John MacDonald: Here's why we have a teacher shortage

Do you know who’s to blame for the high school teacher shortage we’re hearing about today?

You are.

I am, as well. We’re both to blame.

Because, whether you’re a parent or not, we have done an absolutely brilliant job of putting people off wanting to become a teacher.

And it’s a weird mix of us doing too much of some stuff and too little of other stuff. And the outcome is 346 full-time vacancies unfilled just weeks out from the new school year.

Now I know you might be thinking "oh yeah, we hear this every year from the unions. They take every opportunity to bang on about needing more pay, more resources blah blah blah.”

But it’s not just the unions speaking out.

There’s a principal in the news saying that in the 16 years he’s been in the job, there’s only been one where he’s started the year without enough teachers.

Looks like this could be his second.  

So why am I putting the blame on us? Because that’s not what the unions are saying. It’s certainly not what the government is saying, either. As if they would. So why am I saying it?

I’m saying it because parents - and I’m one of them (our three are in their early 20s now) but, yep, I know I’ve been guilty over the years of poking my nose in - probably a bit too much.

Not as badly as other parents - but I’m guilty.

And what we’ve done in the process, is we have piled so many expectations and pressure on teachers that we are driving them nuts.

We think that we deserve one-on-one time with them whenever we want it.

So much so, that some schools have had to put a ban on parents barging into the classroom before or after school to “have a word”.

We’ve been banging on the door, writing emails. The way some parents behave, you could describe it as harassment of teachers.

This is the part of my argument where we have done “too much”, and it's part of the reason why I think we have to carry the blame for people not wanting to be teachers.

Another part of my “too much” argument is the expectations we have placed on teachers and schools to provide not just an education but full-scale social services.

As well as all the moaning about all the holidays they, supposedly, get - and let’s not forget all the tut-tutting over the keep cups about teacher-only days.

Who would want to be a teacher with all that going on? Not me.

As for the “too little” bit —this is where you and I have put people off wanting to be teachers by not doing enough— this is all about our lack of support and advocacy for teachers.

And this is broad. At one end, you’ve got the way people are always far too busy to put their hand up to help out with anything at school.

You’ll know as much as I do that the ones who do are always the same faces, and they get sick of it eventually.

At the other end —on a broader level— we have done an absolutely hopeless job of standing up for our teachers.

And there is an absolutely prime example.

We have quietly sat-by and allowed to happen what I think is the most damaging thing that’s ever been done to our education system - the modern learning environment.

The modern learning environment has been —in my opinion— an absolute disaster. And you and I - we’ve allowed it to happen.

It gets moaned about, but no one ever takes it to the next level.

The fact that teachers have been forced to teach kids in these barn-like settings with tents and bean bags and noise. Again, who would want to be a teacher in that kind of set-up?

I wouldn’t! 

But we have allowed the Ministry of Education to force these monstrosities on schools. Sure, we might have had a rant about it to our mates - but that’s all we’ve done. And by stopping there, we have let teachers down big-time.

And by letting teachers down big time by not advocating for them as much as we should —and by placing such unrealistic expectations on them— by doing too much of some stuff and not enough of other stuff - we have done a first-class job of telling people to forget about being teachers.  

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