When I started teaching long ago, we didn't know as much about learning and there were a considerable number of parents at home supporting everything we did in school. When I left teaching, there were few parents at home and we knew a lot more about what it takes to teach a child well. The fact that there were fewer parents at home translated into children who needed more social-emotional support in school and afterschool, and the fact that we know a lot more about what it takes to teach well means that we need more staffing, better learning spaces and more time for professional learning and collaboration.
What's possible in schools is incredible. Every child is capable of learning provided they have the right supports. The learning tools available are amazing, but so many of those tools require apt spacing, training and supports. We also understand that successful learners are healthy individuals, children who eat well, play a lot, move, know themselves, work collaboratively, gain essential skills, have supportive homes and lead their own learning. For learning organizations to succeed we have to support the elements that lead to healthy, happy learning.
There are many factors that hold back the schools' good potential and one of those factors is the unreasonable job expectations that many teachers are faced with. Too often, the educators tasked with teaching the most children most of the time have little to no time during the day to research the work they do, plan and prepare the lessons, analyze student needs and efforts, and respond to children's work and parents' questions. To make matters worse, many of the coaches and administrators who tell these teachers what to do are distanced from classroom life. Often their directives do not match the reality of classroom life or a teacher's time, and too often their directives altogether create chaos as those directives are not coordinated, timely, realistic, well-researched or relevant to the needs children bring to the classroom. This reality greatly halts the progress possible in education because teachers are tasked with too much time-on-task with students with too many uncoordinated, often irrelevant directives and little time to do the needed research, prep, planning and response necessary to support top notch, sensitive, successful learning.
How can we change this?
First, assess leadership efforts and relevance. Too many leaders are an extra expensive burden in schools rather than a help. Reduce the number of leaders and increase the numbers of educators who are working with students every day.
Second, create realistic learning pods that include at least two educators and twelve or less students. These learning pods provide every student with two or more significant educators who track their progress, support their social-emotional growth and coach students' success. These pods can also easily morph to respond to challenges schools face--they could go virtual if needed, travel if desired and pivot flexibly to respond to other needs and circumstances. The most important need in schools is that every child have at least one teacher who knows them well and supports them with significant time, skill, knowledge and coaching. Teachers cannot and should not work alone--every pod should have a minimum of two full time teachers. When educators are tasked with too many students, it's impossible for students to have a teacher that knows them well and supports them with daily depth and breadth.
Use technology wisely. There is so much good information out there. In many cases, the small pods could access the best of knowledge via online courses, that the pod teachers could present and manage these resources with the students. It's difficult for most students to use great tech on their own to learn, but a couple of great educators could easily use that tech to teach top-notch information to small groups in creative ways.
A number of small two-teacher-twelve-or-less-student pods can become a cluster that creatively teaches all the students with great group events and individual attention/support.
Limit teachers time on task to no more than four hours a day with a maximum of 12 students per hour with a maximum of 24 different students. For example a teacher could have one 12-student pod for two hours and then another 12-student pod for two hours for a total of 24 students. That, I believe would be a reasonable goal leaving teachers with four more hours a day for breaks, planning and prep. Use staffing creatively to make that happen.
Support educators' professional learning in ways that make a difference. Too many leaders layer professional learning events on teachers' schedules simply to check a box rather than to truly help educators meet the challenges and needs they face. Professional learning just like teaching students should be a personal way to help an educator develop their skill, knowledge and ability to teach every child well.
There are so many ways that we can change schools for the better. To get rid of the industrialized model that still exists in too many schools is a right move. As long as educators are oppressed with unreasonable job expectations, progress will be stalled. We can do better.