Essential Function 4: Unpacking Impact of Teacher Voice

“It is to everyone’s benefit to ensure decision making processes are transparent and involve teachers in authentic, meaningful ways.”

(Dewitt, 2017)

UNPACKING

Teachers have historically lacked opportunities to express their opinions and expertise in educational decisions. Many teachers express feelings of powerlessness and frustration when decisions are made without their input (Paterson, 2018). A 2015 survey found that only 53% of teachers felt their opinions were factored into school-based decisions, while only 19% believed that their opinions were valued when it came to district-level decisions (Rentner, et al., 2016). Teachers are an untapped resource that is too often underutilized to improve the teaching and learning environment. 

A system can only improve with the support and participation of all staff. When educators collaborate with each other and administration for school decisions, the overall school climate improves. Additionally, when teachers have a voice in school-based decisions, they are three times more likely to

• work hard to reach their goals,
• believe they can make a difference in the world, and
• be excited about their future career in education. (Quaglia, 2014)

Simply inviting participation is not enough to ensure teachers will feel they had a decision making role. Teachers feel a greater sense of engagement and efficacy when they genuinely care about a decision and feel their influence was high in the decision making process. Therefore, it is important to make the decision making process transparent so teachers know when and how they can provide input into decisions. Read the article Why Can’t Teachers Make Decisions on Their Own? (DeWitt, 2017) to better understand how shared decision making supports CTE.

Then read the article The Problem-Solving Power of Teachers (Sacks, 2013) to discover how a group of teachers used their collective voice to make changes that improved the achievement of their students.

Reflection Questions

• What are some current examples of teacher voice in decision making that occur in your school/district?
• How could your school/district benefit by increasing teacher voice in decision making and problem-solving?