An advocate of parochial federalism continues his/her presentation[1] …
Teachers
With the parochial/traditional federalism’s account of the school – as a
commonplace of curriculum development – completed, this blog will now address
another commonplace, the teacher.[2] Factors concerning teachers as they relate to
the proposed curricular change that this presentation offers will be addressed
in this posting and, at least, the next.
Specifically, these postings will provide answers for the following
questions:
·
What
relevant demographic information about teachers will affect the implementation
of a parochial federalist construct?
·
How do
teachers associate with the broader citizenry that would, in turn, affect that
implementation?
This posting focuses
on the basic demographic data the literature reveals.
Teachers play a vital role in social studies classrooms. Back in 1991, Stephen J. Thornton describes this
role as one of gatekeeper: “As
gatekeepers, teachers make the day-to-day decisions concerning both the subject
matter and those experiences to which students have access and the nature of
that subject matter and those experiences.”[3]
This notion is vibrantly supported by a more recent position paper
by the National Council of the Social Studies:
“They [teachers] encourage students to be thoughtful, critical, and
deliberate when examining issues both past and present. Teachers want students to participate
actively in a vibrant democracy.”[4] With this context, it would be crucial for
the implementation of any curricular change to have a willing teacher corps to
carry out the prescribed elements of that change.
Demographic
Teacher Information
Of the roughly one and half million social
studies teachers currently manning America’s schools, the following demographic
information has been extracted:
·
48.4% of all Social Studies
Teachers are women, while 51.6% are men.
·
The average age of an employed
Social Studies Teacher is 42 years old.
·
The most common ethnicity of
Social Studies Teachers is White (76.5%), followed by Hispanic or Latino (10.5%)
and Black or African American (7.5%).
·
The majority of Social Studies
Teachers are [sic] located in NY [as in New York state], New York [as in the
city] and IL, Chicago.
·
Social Studies Teachers are
paid an average annual salary of $49,265.
·
Social Studies Teachers
average starting salary is $36,000.
·
In 2021, women earned 96% of
what men earned. [These percentages are assumed to be among social studies
teachers.]
·
The top 10% of highest-paid
Social Studies Teachers earn as much as $65,000 or more.
·
11% of all Social Studies
Teachers are LGBT.
·
Social Studies Teachers are
more likely to work at Education companies in comparison to Private companies.[5]
Of interest
here is the age-related information.
It reflects a favorable state in that this more mature corps –
which represents the average ages within the American workforce – offers advantages
for two reasons. One, these teachers are
more cognizant of a time when the society was less entrenched in a natural
rights culture (a culture that has gained vibrancy since its establishment as
dominant in the years after World War II), and two, older teachers would be
more dissatisfied with current school conditions because of their more extended
exposure to those conditions – the “enough is enough” syndrome.
Evidence is that teachers have long been less and less satisfied
with their work. Of course, the pandemic
has exasperated this trend. But even
before COVID, the teacher corps was finding it more and more difficult to find
the job fulfilling.[6] And what specific complaints do teachers
have? A recent study concluded:
Results
indicate that a lack of resources, overcrowded classes and lack of discipline
among learners were serious sources of dissatisfaction among teachers.
Administrative issues, lack of recognition by principals and parents for good
work done also caused dissatisfaction among teachers in this study. It was also
indicative that job dissatisfaction caused disengagement of some teachers with
a consequent lack of focus on professional activities and being negative in
their job. The study concludes that teacher satisfaction is germane for the
sustainability of social transformation.[7]
The general
impression derived from the data is that teachers, including social studies teachers,
are highly dissatisfied with the general malaise affecting education that has
been commented on in this blog from time to time.
And with that tale of woe, this posting ends. The next one will look at the implications
these complaints would have on teachers being asked to change their curricular
approach to a parochial federalism-based one in the teaching of civics.
[1] This presentation begins with the posting, “A Parochial Subject Matter” (March 11, 2022). The reader is reminded that the claims made
in this posting do not necessarily reflect the beliefs or knowledge of this
blogger. Instead, the posting is a
representation of what an advocate of parochial federalism might
present. This is done to present a
dialectic position of that construct.
[2]
William H. Schubert, Curriculum: Perspective, Paradigm, and Possibility
(New York, NY: MacMillan Publishing
Company, 1986). The meaning of this term
has been shared in previous postings and refers to the political interests of
students that curriculum developers should consider in their plans.
[3] Stephen J. Thornton,
“Teacher as Curricular-Instructional Gatekeeper in Social Studies, in Handbook of Research on Social Studies
Teaching and Learning, edited by James P. Shaver (New York, NY: MacMillan Publishing Company, 1991), 237-248,
237.
[4] “Promoting Teacher Civic Engagement,” National
Council for the Social Studies (2021), accessed May 29, 2022, https://www.socialstudies.org/position-statements/promoting-teacher-civic-engagement#:~:text=Teachers%20as%20Civic%20Leaders&text=They%20encourage%20students%20to%20be,actively%20in%20a%20vibrant%20democracy.
[5]
“Social Studies Teacher Demographics and Statistics in the US,” Zippia: The Career Experts (n.d., reports information
from 2019), accessed May 29, 2022, https://www.zippia.com/social-studies-teacher-jobs/demographics/
.
[6]
Madeline Will, “Teacher Job Satisfaction Hits an All-Time Low,” Education Week
(April 14, 2022), accessed May 29, 2022, https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/teacher-job-satisfaction-hits-an-all-time-low/2022/04
.
[7] Chinedu Okeke and Pamela Mtyuda, “Teacher Job
Dissatisfaction: Implications for
Teacher Sustainability and Social Transformation,’ Journal of Teacher
Education and Sustainability, 19, 1 (January 2017), accessed May 29, 2022, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/318168100_Teacher_Job_Dissatisfaction_Implications_for_Teacher_Sustainability_and_Social_Transformation
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