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What Challenges does the Teaching Profession face?

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What Challenges does the Teaching Profession face?

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The Teaching Profession has always been running into issues, it being different depending what state its in. Recently, teachers had ran a strike towards the wage being paid in Oklahoma, creating a strike outside the capitol in OKC that would last about 4 weeks. Sadly, nothing was resolved around it with teachers getting the almost exact pay they started with. These days, issues revolve more around what should be taught in a classroom and what changes should be made. This is a roadblock since administrators are "incharge" of what should be taught at their schools. An example would be the Grapevine Principal 'Dr. James Whitfield', who was suspended for wanting to implement "critical-race theory" at the school.

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What Challenges does the teaching Profession Face?

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What Challenges does the teaching Profession Face?

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The teaching profession has always faced a seemingly endless and controversial list of issues. Teachers are underpaid and overworked, the school day/year is too short or too long, the curriculum needs more guidance or less restrictions, etc. Another issue that seems to present itself is the tug-of-war between providing a structured system of learning and allowing for creativity and freedom of expression.  An article titled "Teaching in the Service of Fugitive Learning" talks about how students fight to find ways to use the tools given to them beyond the strict learning material. This can be seen in using assigned and monitored Chromebooks and computers to correspond with friends, apply to jobs, make digital art, watch movies, etc. (Zaino, 2021, pg. 72) All of these things are healthy and beneficial to students who may or may not have access to do these things with the resources at home.

I was an avid reader in middleschool and used to always carry my newest book with me from class to class. I remember I used to hide it behind my sheet music during choir and read during intermissions or when the teacher wasn't speaking to me, as well as during any other "free time" I could find. Zaino writes that in her school, students were discouraged from recreational reading of their own accord. She writes "Authentic literacy practices—reading, sharing, and discussing texts that have been deemed illicit—are fugitive acts in this school." "(Zaino, 2021, pg. 74)

Meredith Billings

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What challenge does the teaching profession face?

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What challenge does the teaching profession face?

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One of the biggest issues that teachers face in the profession is having their content needed to be taught restricted and monitored, which is a huge detriment to students learning. They are met with various retractions when comes to teaching and having to navigate through what’s deemed as acceptable and not acceptable for students to be learning. For instance, in many schools, the history of slavery and segregation is taught at a surface level, and usually is only discussed for a week, despite it being ingrained into the background of today’s society. Its history is typically either glossed over or shelved altogether, which is where the concept of “fugitive pedagogy” comes into play. “Fugitive Pedagogy often refers to black people’s teaching and learning activities that explicitly challenge white supremacy.” (Givens, 2021) In high school, my English teacher actively contributed to this theory as she gave us a banned book, Beloved by Toni Morrison, to read and write a paper on. We hardly discussed it in class, unless we were working on the paper, which was once in a blue moon. "Administrators conduct constant announced and unannounced walk-throughs, during which they check for daily learning objectives, standardized test practice, and student compliance." (Zaino, 2021, p. 74). The more I think about the more I realize that I doubt the administration knew about this book because it was mostly something we read and worked on outside of class due to unscheduled walks-ins by the administration.

- Jadarion Jenkins

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What challenges does the teaching profession face?

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What challenges does the teaching profession face?

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There are several problems that the teaching profession faces daily and some of the examples I will give have been problems that have grown throughout American history. For starters, a problem that teachers face is the idea of civic virtue. The idea that schooling students for citizenship are something that is basic in the idea of public education, the problem faced is the objective of private interest instead of the public interest. "Unlike the pursuit of democratic equality, the social mobility goal focuses on the needs of the market rather than those of the polity..." (Labaree, Page 66). Though the idea of preparing the next generation of students is the ideal goal, it has moved away from the pursuit of civic virtue by offering them the chance to use schooling as a kind of cultural currency. Another major problem is the problem of poverty. In Jill Barshay's article, we are shown a clear connection that poverty influences the result of bad test scores for students of color. We see that high-income students tend to do better on tests. "It's well known that high-income students perform better on tests than low-income students...the level of school segregation predict the size of the achievement gap between white and black students."(Barshay) The problem teachers face is trying to get over this hurdle of helping students in low-income communities to become better educated and close the gap between them and those with a higher-income household.

-Zachary Rios

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What challenges does the teaching profession face? - Herson Iraheta

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What challenges does the teaching profession face? - Herson Iraheta

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The challenges that the teaching profession face is numerous, such as the long work schedule and having to work at one's home, not having enough support from the department/school to receive supplies in the classroom for the students, and the already mentioned low salary due to being a historic women career path. It is a difficult career, by nature but also by how the U.S. government has avoided providing any form of meaningful aid, as seen by how test scores are lower in areas with poverty, instead of controlling what is meant to be taught (Barshay, 2019). Jarvis R. Givens describes the case of Tessie McGee in Fugitive Pedagogy, where she felt it was necessary to make editions to the curriculum that she was provided in 1933 (Givens, 2021). Editions to that would be honest with her students rather than being shielded or unaware of the pain that African and Native Americans went through in the country's past and present.

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What challenges does the teaching profession face?

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What challenges does the teaching profession face?

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Being a teacher is seen to be an "easy" profession, but it is quite the opposite. There are many challenges that teachers face because they really are educating the next generation. One of the biggest challenges as a teacher, is the idea of Fugitive Pedagogy within the classroom. "Schools are structured by racial capitalism, but within them, students find spaces of refuge that can be collaborative, generative, and enjoyable" (Zaino, 2021, p.76). This quote emphasizes the reality in which students look for outward learning or experiences to educate themselves on certain topics within history. Teachers are not allowed to educate their students on what is "morally" correct because of the school system and what is "okay" to teach. A teacher at a school in Webster Parish, Louisiana, Miss McGee, is an example of where fugitive pedagogy took place. "When the principal disappeared, her eyes went back to the book in her lap" (Givens, 2021, p.2). This teacher would read the required book when she was being watched, but as soon as they left she would read from a book that discussed issues of racism. It is sad to think that teachers have to censor their history topics and the way they word their conversations with fear of losing their job. This is detrimental to the students because they are not being taught the authentic parts of history, but instead taught how these events were positive for our country.
-Julianna Tamayo

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What challenges does the teaching profession face? 

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What challenges does the teaching profession face? 

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Going into the teaching profession can mean taking on an incredibly overwhelming amount of tasks coupled with the challenges that accompany becoming an educator. These challenges can look like restrictions placed on what language, materials, lesson plans, and which historical facts you can mention to your students. While these can place enormous road blocks in the classrooms, they are not the only challenges teachers face. One of the most unfair issues faced by educators are the constant conservative powers and views pushing for the secluding of POC history in the classroom. These powers would much rather continue to teach students a romanticized version of the stealing of this land. One author and distinguished professor writes, "exclusion, violence, and confinement in a land that professed the ideals of liberty and justice for all prompted a counter-historical narrative and way of knowing," (Givens, 2021, p. 3). The leaving out of such important details and facts denies students specifically students of color their right to know the truth behind the land their government pushes them to love so much. It's an extremely tough subject for teachers who truly want to educate their children, but can't because of the curriculum tailored to white comfort. Given's again writes that "black people's teaching and learning activities explicitly challenged white supremacy," and this is still seen currently when POC are constantly denied the knowledge of their past histories because it directly conflicts with the white agenda.
-Ashley Perez

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What challenges does the teaching profession face?

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What challenges does the teaching profession face?

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When thinking about the teaching profession there are a lot of obvious challenges like overbearing parents or not enough funding, but there are so many other challenges that are faced and usually overlooked. One being that as a teacher you are given a strict curriculum that you cannot deviate from even if it will teach children incorrect facts that white wash our history. This is where teachers use fugitive pedagogy in their teaching. The best way I can describe Fugitive Pedagogy in teaching is by giving an example from the book Fugitive Pedagogy in which it states, "She kept the book out of sight, understanding the likely repercussions

were she to be caught." (Givens, 2021). The book that she would read from was one pertaining to black history. This shows how as an amazing teacher you can be punished for teaching what is right and how you have to sometimes hide what you are doing so that you can truly teach truth to students. Another major challenge that is faced by teachers is the different levels of poverty and how that affects each student and schools as a whole. In schools we are always trying to create better test scores, which is another challenge/problem, but there lies a problem because in areas of poverty scores are worse and vis versa. This also feeds into segregation in schools like it states in the article by Jill Barshay, "The two phenomena — racial segregation and economic inequality — are intertwined because students of color are concentrated in high-poverty schools." (Barshay, 2019). Overall I feel like teaching isn't seen with all these challenges and usually seen as a profession that is an easy route, this is also something we need to educate people on as well as teaching our historically correct history.

Sarah Cook

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What challenges does the teaching profession face?

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What challenges does the teaching profession face?

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The challenges the teaching profession faces are vast and seem overwhelming. Some of the ones I can see affect the education system and student population as a whole: growing income inequality and its direct correlation to test scores, the privatization of public education, and the censorship of educators and curriculum. After viewing the interactive model provided by Stanford University, the relationship between high poverty and low test scores was evident. It was interesting to compare school districts I am familiar with and see how the income affected the district's scores. The Texas Tribune informs us that Texas passed a bill that "A teacher may not be compelled to discuss a widely debated and currently controversial issue of public policy or social affairs.". The classroom is one of the best places for students to learn and explore social issues and current events; how can we expect our students to be critical thinkers if we don't allow for an academic space for these discussions to be held? Why are we spending $14.7 billion on training for Texas teachers that already know how to have complex discussions instead of using this money to give better resources to students and educators? (Lopez 2021) While these challenges seem daunting, after learning of "fugitive pedagogy," my fellow future educators and I will have no issues teaching students facts and truth, even when misguided law-makers continue to try to control education.

Sabrina Gulick

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What Challenges Does the Teaching Profession Face?

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What Challenges Does the Teaching Profession Face?

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One issue that teachers face is lack of freedom while teaching. This issue is due to the censorship of educators and leading teachers to participating in fugitive pedagogy. Teachers are often censored and are unable to introduce topics and material they would like to present to their students. This practice of censorship of education in the past has burdened African American instructors. Jarvis R. Givens, an assistant professor at HGSE, mentions the story of Ms. McGee, a teacher from the 1930s who taught from Carter G. Woodson's book in her classroom while unsupervised. When the principal came in, she would teach from the material approved by the school. (Givens, 2019, 6:07) One modern-day example of teachers’  freedom in the classroom is mentioned in Karen Zaino’s “Teaching in the Service of Fugitive Learning”. She mentions, “Teachers must submit unit plans, lesson plans, and yearlong curriculum maps. As a result, even teachers who may wish to supplement or eschew required curricular mandates are given few opportunities to do so.” (Zaino, 2021) Due to this heavy surveillance, teachers often recommend students do research on their own outside of class as way for them to be introduced to certain topics. It's unfortunate that teachers cannot educate their students on historical or foundation topics complete due to censorship.
-Mackenzie Childress

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What Challenges Does the Teaching Profession Face?

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What Challenges Does the Teaching Profession Face?

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Education is one of the most female-dominated professions. "Around 75% of K–12 teachers and 90% of elementary school teachers are women" (Davis, 2019). Teaching has a legacy as a profession that has been viewed as a career pathway for women. Teaching is also one of the lowest paid professions relative to the amount of education and training required for the position. Currently, there is a major shortage of K-12 teachers in the United States of "an estimated shortage of 110,000 teachers" (Davis, 2019). Low pay is one of the major reasons why individuals are avoiding or leaving teaching, along with insufficient funding for education overall and a lack of continued professional development. The teacher shortage has emerged in just the past five years. Numerous analyses have shown that funding to support teaching and education has not been restored since the recession and also has been tied to generating support for tax cuts or other spending in states. Having sufficient numbers of well-trained teachers is essential for educating students and for having a well-prepared workforce for the future.

Ashlyn Cole

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What challenges does the teaching profession face?

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What challenges does the teaching profession face?

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Of the numerous challenges that the teaching profession faces, one of the most prevalent is the educationalization of social issues. As the only true free public service that America offers, the education system is asked to resolve countless social issues, ranging from race inequality, socioeconomic inequality, gender inequality, crime rates, and public safety. However, resolving these issues is not easy: educators in the system often have to find ways to solve the aforementioned issues while appeasing conflicting and contradictory opinions. This is oftentimes impossible, and places a heavy burden on teachers. This is particularly evident with the issue of different socioeconomic statuses among students and the households they hail from. In recent years, education has been viewed from the lens of social mobility, as labeled by David Labaree in his paper Public Goods, Private Goods: The American Struggle over Educational Goals. Under this lens, education is a commodity and its sole purpose is to “provide individual students with a competitive advantage in the struggle for desirable social positions” (Labaree, 1997). This means that as each child has the opportunity to stand out amongst their peers, and as a result, parents want their child to be the most successful student in school. However, success looks different for different socioeconomic statuses. For middle and low classes, the aim is to better one’s standing in society though the upper levels are a long shot. For the high class, the aim is to hold onto the existing societal position and transfer the existing advantage to one’s children. Working against racial inequality is another issue that the teaching profession faces. Unfortunately, many school admin and high-ranking officials do not see racial inequality as a real problem and oppose re-education particularly when it comes to teaching students about Black history. As a result, teachers have been forced to use fugitive pedagogy techniques, meaning that such ‘controversial’ topics have to be taught covertly. This can be seen in how Tessie McGee defied white school curricula by reading and teaching from Carter G. Woodson’s book from her lap when she was supposed to be teaching from the school-approved outline lying on her desk (Givens, 2021). Thus, while educationalizing social issues might sound ideal in theory, in practice, it is often ineffective. America demands heavy requests from the teaching profession, and when it fails to meet those requests, the profession is blamed, create a vicious cycle. This is not a challenge that can be absolved quickly, so I know I should anticipate having to participate in practices such as fugitive pedagogy when I enter the field. I plan to offer book choices to my students, one of which will be the typical, board-approved novel, while the rest consist of stories told by diverse authors. As challenging as teaching can be, no change can come until we start addressing the issue of educationalizing social issues and find alternative methods to finding solutions for them.

- Anna Jang

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What challenges does the teaching profession face?

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What challenges does the teaching profession face?

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One of the many challenges that the teaching profession faces is that we, “educationalize our social issues,” as David Labaree says in his ‘Historians on School Reform’ interview (2015). I find this to be problematic because schools are expected to fix all the issues. Some of these issues include homelessness, food insecurity, teen pregnancy, and many more. There should be other resources available to help students and their families. However, with issues like racism and sexism, these issues are often censored. This leads teachers to take part in fugitive pedagogy. An example that Jarvis R. Givens gives is the story of Tessie McGee, “On many occasions, McGee made what she deemed to be necessary revisions to the mandatory curriculum… She kept the book out of sight, understanding the likely repercussions were she to be caught” (Givens, 2021, p.1). Although schools are expected to fix all issues, it is hypocritical that teaching about racism is censored and has consequences.
Maria Ramirez

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What Challenges Does the Teaching Profession Face?

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What Challenges Does the Teaching Profession Face?

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Regarding education careers, there definitely exists a plethora of adversities that teachers have to confront regularly. Nonetheless, one of the major challenges references the issues of censorship and subsequent fugitive pedagogy. Today across the nation, teachers who advocate for educating students on current social events, the functions of white supremacy, systematic racism, and so many other topics are quickly silenced by administration boards, either by threat of or the act of termination. Educators must contort their methods of teaching in order to effectively teach their students about certain topics that make white people in authoritative positions feel threatened. This can be referred to as Fugitive Pedagogy, "Black people's teaching and learning activities that explicitly challenged white supremacy" (Givens, 2019). Givens offers an example of this sort of teaching in his Fugitive Pedagogy Introduction as he explains the history of Tessie McGee, a 28 year old history teacher during the 1930's. In her classroom, she would covertly read Carter G. Woodson's book to her students; however, whenever the principal appeared in the room, she would simply hide the book in her lap and guide her eyes to the teaching outline that she was supposed to follow. Rather than limiting the education of her students, McGee illustrates an example of teachers overpowering the challenges of censorship in teaching.
Furthermore, the teaching profession also faces the challenge of addressing the poverty hurdle of schools. This is a major issue in education since it perpetuates segregation in schools, since "students of color are concentrated in high-poverty schools" (Barshay, 2019). This is significant in that economic isn't solely a factor in the current segregation of schooling since race is blatantly intertwined with the concept. This leads to an issue of needing to create high-quality schools in areas of concentrated poverty. However, if this cannot be addressed, then something must be done with the root issue, segregation.

- Olguita Marble

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What challenges does the teaching profession face?

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What challenges does the teaching profession face?

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Although there are many hindrances in the teaching profession to be encountered, some of the most prominent, especially in relation to fugitive pedagogy, include managing behavioral problems without taking away students' basic humanity and having to teach by curriculum, which can often leave out vital or interesting information students should hear. Karen Zaino writes in Teaching in the Service of Fugitive Learning, “But students found ways to evade censorship and to repurpose these technologies…as a result of these workarounds, students were able to use their laptops as powerful tools for research and communication.” (Zaino, 2021.) This statement is regarding the monitoring of student laptops in and outside of class. These students who are strictly monitored are being stripped of many vital resources all too make sure they don’t cause any behavioral issues, but in acts of fugitive pedagogy, they retaliate anyways by finding work arounds. It’s important to understand as an educator that although correcting ‘behavioral’ problems is important, taking away students’ basic resources is only hindering them, not stopping them, and ultimately does nothing.In regards to teaching by curriculum, hen teaching, it can become difficult to follow the curriculum when you know something is not included or phrased correctly. I think the example that Givens provides in the introduction to Fugitive Pedagogy is the best instance of this. He writes, “On many occasions, McGee made what she deemed to be necessary revisions to the mandatory curriculum. Based on her own judgment, and perhaps at the recommendation of fellow black teachers, she  often  read  passages  from  Carter  G.  Woodson’s  “book  on  the  Negro,”

which rested comfortably in her lap.” (Givens, 2019.) This is a direct example of fugitive pedagogy and gives clear insight into what would be challenging as an instructor.

- Kaitlyn Horn

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What challenges does the teaching profession face?

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What challenges does the teaching profession face?

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There are many challenges that face the teaching profession, but perhaps the biggest challenges that are present today are censorship and turning education into a private good rather than a public good. Currently, the teaching profession still faces censorship with what is allowed and isn’t allowed to be taught. For instance, there is censorship within our history curriculum of what is being taught and through a very narrow perspective. There is also the issue of banning books and critical race theory, which restricts an understanding and necessary broader perspective for students and society overall. To demonstrate this, “administrators conduct constant announced and unannounced walk-throughs, during which they check for daily learning objectives, standardized test practice, and student compliance” (Zaino, 2021, p. 74). In doing so, this results in teachers and even students partaking in fugitive pedagogy, which can be useful but detrimental if caught. Another challenge that faces the teaching profession is that education is becoming a private good for the wealthy. This means that even though you will have intelligent students, their success is primarily reliant on their income in order to move to higher levels of education. For instance, “education can only promote social mobility (and simultaneously preserve the positional advantage of the privileged) to the extent that it prevents most students from reaching the top of the educational pyramid” (Labree, 1997, p. 65). With this in mind, a teacher can only do so much to help their students when their fate lies within their socioeconomic status.

- Hira Mughal

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What Challenges Does the Teaching Profession Face? 

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What Challenges Does the Teaching Profession Face? 

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The number of challenges that those in the teaching profession face can be quite overwhelming and often go unacknowledged. An immensely straining challenge that is specific to the teaching profession is Fugitive Pedagogy. This is the name for teachers educating their students about topics or using methods that oppose curriculum and/or the school’s regulations. The consequences of Fugitive Pedagogy can be a termination for teachers, which leaves them both unemployed and ruins their reputation for future jobs. There being a strict outline for teaching material is especially hard on history teachers, since history is arguably the most politically charged subject taught in school. It proves to be difficult to educate the students about disasters or difficult periods of history while remaining neutral enough to avoid punishment. Most history teachers attempt to teach their students the unfiltered history of our nation, but there are conservative powers at play that feel a censored history is necessary to exalt America. However, a history that removes polarity leaves students uneducated. As Zaino writes in her book, “when schools assume that student access to content must be controlled, they reveal the lack of trust at the heart of their school culture and the assumptions that students will misuse and abuse freedom” (Zaino, 2021, p. 75). Teachers must then find a way to educate their students about the authentic history of their country and equip their students with information about their country’s good deeds and horrific acts; otherwise, as Givens in his book on Fugitive Pedagogy writes, “exclusion, violence, and confinement in a land that professed the ideals of liberty and justice for all prompted a counter-historical narrative and way of knowing” (Givens, 2021, p. 3). Leaving out gory details of the nation’s history only sets students up for failure, ignorant of the systematic oppression in their nation, and an inability to form their own opinions.

-Marcus Martinez

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What Challenges Does the Teaching Profession Face?

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What Challenges Does the Teaching Profession Face?

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I believe there are multiple challenges that teachers face, however one specifically I would like to point out is fugitive pedagogy. " Authentic literacy practices—reading, sharing, and discussing texts that have been deemed illicit—are fugitive acts in this school. (Karen Zaino, 2021, p. 74)" Teachers are given specific curriculums to teach from that do not include a lot of details and facts that are important to educate the students. It is hard for a teacher to find the balance of when to go against the curriculum and how far they are able to push it in order to give the students the best education that is also morally and historically correct.  "Ultimately, as abolitionist researchers and practitioners “learn to see” (Gutierrez et al., 2017) fugitive learning in schools, we simultaneously set ourselves up to gather information about the racial capitalist policies we want to dismantle—and the practices we want to serve, shield, and build on in educational spaces. (Karen Zaino, 2021, p. 76)" As a future educator although we know going against the curriculum is "against the rule" we feel as if we aren't doing our parts as educators by truly telling the students the whole truth. Just because a system is in place does not mean it is correct. In order to change the curriculum, we have to step out of our comfort zone to be the change. IT is easier said than done because these same teachers are the ones who could lose their job for going against a system that is so broken. It is hard to find a balance and how hard we should push but as a future educator I know that I will always fight for what if best for my students and their education.

-Jennifer Alford

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What Challenges Does the Teaching Profession Face?

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What Challenges Does the Teaching Profession Face?

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To this day, there are many challenges faced in the teaching profession. Out of the biggest challenges there is the problem with poverty. A study from Stanford University in 2019 had shown that in every school in America, an analysis of achievement gaps shows that poverty is the biggest hurdle. The study had found that high-income students "perform better on tests" than the low-income students and that the higher income students tend to have "better educated parents who not only may read or talk to their kids more but also convey the importance of an education and set high academic expectations for their kids" (Barshay). Dr. Jarvis R. Givens of Harvard University links the problem more to the history of racism in American schools with his "fugitive pedagogy" theory. The challenge that teachers, especially history teachers, now have to face is redesigning the lesson plans in a way that does not silence black voices in order to truthfully learn from the past. In order to do this, according to Givens, teachers must "challenge white supremacy" (Givens).
- Ashley Davenport