Why High School Music Teachers Need Better SupportIt seems that almost every month, we hear some news story about how more or better qualified teachers are needed in the profession. However, it is not as widely reported hat many good teachers leave the profession every year. This is very true of music teachers many who are leaving because of frustration with the priority placed on music in schools with low pay, or due to unhappiness about the attitude of their school administrators to music education. This article will explore some of the pressures and difficulties faced by high school music teachers, some of whom are now leaving the high school educational system. Just to show some figures associated with music education teachers: in Montana recently the office of public instruction stated that music was the number one area for teacher shortage in the state. And in Florida 12% or more of newly placed music educators are not musically trained, which means that music positions are being filled by teachers who do not have formal music degrees. The issue of quantity versus quality causes stress and burn out for many music teachers. Because many school administrators do not consider music as being a core academic subject, music is often judged purely by the enrollment figures. Many administrators assign value to elective causes purely based on the student enrollment numbers. These things mean that music teachers no matter how good they are often judged purely by the numbers of students that go through their classes. High school music teachers also feel a lack of autonomy. Since music classes are elective, they fall more under the power of administrators. Administrators usually wield more power over elective courses because these courses are not mandated by other controlling bodies for example by graduation requirements, state education requirements or college entry requirements. This means that the music program is often subjected to the opinions of the principal superintendent or the school board. High school teachers will sometimes leave a position and change district just because of the administrators. They may feel that certain administrators are on a power trip and if the band, orchestra or quoir program is not on an administrator’s agenda, it is almost impossible for the music teacher to realize their dream of helping children to become good musicians, or discover the value of music in their lives. Music teachers in high school complain that they don’t have control over the finances of their program or the time scheduling for concerts and performances. High school band directors felt particularly over-worked. One teacher said that if you teach high school music, you will get very little time with your family unless its at a high school music function or a sports activity. Often a single teacher will have to supervise multiple bands. For example one teacher had to supervise eight different bands. He or she will need to travel to different building to supervise these bands and they will often have a performance schedule that is incredibly demanding. This is of course on top of politics and the need to process a high number of students. Since many teachers find it hard or next to impossible to influence the decisions made by their school administrators, such teachers naturally leave a district to move to another district where music is more supported. |