The New York Times has an interesting Op-Ed concerning substitute teachers, which, I admit, is something I had never really thought about before. And I probably should have since it seems at least one of my two children have a substitute teacher almost every week. In fact, the words I hear most from my kids, after complaining about homework, is “Oh, we had a sub today.” And it never even registered to me.
As much as I became frustrated by the lack of training and support, I was most angered by how many days teachers were out of their classrooms. Nationwide, 5.2 percent of teachers are absent on any given day, a rate three times as high as that of professionals outside teaching and more than one and a half times as high as that of teachers in Britain. Teachers in America are most likely to be absent on Fridays, followed by Mondays.
This means that children have substitute teachers for nearly a year of their kindergarten-through-12th-grade education. Taxpayers shell out $4 billion a year for subs.
5.2 percent? Houston, we have a problem. Actually, we have two problems. Too many teachers absent, and too many untrained substitutes. Both issues must be addressed. First, why are so many teachers absent? Some, like my daughter’s Language Arts teacher have good reason. This teacher was diagnosed with cancer and had to have emergency surgery. And, I’d guess that a good many teachers have valid excuses (and a good many are rarely absent). But not all, given the fact that teachers in America are most likely to be absent on Fridays, followed by Mondays.
And, yes, I’m bracing myself for the teacher attack, even though I’ve been careful not to lump all teachers together. For some reason it’s almost impossible to criticize certain teachers’ behavior without offending the entire profession. I don’t really understand this since we have no problem separating the good apples from the bad in other professions. So, yeah, I’m ready to duck.
As far as substitutes… I can’t think of a more harrowing job. That said, given the amount of days we rely on them, there really needs to be standards. Again, I’m certain there are some excellent substitutes, but it can’t be easy to receive a call at 6 am and be ready to step into an unknown classroom by 7:15. But a lot of substitutes aren’t qualified, and either we have to up the standards required to substitute teach, or we have to reduce the number of days teachers are absent.
Sometimes it seems that the only people we hold accountable, and who face consequences, are the kids.
Administration plays a big role as well. It seems some (again, not all) administrators feel that once they call in a substitute their job is done. This couldn’t be further from the truth. They should be monitoring and helping the substitute teacher every step of the way.
Overall, I have been thrilled with 90% of my children’s teachers. The remaining 10% need to find another line of work. And I’d bet that if you complied a list of those 5.2% absent the majority would be repeat offenders.