Teacher Shortages Aren’t Just About Hiring. They’re About Hope.
School leaders talk about “morale” when the building feels heavy, but morale isn’t just a mood to lift. It’s a signal. Appreciation lunches and small perks can help, but they rarely change what’s underneath: the daily conditions that shape whether teaching feels doable. When educators describe good days, they talk about student breakthroughs, lessons that land, and colleagues who have their back. When they describe bad days, it’s more often endless tasks, confusing communication, meeting overload, and tension between adults. That’s where morale actually lives.
Teacher Retention Starts with One Question: “How Are the Adults?”
Schools are usually built around one question: How are the kids? We measure it, we debate it, we obsess over it.
And that makes sense, because the students matter most. That’s a fact in education.
But here’s the hard truth: kids don’t thrive if the adults around them are working in systems that drain them dry. No teaching philosophy is expansive enough to cover that. When the conditions of work disconnect teachers from their purpose, the costs add up. At some point, they either endure at great expense or they leave.