Teacher turnover, long a problem in K-12 education, has reached a record high since the pandemic hit, with educators leaving their jobs in the 2021-22 school year. Turnover rates have slightly improved since, but teachers' job satisfaction stands near a 50, with a reported considering leaving the profession earlier than they had planned. Student behavior and low pay are among the top factors pushing educators out of the classroom.
In the 1830s and '40s, education reformer Catharine Beecher popularized the idea of teaching as the female equivalent of ministry. Instrumental in feminizing the occupation, Beecher argued that pious young women should be the ones to do the moral work of teaching - in no small part because they provided cheap labor. In Beecher's vision, teaching wasn't so much a profession as a calling.
There was no room in this vision for marriage or motherhood. In fact, marriage bans were common in education through the 1950s. At the start of World War II, 87% of school boards would not hire a married woman and 70% would not retain female teachers if they got married. Teacher marriage bans were not officially outlawed until the Civil Rights Act passed in 1964.
A 2022 report by the National Council on Teacher Quality found that only 18% of the nation's school districts offer some form of paid parental leave.
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