The pandemic also caused persistent changes to school operations. Among the more notable changes is a greater emphasis on students’ mental health, which has led to, among other things, teachers giving students less homework and allowing students to retake exams, resulting in post-pandemic grade inflation. Classrooms have also become broadly more reliant on technology.
The decline in teacher working conditions is problematic for two key reasons. First, it is surely contributing to the declining prestige and desirability of the teaching profession. Everyone knows a teacher, and people talk. Amid ongoing (and seemingly never-ending) concerns about teacher shortages, we should re-focus on professionalizing teaching by allowing teachers to focus on what they’re trained to do, which is teach. Teachers are telling us that they increasingly feel they cannot do this.