The ABCs of Praying for Students has started arriving in mailboxes, and I am so encouraged by the first feedback from readers. After all, it’s time for our thoughts to turn to the approaching school year. Even if you won’t send off your own student, communities are all about Back-to-School. Some will be in class within the next couple of weeks! A lot of families are thinking about changing teachers. In education today, teachers are navigating change.
Last week, part of a post I wrote originally for The MOM Initiative was shared over ten thousand times on Facebook! It’s a list of 10 ways to pray FOR the teacher. Those shares tell me people want to know HOW to pray for teachers. Let’s look at some reasons we need to be as concerned about teachers changing as we are about changing teachers.
Research about changing teachers
Teacher walkouts happened last year in West Virginia, Colorado, Oklahoma, California, Oregon, and Arizona. Teachers work with high expectations in classroom content, testing requirements, continuing education, student mental health needs, special education needs, child welfare cases, and family needs impacting classroom environments. Legal concerns add pressure, making it delicate and difficult to respond to hard situations. New technology helps teachers communicate with parents, guardians, and kinship caregivers, but brings expectations for quick responses that often don’t fit into a teacher’s schedule with a full classroom of students.
Across today’s learning landscape, more teachers get higher degrees, but fewer stay long enough to become more experienced. Many seek higher degrees, while teaching full-time, to gain skills for challenges and to earn higher pay. Compared to 1990-91 dollar values, the National Center for Teaching Statistics reports teaching salaries are actually lower today than almost 30 years ago. In a 2017 study by the University of Missouri, 93% of elementary teachers reported high stress levels, but only 7% felt they had strong enough coping skills. Since 2008 the ratio of children to teachers in classrooms has been rising, meaning more kids per teacher. Data shows when teachers experience high classroom stress, child outcomes suffer. Keith Herman, one researcher who conducted the study said, “When teachers are neglected, our children are neglected.”
God’s unchanging heart for children
The Bible describes God’s tender heart for children. He doesn’t intend for them to be neglected. In Matthew 18:2-6 we read about a time when Jesus interacted with a child and talked about the high value of childhood. “He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. And he said: ‘Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me. If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. ‘”
This school year, most students will change teachers. In addition to changes in the field of education, educators have their own personal needs. They may have changing relationships, housing, family dynamics, finances, church life, or training. Professionally, they may move buildings, get a new administrator, a new classroom location, new curriculum, or new teammates. Should we pray about changing teachers? Yes, but also pray for changing teachers.
2 resources to help us pray for changing teachers:
- Read the post Real Moms Praying for Real Teachers
- Get your copy of The ABCs of Praying for Students
