.
The legislature in my state set aside money last year as an extra stipend for teachers, providing they spent an additional 32 hours outside of contract time working on projects and professional development. Teachers were expected to make a plan at the beginning of the year on how to spend that time, then keep track of their hours and submit a timesheet at the end of the year.
My school district offered grants up to $2000 per teacher that would plan a project that would somehow benefit the students at their school. Submitted projects were scored on a rubric that looked at how many hours were spent outside contract time and how many students benefited. The overall score determined how much money each teacher was given.
In each one of these situations, someone has determined that a teacher’s value depends on the amount of time that teacher spends working. I see this assumption everywhere, from the community at large, to the legislature, to the school admin and even teachers themselves.
You want more money? Spend more time.
I’ll be the first to point out that this bias is not unique to teaching. Here in the United States we have a heavy cultural bias towards the concept that time = value. I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase “time is money.” It’s widely accepted that if you want more money, you need to put in more time – and it’s wrong.
Think about it. Time spent on a project doesn’t ever make it inherently valuable. Why does a doctor make 100 times more than a cashier, even if they work the exact same hours? How do some people only spend three or four hours a week working and still earn over $100,000 a year? It’s not the time spent, it’s the value given and what people are willing to pay for it.
So what is the value of teaching? What makes a teacher valuable? Those questions are similar, but not the same. We can start by looking at what public education (or any sort of education) does for society as a whole. Without teachers, what would the future of society hold? What options would an individual child have?
And what makes a teacher valuable?
A couple weeks ago I was listening to one of my students complain about some of their other teachers. One teacher’s class was incredibly difficult, with lots of time-consuming homework. My students said they had never taken a class that they hated so much – and yet learned so much from. She was a fantastic teacher, but she made the students work hard. Another teacher’s class was fun and cool, but the students learned nothing. One of my students said she had to look up videos online to teach herself the content so she would have even a small chance of passing.
Not everyone can teach. It takes skills, intuition, patience, and a whole lot of experience. Good teachers are valuable because they can do something that most other people can’t.
Good news, things are changing. In my state, the legislature passed a substantial raise for all teachers, no strings attached. After Covid, my district decided to designate a few days a year as Professional Development and Health and Wellness days so teachers could spend time preparing and catching up as needed – within contract hours. The starting pay for a first year teacher in my district is now almost $60,000 a year, more than double what I made as a first year teacher 13 years ago.
Teachers, if you want to see things keep moving in that direction, we need to make some changes. First, stop using time as the default reason why teachers should be paid more. Maybe you do put in a lot of extra time, but if we make that the default reasoning for getting a raise, we’re contributing to a system that will continually ask more of us. If you feel like you’re putting too much time into your job, stop. I promise, you can work contract hours and go home if you want – and you can still be a great teacher.
Second, when people question the value of teachers, point out the value that public education brings to society. There are so many people out there pointing out the problems. Help your community see the positive things and the value they get from having a strong marching band program, or a stellar history department, or an active Culture Club.
Lastly, we as teachers need to be better at recognizing and talking about the unique skills and characteristics that effective, experienced teachers have. So many superb teachers out there never win awards but show up every day to do the best they can for their students, always trying to be a little better. Find those teachers, learn from them, and help others to see how good they are at what they do.
Why should teachers get paid more? Because we do a tough job that significantly improves our society and requires a lot of skill, education, and experience to do well. Let’s focus on that.