Some questions about the problem of teachers leaving the classroom

Is it actually a problem for kids? Would schools be more effective places if more teachers on the margins of leaving were to stay in the classroom? How do we know? Is there a correlation between ambitious and teaching skill? What is the correlation?

Do master teacher programs improve learning for a district?

How much of the stress in education about people leaving the classroom could be explained by how uniquely meaningful working with children is? After all, going into management involves a change at work across professions. (Sales managers don’t go on sales calls; you leave the regular police work to get a desk job; you still do rounds occasionally but mostly you don’t see patients, etc.) How much of the problem is that there is a huge emotional gap between teaching and higher-paying work that keeps teachers in the classroom, marginally?

Would people be more effective at their administrative jobs if they were partly in the classroom? Would they be more influential?

William Carlos Williams was a doctor by day, poet by night. No one suggests that there should be more doctor/poet jobs. How do we decide what sorts of jobs their ought to be?

I find this so confusing. What questions do you have? Comments are open.

One thought on “Some questions about the problem of teachers leaving the classroom

  1. “Would people be more effective at their administrative jobs if they were partly in the classroom? Would they be more influential?”

    Good questions. I’ve recently transitioned from a full time teacher role to a position where I teach in the morning and then act as the “Innovation Coach” for my school board. Having one foot in the classroom and one foot out gives me a bit more credibility when I talk about different approaches to learning.

    I wonder how that would apply to administrators?

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