The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted schooling on a global scale, challenging teachers with a flood of unmanageable demands.
have persisted, resulting in an echo-pandemic of educator absences — educators leaving their jobs — that threatens the health of schools.
We wrote about based on our 2020 national survey of more than 1,300 Canadian teachers.
Since then, we have followed more that 7,000 educators in their navigation and coping efforts during and after the pandemic. From these findings, we published more than , including 13 peer-reviewed articles, plus 12 articles for educators’ journals, reports to government and to the Canadian Mental Health Association, and one podcast.
Since the pandemic, we’ve seen notable and important conversations about educators’ burnout and self-care and publications. An upside to this is in the education sector around mental health needs and the importance of resources for both students and employees.
A downside is these conversations reflect education systems .
Absentee issues
In the United States, the National Center for Education Statistics reported a rise .
In Canada, research based on data collected from educators in Alberta, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland and Labrador from September 2022 to August 2023 found “.” This study, by psychiatry researcher Belinda Agyapong and colleagues, also noted “short-term sick leave can escalate into long-term absences without adequate support for teachers.”
Rampant absenteeism has severe financial costs. In 2023, the cost of educator absences was .
There are when their schooling is disrupted by educators’ frequent absences.
of administrators, teachers, educational assistants and office staff on a daily basis.
So, why is this happening?
Demands, resources are unbalanced
An important step in solving a problem is defining its nature. A framework called , developed by psychologists from the Netherlands, provides a useful lens for understanding why educators are missing so much time at work. It posits how personal and job characteristics foster employee well-being, suggesting workplaces can be understood as a teeter-totter with demands on one end and resources on the other.
When employees have enough resources to meet demands, the system is in balance. Its workers function well, and the organization’s goals are more likely to be met.
It is expected that resources in schools are supplied by employers, such as reasonable class sizes, adequate prep time and supports to meet complex student needs. It is important to note that resources are also supplied by employees, such as self-care practices and job skills.
Educators, administrators in charge of available resources and provincial policymakers in charge of overall funding to education must work together to achieve and maintain the balance between demands and resources.
So how have the demands experienced by educators changed since 2020?
Survey of educators
, a survey of 243 educators, showed 60 per cent of survey respondents have experienced large increases in students’ academic, social and behavioural needs. Survey data were collected in Manitoba during the first four months of 2024 at voluntary, school-based workshops provided by a national health organization.
Alarmingly, over 30 per cent of respondents said they are rarely or never able to meet all these needs with their current resources.
Within education systems , the demands are of greater number and intensity than prior to the pandemic without .
Increased student needs are not being met within the current education system, and teachers’ workload .
Educators looking for new jobs
of 44 million teachers provides an impetus to solve this issue quickly.
Although there are calls for higher salaries for teachers in some countries, Canadian teachers are and some have received . However, salary raises alone do not make a job sustainable.
A lack of resources and supports to foster student success has resulted in significant dissatisfaction not only for teachers, but also for others across educator roles. In , 29 per cent of teachers, 25 per cent of principals, 33 per cent of clinicians and 20 per cent of educational assistants reported looking for new jobs in the past few months. The collective research indicates a .
So how can we remedy the situation to bring back not only the effectiveness of our educational settings but also the joy of schooling?
Finding solutions
of the current imbalance has resulted in some “bright lights” that show the way for other school systems to curb educator absences and attrition.
Examples include:
- In Manitoba, the government’s ; increased after a new recent collective agreement; ;
- Increased attention to to address students’ current needs in some provinces — Manitoba, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario.
These initiatives suggest some governments and policymakers are aware of the imbalances and are working to address them.
Importantly, like educational assistants, principals and clinicians (for example, psychologists) is necessary to re-establish balance.
When educators are properly resourced to do their jobs and are allowed to see the results in positive learning and growth of their students, they will be more inclined to be at work. If, in time, the education system is adequately and proactively resourced to meet the demands, schools can become better places to work and learn. Reduced educator attrition and absences will be good indicators of a system regaining its balance.
Laura Sokal has received funding from SSHRC and the Canadian Mental Health Association.
Lesley Eblie Trudel has received funding from SSHRC and the Canadian Mental Health Association.
