Tenure is a practice observed by many school systems. A quick google search shows that tenure has either been eliminated or significantly diminished in the states of Florida, North Carolina, Kansas, and Wisconsin. It is essentially an employment status that offers teachers protection from being terminated after a probationary period.
The probationary period is typically three to five years, depending on the school system. Once tenured, barring extenuating circumstances, teachers cannot be fired without due process.
While tenure is typically viewed as positive, there have been instances when it doesn’t always yield positive results. Let’s explore some examples from both sides.
Tenure and Teacher Effectiveness
In the ideal world, the tenured teacher has been seen multiple times by effective administrators/coaches/teacher leaders over the course of at least three consecutive years.
The observations would show productive teaching practices, student growth, classroom/behavior management, and the ability to adjust according to feedback.
That teacher would then have the luxury of not worrying about their job and could focus on the true task at hand, educating the youth. I can remember achieving tenure after my third-year teaching English and the relief I felt. I did not have to have a sit-down meeting with my administrators anymore about my contract.
I didn’t have to worry if my performance was “good enough” for them to keep me. I got to stay. I believed I was a good teacher, and tenure made me feel that it was true.
However, research is mixed as to whether teacher tenure is truly effective. While some teachers achieve tenure under the circumstances above, some teachers happen to land in the right set of events and end up tenured anyway. The school may be short of an administrator, and observations are not completed with fidelity.
Or the teacher may work in a building where there is high admin turnover, so they are constantly being observed by different people who don’t observe the same behaviors.
Either way, once obtained, administrators and school systems must demonstrate due process to prove that a tenured teacher needs to be fired. This can be problematic for teachers who are not meeting job expectations or who aren’t conforming to school beliefs.
Some would argue that tenure allows some teachers to get comfortable and lazy, not fulfilling their duties to the best of their ability.
At times teachers with tenure can be reluctant to improve or modify their classroom practices. Others would indicate that tenure would increase teacher effectiveness because the teacher would be putting positive (observed) behaviors into practice.
Behaviors that would provide positive examples to colleagues and students alike. And all practices in schools should work toward increased and improved student outcomes.
Tenure and Student Performance
Ideally a tenured teacher would be one who has a series of best practices to implement as they work with the delicacies of their student population.
This teacher would build positive relationships with the students and staff around them, therefore producing students who perform well on both local benchmarks and national standardized tests.
I worked in the same school for the first eight years of my career. It was a low-performing Title 1 School. Over the years I taught siblings and cousins, and various other relatives.
Parents built relationships with me and trusted me because they remembered experiences they had with me and their other children.
I didn’t have to worry about my job, so I was able to focus on my students and their academic performance.
I poured myself into research, the best practices, and new and alternative methods to bring my students to success. I had some of the highest test scores in school.
This same scenario could prove to be negative if said tenured teacher taught students who consistently performed poorly on standardized test, had a large number of students failing, or had constant behavior management issues, it would be difficult to get rid of that teacher to put a more qualified person in that space.
In that same vein, in low performing schools, tenure may protect high numbers of teachers who aren’t meeting expectations, making it almost impossible to make the changes possible to make improvements.
In ideal instances, tenure has allowed schools to keep strong teachers and created stable learning environments. Low teacher turnover is less disruptive for schools and for students and staff.
Teachers who stay learn the culture of their building, allowing them to foster the strong teacher-student and teacher-teacher relationships that often accompany improved learning outcomes.
Tenure and Teacher Motivation
Tenure enhances teacher motivation by providing a sense of security. Teachers may feel empowered to take academic risks or experiment with innovative methods.
They may also pursue professional development or even advanced degrees upon receiving tenure to continue to grow and flourish.
For some, however, tenure can reduce motivation due to a lack of performance incentives that the teacher thinks are lucrative. The teacher can feel as if they have reached their safety net and do just enough to not get fired.
I once worked with a colleague like this. She was tenured, academically brilliant, but had poor classroom management. She would give up trying to find best practices to manage her classroom in the first month of school.
Because she was tenured, she wasn’t fired, but she was moved around a great deal from school to school in our county. She was jaded and frustrated.
I believe that she wanted to do well but lacked the skills and training to be more than moderately successful. It’s not enough for teachers to possess knowledge; we must have the capacity, means, and skill to share it in order to be effective.
Tenure and Teacher Retention/Job Security
This is the be all to end all, right? Tenure should lead to the retention of strong teachers and enhanced job security.
Tenure should allow administrators to fill their schools with qualified staff and then work at their continuous school improvement model to continue to grow students. But teachers don’t always earn tenure and then stay in the building.
Tenure alone does not retain teachers. Positive work environments, supportive administrators, and active parents retain teachers.
Kids will be kids; good teachers know this and are ready to tackle the ever-evolving issues that come with educating today’s youth. However, tenure doesn’t tie a teacher to building, typically just to a school system.
So, in larger systems, a tenured teacher can move from school to school. What I have seen is that if an administrator wants to get rid of a tenured teacher, they may still provide a good enough recommendation, in the hope that the teacher will find a better fit at another school.
Moreover, tenure doesn’t guarantee a job for life. Teachers can and will still be dismissed for sheer incompetence, misconduct, or budget concerns.
Teacher tenure protects teachers from being fired for personal, political or discriminatory reasons. However, the teacher is still expected to adhere to expectations as laid out by their local school board and their assigned school. Tenure is like sunscreen.
In all seasons it offers beneficial coverage, but mostly, we feel as if we only really need it in the summer. Likewise, once earned, tenure is our sunscreen.
We should use and appreciate it more often. However, we know it’s there and when it’s hot and sunny out, it’s nice to have that protection.
Balancing tenure protections with evaluations and opportunities for professional growth is best for teachers and students. Tenure has its definite pros and cons.
While it can allow some teachers to experience job security and professional growth; it can also offer schools higher teacher retention and low turnover.
If you are fortunate enough to work in a state that still offers tenure, be grateful that you have a modicum of protection for the work that you do.
Teaching is becoming more controversial and in states that don’t offer this basic protection, teachers can and are being fired for their personal choices, political proclivities, religious practices, or race related issues. There is a lot to be said about whether tenure is justified.
However, offering good teachers the opportunity to work and not worry about job security seems almost like a basic human right.
If a couple of not so good teachers end up tenured, hopefully they land in a building that can nurture them and foster improvement before due process must take place and they are terminated.
When I first became a tenured teacher, I remember feeling valued and wanting to work hard to continue being valuable to the students and staff at my school.
I believe that tenure allows good teachers to get better. Good teachers are good for student achievement. Although I have seen the negative effects of tenure, I’ve only seen it a handful of times.
Those teachers just needed a little more support and guidance because they all loved learning and wanted their students to be successful.
I’m grateful that I have felt the protection and benefits that come with tenure. Just like sunscreen, I put it on every day and feel stronger, and safer because of it.
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