Substitute teachers deserve better!

Many teachers are leaving the classroom due to overwhelming stress from several factors including new legislation, low pay, and Covid 19. This has created a teacher shortage and left substitute teachers to fill their positions. However, the rise in shortages has created a deficiency of educators too large for substitutes to handle. This has created a negative environment, where substitutes are being overworked and underpaid and students are not learning as much, and thus many are struggling in their classes.

The Stigma Around Substituting

Substitutes are typically thrown into classrooms with almost no preparation. They are given a list of things to do with the students and nothing else. They may receive minimal training about school and district policies and that’s it. Most are not even told where to park or where their classroom will be. They must get to the classroom and determine how to enact the plan that the teacher left for them while, not having the proper training to teach the class.

Providing professional development could help substitute teachers be more prepared to handle the classroom. Ed Week Research Center reported that forty-four percent of school board members and administrators say they currently provide no professional development to substitute teachers. Sixty-five percent say that classroom management training would significantly improve substitute teaching in their districts or schools, and yet only 11 percent offer training on that subject.

School districts claim that they do not want to spend money funding on temporary employees. However, not giving these employees proper training is causing them to not want to return. Most substitute teachers receive low pay compared to the amount of work they are required to do. They must teach an entire class, with little to no training and no benefits. This is causing some substitutes to feel undervalued and to not want to return.

Substitute Teaching Requirements

To combat the current teacher and substitute shortage, many school districts are lowering their hiring requirements. Governor Gavin Newsom of California issued an executive order that advances the hiring process and provides staffing flexibility, including allowing substitute teacher contracts to be extended and removing barriers for recently retired teachers to return to the classroom. In Kansas, the state's Board of Education lowered requirements for obtaining an emergency substitute teaching license. Under the new declaration, substitute teachers will only need to have a high school diploma, be at least 18 years old, pass a background check, have a verified commitment from a district for employment, and submit a completed application to the state education department.

School districts across Texas have run through their substitute rolls and are now asking parents to be substitutes. Oregon's education officials dropped its college degree requirements and waived fees for educators putting any associated expenses on the hiring school district or charter school. The state also mandated that substitutes pass a background check and submit to fingerprinting. New Mexico is asking the state's National Guard and state employees to volunteer as substitute teachers and childcare workers.

These states and many others believe changing such requirements benefits the students. However, these changes are not as beneficial as they believe. School districts are putting many underqualified people in a position they have little to no training for. It was bad before, when the need for substitutes was not as high. However, the increased need for substitutes and the decrease in training has the worst outcome for the people that are supposed to benefit from it: the students.

Substitutes As Babysitters

States and districts have found several ways to get more substitute teachers. Overworked teachers are being asked to monitor classrooms during their lunch breaks and conference periods. Classroom aides, bus drivers, cafeteria workers, front-office staff, and even superintendents are being called away from their standard duties to come into the classroom. However, many of these people are unaware of what they should be doing.

The teacher shortage has highlighted the faults in the system of substitute teaching. Hiring more untrained people only further escalates these struggles. Even with the hiring of all of the additional people, there are still schools that are unable to handle the amount of students they have. Teachers have told stories about teenagers roaming the hallways or left unattended in classrooms. Several described “mega-classes,” in which students whose teachers are absent are gathered en masse in gyms or auditoriums.

Rachel, a high-school history teacher in Fort Worth, Texas, told me she was once the only adult in charge of about ten classes—roughly 150 students total—in her school’s gym, though a nearby P.E. teacher volunteered to help her, and two other administrators stepped in toward the end of the period. Students were supposed to be working on online assignments, but Wi-Fi service in the gym was spotty at best. A group of upperclassmen in AP statistics, whose teacher was out with COVID, asked Rachel for help deciphering their lesson—but she could not offer any useful guidance, having no knowledge of the subject.

Many of these new substitutes are put into similar situations and do not have the proper training and skills to determine what to do. They are simply put in the classroom as “babysitters,” charged with simply keeping the students occupied until the end of the day. The districts and states may think it is a good thing to keep the students in school but having students in a classroom where they are not learning anything only causes further disciplinary and learning issues.

Students Struggle To Catch Back Up

The disruption of the pandemic and teacher and substitute shortage has put a lot of stress on kids and the adults who are sent in to try to keep them on track. The constant rotation of new people is causing serious behavioral issues, and classroom management has become one of the most difficult aspects of the job for many teachers. Students are put into a room with an unfamiliar person and they are expected to learn and behave like everything is normal. If the teacher is gone for long amounts of time, and the students have to adjust to this change for a while. Then, when the teacher returns, the students have to readapt to the rules.

Most students are already behind due to school being closed due to the pandemic and quarantining. Teachers have been playing catch up and helping students get to where they need to be academically. Since substitutes are typically not trained on content knowledge, they are unable to help the students as effectively as their regular teachers, even with the list the teacher may leave. This issue can become worse when teachers must leave their classes for longer amounts of time, and then substitutes, with little training, are left to take over.

No Long Term Solutions

There are no current long term solutions for the problems that substitute teachers are facing. States have created several temporary solutions like raising pay and/or lowering requirements, instead of working on a permanent solution. One solution could be giving substitute teachers free, paid professional development to help them gain skills to become more effective. Professional development should be accessible, scheduled primarily in the summer or after school hours, and made affordable for substitutes.

Another solution would be providing through training for all substitutes, so that they are aware of the skills and tasks that are expected of them before they go to the classroom. Instead of walking in blindly, substitutes should have a knowledge of what will be expected of them. Teachers should also be required to make plans for the day and identify things like classroom helpers, where to find things, and where to eat. States should also pay substitutes more for the hard work and "improvisation" they are required to come up with on a daily basis.

There are many challenges involved with being a substitute teacher. This article has outlined are just a few of the solutions that could help mitigate them. The temporary solutions that school districts have created will only be effective for a short amount of time, the impact of the shortage of quality substitutes is already having negative effects on the students.

Schools are made to help students learn and further their education. Until substitute teachers begin seeing real improvements, students will continue to be set further back even further in their education.

Da'Jonique Johnson is a junior early childhood education major studying at Southeastern Louisiana University. She is passionate about helping others learn and grow,