U.S. survey mirrors Utah teacher worries

Most teachers are committed to their jobs but are also frustrated by working conditions and a lack of parental involvement in schools.

So says a new study by Public Agenda, a national organization tracking policy issues and public opinion.

And leaders of Utah teachers say the findings reflect concerns aired repeatedly here.

"You've got administrators on your back . . . and the community on your back, saying you get paid to stay home during the summer . . . and we don't work long enough hours," said Elaine Tzourtzouklis, president of a group of local teacher unions in Salt Lake and Tooele counties. "But if we gave parents what they wanted, we'd have to be there from 6 in the morning until 6 at night and be a day-care center."

Public Agenda conducted a mail survey of 1,345 public school teachers this spring, seeking views on everything from teacher pay to testing and job satisfaction.

"Most public school teachers surveyed by Public Agenda have a fierce loyalty to their profession," write report authors Steve Farkas, Jean Johnson and Ann Duffett. "Yet side by side with teachers' enthusiasm for their jobs is a sense that society expects far too much of them and seems to undermine them at every turn."

For instance, 74 percent of teachers surveyed say they consider teaching to be their lifelong career. Just 7 percent of teachers say they want to leave the field.

However, just 15 percent say educators are seen as "safeguarding and protecting education quality." And 76 percent say they have become "the scapegoats for all the problems facing education."

The study includes a hodgepodge of teacher opinions. A sample:

• Of those surveyed, 81 percent say without parental involvement, it's difficult for kids to succeed in school.

But teachers indicate they're not receiving the support they need from moms and dads. Ninety-one percent agreed with the statement, "Teachers are doing as good a job as they can given the lack of parental involvement."

While 65 percent of teachers say good teachers can effectively teach students who are poor and have uninvolved parents, 73 percent say exceptional teachers are not enough to turn a school around when parents are not involved.

• Unions, to which 83 percent of surveyed teachers belong, are viewed as a safety net. Eighty-one percent said that without unions, they would be vulnerable to school politics and power-abusing administrators and face poorer working conditions and lower salaries.