This is an ongoing series on The Worthy Educators’ Principles of Educator Agency and Efficacy and their implementation in our efforts to transform the profession. This piece addresses the non-negotiable right of principle 4, Dignity: Providing the conditions for us to learn, teach and lead without compromising or sacrificing our honor. See the accompanying infographic below and share this resource with colleagues. We invite educators everywhere to join us in this important work!
Education is first and foremost a human enterprise. Yet today, schools are run more and more like a business enterprise, from funding and hiring practices to teacher training and teaching students, and educators are being marginalized in the process. It is a sad reality that as private and government sectors gain more influence in education, child advocates feel less respected and more expendable. We need to extract business and political considerations from education decision-making to keep the focus on what is best for children and the teachers who serve them.
Educators deserve to be treated as the professionals we are, with respect for our experience and expertise. We need to be recognized and celebrated for the important work we do every day for children, their families and our communities, knowing that we are uniquely qualified to lead the transformation of public education. It's time to fulfill our role.
Education is more than the institution itself; the bureaucracy with all of its policies, budgets, buildings, staffing and data. It’s the answer to the calling by each learning professional committed to the unleashing of human potential and the fulfillment of the promise of a more just, equitable, inclusive, humane, peaceful and productive society. Here are ten ways to move forward together:
Help educators feel safe in their physical space, in the public discourse, and in pioneering new ways to learn, teach and lead
Empower educator agency by providing contexts, venues and supports that help them advocate for what is best for them professionally and for the children they serve
Promote a positive, engaging narrative of teaching that invites stakeholders everywhere to join in transforming a profession that reflects the hopes and dreams of society
Build pathways that provide compensation, benefits and opportunities to advance and sustain educators across the span of their careers
Lead with a vision that proactively defines why and how education serves the greater good, ensuring that all children grow to achieve full and satisfying lives
Offer flexible options that allow for customizable professional learning which accommodates the novel needs and interests of each educator
Support action research between schools and universities that test, vet and validate new ways for students and teachers to actively participate in learning and to contribute to society
Open up designs for learning and learning spaces to lead the way in innovating new approaches to discovery, synthesizing understanding and crafting unique value
Bring together all education stakeholders to build consensus for this transformation of education in ways that reflect the quickly-changing needs of our global society
Build capacity for this new vision of education by redefining how decisions are made, resources are distributed, and results are measured to support needed changes
Reclaiming our leadership role is critical in ensuring that education has the vision, voice and resources necessary to meet the opportunity of the brave, new unknown world coming straight at us. There is no place for partisanship and selling out in building an inclusive future for all of us.
We are called together to champion what is best for children, our profession, and our world, standing at the precipice of existential challenges that define what it will mean to be human in the future, and we reclaim our dignity and respect as core components in making this happen.
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