Educators Will Be Leaving the Profession
Next Man Up
“Next man up,” said the coach. You have probably heard the phrase if you played sports at any level. It means that if a teammate gets hurt or injured, the next person will need to step in and contribute to the team.
You are only as good as your present contribution to the company. Are you replaceable at work? You bet you are!
Teachers are no different than any employee from another industry. I believe the teacher needs to take full advantage of the benefits teaching provides. The benefits in some districts may be different than in others.
Some of the Benefits as a Teacher
A teacher in my district has eighteen sick leave days per year. Out of the eighteen days are five personal days you could use. If you don’t use the sick leave days, it is carried over for the next school year.
The sick leave days accumulate over time, and at the end of a teacher’s career, the teacher can use it towards their years of service. It means if a teacher accumulates six months of sick leave during the life of the tenure, the teacher can retire six months earlier.
Next Man Up
Over the past nine years, I have taken at most two or three days off in a given year. Some of the years, I took no days off.
I have watched more teachers leave the school during the past ten years than at any time. Teachers leave for several reasons. I watched the “next man up” mentality on full display.
It’s worth saving your sick leaves because you never know when you might need them during a medical emergency. But, if you need to take a day off, take a day off.
I see teacher burnout everywhere. Some teachers are more vocal than others, but teacher burnout exists. Over 55% of the educators are thinking about leaving the profession as planned [1].
With the ongoing shortage of teachers and substitute teachers, the “next man up” approach is crumbling because there is no “next man up.”
For some teachers, this may be their only option. Some of them stay because of financial reasons. Others will leave for other occupations.
I understood the term “next man up” while I was playing sports growing up, but it has little to no value to an employee.
The question on every teacher’s mind when the school asks teachers to fill in and help the school is, “what is in it for me?”
A teacher doesn’t receive additional pay for doing extra for the school. Oh, but there is always the rebuttal I hear from the administration, “we are family. We work as a team.”
The idea of using the family holds little weight when the stress level for educators is through the roof.
If the extra work causes me to feel a little uneasy, even if it is manageable, I say “no” to any request.
Possible Solutions
I can only speak for my school and district. I think it’s time that school districts think outside the box. Have staggered hours and four-day workweeks. Use a different model than the current model of school that has been in existence for decades.
Create a more flexible model for school. Do away with the traditional idea of the school. Continuing as if nothing happened is ridiculous.
Also, sending more teachers to workshops to learn new strategies discourages teachers.
Final Thought
It is a wake-up call for all government leaders. If you want classrooms filled with teachers instead of having the students housed in the cafeteria, then something needs to be done. Fast!
The survey is interesting because that was something I suspected would happen when we returned to school face-to-face instruction after lockdown and distance learning.
As for me, I’ll still be around until I figure out the steep learning curve of freelance writing and writing for income. My side gig will eventually become my full-time gig.
There is no “next man up” in education. The “next man up” only works if additional compensation is attached to the request and the teachers and substitute teacher shortage problem is addressed and solved.
For some educators, the stress level is not worth it.
Reference
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