Thread by @sbotas99

Every teacher I know is exhausted. They are burning out, and fast. There is a serious morale crisis already beginning, and it's going to deepen? Why? I have some ideas. Let's talk. 🧵

I have been teacher for 14 years. In those years, some things have changed, some things haven't. Our government often points to class sizes, but that's basically their only measurement for education. It hides where the cuts have been made. When I started, there were supports.

There were staff at my board office who could support specific subject areas, or help to deal with behavioural needs. Schools had reading support teachers. There were two teachers when I started whose job was just to support lessons and students. They just went from...

class to class and helped where needed. I got an EA my first two years. Speech, OT, psychological, and LRT support were much more widespread. These days, classroom teachers are in charge of all of it. But we have less to work with. Funding gets cut every. Single. Year.

Every year we do more with less. Teachers used to get funding to go to courses and conferences. Now almost all PD is in-house, and teacher developed and presented. While we've had less support, expectations have grown.

We are preparing students for a world that is rapidly growing in complexity, and managing things like social media. When I started, this wasn't an issue. Now teachers are often asked to help resolve online bullying issues that have absolutely nothing to do with school.

Parent expectations have increased. Division expectations have increased. And that was BEFORE Covid. Since then, we have also had to deal with that added stressor, the added risks, and we have had to help our students and families emotionally navigate the pandemic.

We have been used as political pawns, we have had to completely change how we teach, and somehow we are supposed to keep our students learning, and emotionally regulated. Our job has gotten exponentially harder, particularly in the last five years.

And what do we have to show for it? Teachers are in crisis. They are suffering. Staff members in tears or taking stress leaves are a regular occurrence. Many are polishing their resumes. We get no "hero pay" or days off. We just get told to get back to work.

We care. We care about our students and their learning. And it is breaking the spirits of teachers. We are helping students who have been traumatised by a pandemic, while we are being traumatised by a pandemic, and the only word we get from the education minister is telling us...

Is to shut up and get back to coaching volleyball. We need to deal with this. We need to support teachers. Or we won't have any left. They need time off. They need a raise. They need funding. They need support. They need help. Urgently.