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School districts across the U.S. could potentially see a mass exodus of teachers as educators continue to feel the added stress and heightened workloads since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. With this in mind, Study.com cited news reports and identified 10 pandemic-related challenges facing teachers.
More than half of public school teachers and administrators intend to retire or leave the profession sooner than they originally planned prior to the pandemic, a January 2022 National Education Association poll found. Many teachers have expressed dissatisfaction in their profession largely due to burnout, feeling overworked due to understaffed schools, and salaries unable to keep up with inflation.
At the start of the pandemic, when many companies abruptly closed their offices (some for a few days, some for weeks) before instructing their employees to work from home, educators were forced to adjust practically overnight to teach in new modalities. Teachers were expected to be readily available while simultaneously teaching their own children, who were also stuck at home.
It started with navigating online learning and when schools finally did reopen, teachers were forced to quickly adjust to a classroom setting during COVID-19, deal with staff shortages, absences from existing staff and students, a barrage of questions and demands from parents, and the mask debate, among other factors.
To recruit and retain teachers, some states have recently approved bills to increase salaries amid a trend of resignations and retirements in schools nationwide. Even so, many teachers have resorted to taking on second jobs. A 2021 national survey of 1,200 classroom teachers conducted by the Teacher Salary Project revealed 82% of respondents were either currently or had previously taken on additional work to make ends meet. More than half said they were juggling several jobs, and 17% said they’d worked multiple jobs during the school year that had nothing to do with teaching.
Read on to learn about the pandemic-related obstacles teachers are dealing with today.
