Teachers are more unsatisfied with their profession now than they were last year, according to The EdWeek Research Center’s survey of nearly 10,000 teachers nationwide.
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The research measures job satisfaction on the Teacher Morale Index which uses a year-over-year criteria on how educator’s view on their profession.
“The Teacher Morale Index is scored on a scale of -100 to +100, with negative scores indicating lower morale and positive scores indicating higher morale,” the report reads.
Despite Florida teacher job satisfaction dipping slightly below the nationwide average, the state sat in the middle of the pack among other states. Arkansas teachers had the highest job satisfaction and Pennsylvania had the lowest.
When asked what would have a “major impact” on improving morale other than pay, more than half of Florida teachers proposed more planning time during the workday and smaller classes. Florida responses ranked above the national average regarding the request for smaller classes. About half of responses answered that changes to how administrators and policies address student discipline would help boost morale also.
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Nationally, majority of states found challenges with student behavior improving over this past year. Only around a third of Florida respondents said they have seen their student’s behavior improve or stay the same within the last school year. Majority of surveyors reported that smaller classes would help this issue, higher than the nationwide average.
Far more than half of teachers throughout the state acknowledged how their salary is worst than their peers in other states. Florida respondents were among the few states who averaged higher than the nation regarding the amount of funds they receive outside of their primary educator role.
About half of teachers from Florida in the survey expect to work in fields other than education. About 38% plan to retire.
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