For all the positives that come from serving as advocates for our students, who advocates for teachers? Who is our champion? Who is in our corner? As educational leaders, we are on the cusp of a seismic shift in the perceptions regarding education, and it is up to us as educators to ensure teacher advocacy is on the forefront of educational policy and reform.

What is Teacher Advocacy?

Advocating for students is not easy. Similarly, entering the realm of teacher advocacy proves difficult too. An advocate is defined as “one who pleads the cause of another.” For educational professionals, it seems like we have been pleading our case for education for many years! Teacher advocacy is the practice of teachers exercising critical thinking and leadership to advance the education profession as a whole. Whether it is serving on advisory boards at the local level, engaging in discussions with central or district office staff regarding evidence-based practices in the classroom, or participating in political events or rallies where education topics or reform are being discussed or implemented, teacher advocacy can take on many forms, regardless of your teaching level or area.

Why is Teacher Advocacy Important?

As an administrator, I constantly counsel students to make good decisions and not let someone else define who they are as individuals. I often use the phrase, “Do not let someone else write your narrative.” The same can be said for classroom teachers and educational leaders.

Too often in today’s political realm and climate, decisions are being made outside the classroom that directly impact decisions being made within the classroom. As educators, we are quick to let someone else “write our narrative.” As a building-level administrator, I am fortunate to work in an area where teachers are still the trusted voice in the eyes of parents and the community as a whole.

Teachers and educational professionals must rally together and continue to push reform and positive teaching narratives and be on the forefront of potential policy reform and legislative mandates. Teachers want to teach. They want to help students. They want to build relationships and see students thrive. Advocacy for our profession is the only way we as educators can continue to ensure our profession is valued, respected, and appreciated.

How to Practice Teacher Advocacy in Your School

There are varying levels of teacher advocacy that can exist within a school culture. First, teacher advocacy is simply not attainable without a supportive central or district office and building-level leadership. As school leaders, the first step to building advocacy is to listen. Listen to your teachers, build and develop teacher leadership councils, leadership teams, department head committees, and other building-level organizations. Allowing shared leadership opportunities can shed light on potential challenges and successes within your own building.

Ask for feedback, and be prepared for what you get back; furthermore, be prepared to utilize what you have learned! Don’t ask if you aren’t prepared to act on the information you get from your staff. Promoting a culture and climate of teacher support will open doors for teachers to begin practicing various degrees of teacher advocacy.

For teachers, understand you don’t have to do it all in one day. Connect and network with teacher advocacy groups through social media, fellow colleagues in and outside of your district, and reach out to local policy makers. Participate in rallies or other group gatherings where education reform is being discussed. Do what you do best: educate! Educate local leaders and elected officials on what your school or district’s needs are to provide the best possible education for students. Teachers often laugh about their “teacher voice,” that change in tone which can redirect a student in an instant. We must use our collective “teacher voices” to be heard!

Teachers as advocates is not a new concept. Unfortunately, education today faces an uphill battle. We must band together and remind others that teaching is the noble profession, one that creates all other professions. We serve as pivotal role models for students in their most formative years, and our profession deserves to be on the forefront of sweeping systematic change. Teacher advocacy can highlight the successes of our profession, not promote the idea that educators are ineffective. We must be ambassadors for real change. Our future depends on it. Our country’s future depends on it.

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Just like any other profession, teachers have been impacted drastically by the COVID-19 pandemic. For the first time, teachers have experienced something that no one ever learned about in college.

Dealing with the pandemic and how to maneuver the steps of all the restrictions and guidelines is not something anyone could in a textbook or was able to prepare for. Over the last two years, uncertainty has left our teachers feeling anxious, unsure, and in situations that they have never experienced.

One of the most evident and observable impacts that the pandemic has left on our teachers is how they arrange their classrooms and prepare their lessons. A few years ago, students would heavily rely on group work to complete tasks and be paired up with a buddy in younger grades. Social distancing squashed all of that which put our students into spaced-out rows, turning back the clock in education.

This required teachers to rethink their lessons, take a different approach, and completely flip the teaching style that they have been doing for years. This change alone has left teachers uncertain, feeling as if they are lecturing instead of teaching, and has forced teachers into a period of uncomfortableness.

Teachers are often excited to work with community members and have them volunteer in their classrooms. This helps build relationships with the community and offers support for teachers and students in the classroom. The pandemic changed the idea of volunteers coming into schools, which significantly impacts teachers and students.

This can also cause a divider between the school and the community. Community members, including parents of our students, are upset and point fingers at educators as to the restrictions that must be followed. This is not our teachers doing, and it is a time that educators are trying extremely hard to leave politics out of their classrooms. Still, the community members have been upset and took frustrations out on educators.

Something that no one truly wants to think about, but unfortunately impacted teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic, is the baggage and trauma that our students have faced during this time. Teachers have to wear many different hats on a good day in the classroom, and the pandemic has magnified this tremendously as educators see more signs of our students dealing with trauma and learning loss.

Teachers are trying to hold the pieces together and provide the best instruction for our students. Still, the pandemic continues to affect them, leaving a significant impact on them emotionally and pushing them out of their comfort zone. Routinely, social-emotional learning is taking over and replacing academic tasks due to the needs of our students.

How can Empowerment Impact Teacher Satisfaction?

A classroom often feels very much like a teacher’s second home. They have prepared themselves with the most up-to-date research, have set routines, and have defined the teaching style that they genuinely feel benefits their students.

Teachers have empowerment by the number of resources they have available and can provide the educational tools that every student needs. This allows them to think out of the box and be flexible within their classrooms.

While the pandemic has impacted the educational world tremendously, it is still as important as ever that our teachers experience empowerment. When teachers experience empowerment in the workplace, this allows for motivation to increase. When teachers are excited to come to work every day, strive to make a difference, and feel a sense of empowerment, this impacts our students. Ultimately, this is who it is all about, and the students are gaining when their teacher feels empowered.

What Happens When Teachers Don’t Feel Empowerment in the Workplace?

The COVID-19 pandemic may have turned everyone’s world upside down, but teachers are expected to still put a smile on their faces and give it their very best. After two long years of uncertainty, change, and challenges, educators are unsure of how to work through all of this.

Educators are leaving the profession due to burnout and political values carrying over into our public schools. Social media has played a considerable part including the news about teachers, schools, and local decisions made that parents are not happy with.

Teachers have been ridiculed for things that are out of their hands. Feeling beaten, defeated, humiliated, and not valued has left several walking away from the career and a teacher shortage across the United States.

Strategies to Support and Empower Your Teachers

More now than ever, educators feel alone and need to be supported through teacher appreciation. Administration must actively get involved to help support our teachers.

Administration has a lot on their plate, but a good leader will find the time to be sure to empower and support their teachers. This can be done in several ways, and it is so important that is happens.

Be Visible

Leaders must take the time to be a visible part of their school. This includes going into the classroom routinely and being an active listener as well. Letting your staff know you support them and are there for them will go a long way with teacher satisfaction.

Listen

Being a sounding board for our teachers is vital as not many people truly understand what educators are facing. As a school leader, listening to teachers and not being judgmental with their concerns will build a trusting relationship and be something that the teachers will not forget.

Pick-Me-Ups

Just as our students love little pick-me-ups and incentives, so do our teachers. A snack in the faculty room, a free dress-down day, the opportunity to leave a few minutes early after the students have left, or the acknowledgment of simply a pat on the back goes a very long way to aid in teacher wellness.

Be There

One of the most important strategies that a leader can do to support and empower teachers is to be right alongside them during this crazy time. Leaders should attend meetings with them to show support, and a leader should also do their very best to shield their teachers and staff from the negativity that is glaring at the educational field right now. Shielding teachers from this will allow for them to gain some of their empowerment back and impact them positively so they can give their very best every day.

All in This Together

Lastly, it is essential to remember that we are all in this together. Everyone, including teachers, staff, school boards, students, parents, and community members, wants what is best for our students.

To achieve this, we must work together despite what is happening in the world. The result will be empowered teachers positively impacting their students who need them more now than ever.

Interested in pursuing leadership and assisting in the empowerment of teachers? Check out our available administration and leadership graduate degrees and get started today!

*Updated March 2022

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Teaching is a profession that is very hard to simulate because of the responsibilities that come with the role. Your first year will be your on-the-job training and you will make many mistakes, but you will also experience the sweet reward of success. It will undoubtedly be tough, but there are some things that can help immensely!

Work Closely with a Teacher Mentor

Typically, your district or school will identify a mentor teacher for you to work closely with during your first year. This may be part of a larger induction process. Spending time with a mentor upon hire will help acclimate you to the building, your classroom, school norms and culture along with history, and start to help you build relationships with colleagues.

Your mentor can introduce you to other department or grade-level colleagues, be helpful in getting you access to the correct technology, and teach you how to use internet-based platforms and resources like email and learning management systems. It is important to learn from your mentor how discipline is handled, who you can turn to for help, and also about the cultural norms of the student body. Consider that your mentor was likely chosen for a reason and was considered worthy of having expertise to pass on to you. Lastly, allow your mentor to show you what your school is proud of and what they’re working towards.

Get Involved Outside the Classroom

The best teachers develop positive relationships with their students. Rita Pierson says, “Kids don’t learn from people they don’t like,” in her TED Talk “Every Kid Deserves a Champion.” When I started in education in 2006, the most senior teachers on my staff told me things like “Don’t smile till Christmas!” and “You can’t be fun or they won’t respect you!” They acted like students wouldn’t behave in my class or respect me unless I was mean and tough on them.

There may be some teachers who try to give you the same advice. These are the same teachers who are creating negative memories and associations with learning that their students will recall for the rest of their lives. The generation we dream of reaching needs our care, support, and guidance more than ever. These things are actions of a teacher who respects their students and develops authentic, trusting relationships with them.

One of the best ways to show your support of students is to get involved outside of the classroom. Lots of teachers coach sports or become club advisors. These are great ways to get to know your students as people. The moments you will share will allow you to see your students outside of the academic setting and as a daughter, son, sister, or brother instead of only through the lens of teacher to student.

Clubs and sports are wonderful ways to get involved, but your first year will be overwhelming and demanding with just your teaching responsibilities. Consider something that requires less commitment for your first year and attend a few athletic events as a fan, a concert, art show, or even something within your students’ community like a parade or festival! Showing up to these things proves to your students and families that you serve them and that you are not only teaching for a job, but you are truly invested in them as people and a community.

Professional Development

Public school districts, private schools, and charter schools all offer or require a number of professional development opportunities throughout the school year. These are typically geared toward supporting or propelling the school’s values and goals. They may also be for compliance.

During your first year you will be inundated with information, and it will be difficult to see more than a small tunnel view of a larger picture. Sometimes, professional development is the last thing you want to do. You’ll rather be in your room planning, organizing, or grading. Even though it might not seem important at the time, it is in your best interest to try to focus and not think of all the other things on your “to-do” list. Teachers are masters at multi-tasking, but professional growth is extremely important even if it is inconvenient at the time it is assigned.

There will also be opportunities for you to seek out professional developments for your own professional growth. Depending on the state you hold a certification in, you will probably be required to earn a certain amount of continuing education credits per a number of years to maintain your certification. Taking graduate level classes is a great way to continue your professional growth. Starting these your first year of teaching may be too much to handle right away, so take some time for serious consideration before deciding to pursue a program.

Choose Wisely

A school building is like a small sample of a large community. You will work with a wide variety of people who have different personalities, likes, dislikes, and beliefs. It is important that you choose wisely when deciding who you accept advice from and spend time with. There will always be people who are negative and unhappy. This unhappiness and negativity can spread like wildfire throughout a building and quickly destroy a positive culture. It will serve you best to seek like-minded, positive people to spend time with and socialize. This will assure that you have access to the support that you will need and others who are helpful in nature!

Don’t Give Up!

Your first year will be tough! Sometimes you will have moments that make you doubt your career choice. Do not give up! It will get better! The toughest days are the days that you learn and grow the most while becoming a better teacher. These days are necessary to help you get better. At times, things may be overwhelming and stressful, but there will always be days that are as rewarding as those days are tough. Don’t forget to take care of yourself. As they say, “you can’t pour from an empty cup.” Seek motivation and positivity. Most importantly, don’t give up because the work that you do is important and you are impacting the lives of your students!

*Updated August, 2020

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