Episode 271

full
Published on:

29th Aug 2024

Navigating Teacher Shortages and Political Pressures in Education - A Union Leader's Perspective

Summary:

In this episode of the Engaging Leadership Show, host CheeTung (CT), co-founder of EngageRocket, interviews John Wright, Senior Director for Strategy at the National Education Association (NEA). They dive into the current state of education, focusing on the pressing issues of teacher attrition and recruitment, the impact of the political climate on the teaching profession, and strategies to build strong educational communities. Wright shares insights on the changing landscape brought about by the pandemic and discusses innovative roles like instructional coaches that could help retain educators by offering career growth within the instructional realm. The episode offers a nuanced understanding of the challenges and opportunities within education leadership today.

Key Takeaways:

  • The current teacher shortage is a significant problem, exacerbated by political pressures, inadequate compensation, and limited career opportunities.
  • Recruitment is challenging due to societal perceptions and the political environment, while retention is affected by similar issues, along with career growth limitations without shifting roles.
  • The pandemic has intensified existing challenges but also offers opportunities for rethinking education and leadership.
  • Building a sense of community, both laterally (among peers) and vertically (with the school and community), is essential for teacher retention and job satisfaction.
  • There is a push for more flexible and varied career paths within education, such as instructional coaching.
  • Technological and social changes are broadening the role of educators, pushing towards more learner-centered approaches and diverse credentialing.

Chapters:

00:00 Welcome to the Engaging Leadership Show

00:26 Introducing John Wright from NEA

02:27 Understanding the Teacher Shortage Crisis

03:31 Challenges in Teacher Recruitment and Retention

07:43 Impact of Political and Social Pressures

12:06 Building Community and Belonging in Schools

21:00 Exploring the Personal Narrative Project

38:49 Future of Leadership in Education

41:34 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Connect with Dr. Jim: linkedin.com/in/drjimk

Connect with CT: linkedin.com/in/cheetung

Connect with John Wright: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-wright-aa787412/

Music Credit: Shake it Up - Fesliyanstudios.com - David Renda



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About the Podcast

Engaging Leadership
Engaging Leaders to Build High Performance Teams
How do you build a high-performance team?
That question occupies the minds of most leaders.

Answering that question in today's environment is especially challenging.
You need to outperform previous years on a fraction of the budget.
Do more with less is the mandate.

How do you pull this off?
That's why we're here.

Each week we will interview executive and senior leaders in HR, IT, and Sales. They'll share their best practices and playbooks for empowering managers and building high-performance teams.

Engaged leaders empower managers to build elite teams.
Tune in every week for game-changing insights.


About your hosts

CheeTung Leong

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I'm committed to helping people live their best lives through work.

I'm one of the co-founders of EngageRocket, an HRTech SaaS startup and we are focused on helping organizations build empowered managers, engaged employees, and elite teams.

I'm a big nerd when it comes to economics and psychology and regularly use data and tech to help folks live their best lives.

I've been recognized by Prestige Magazine as one of the top 40 under 40 business leaders and have been featured in Forbes, Bloomberg, Business Insider, and Tech in Asia.

Jim Kanichirayil

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Your friendly neighborhood talent strategy nerd is the producer and co-host for The HR Impact Show. He's spent his career in sales and has been typically in startup b2b HRTech and TA-Tech organizations.

He's built high-performance sales teams throughout his career and is passionate about all things employee life cycle and especially employee retention and turnover.