Yet another survey reveals that teachers work longer hours and for less money than other working adults.
Last school year, teachers worked 53 hours per week鈥攕even hours more than the average working schedule of other adults. While contract hours and extra paid duties made up the bulk of teachers鈥� schedules, one out of every four work hours for teachers went uncompensated, covering things like grading or day-to-day planning.
These long hours are taking a toll: Teachers鈥� dissatisfaction with the hours worked, their base salary, and working conditions hurt their well-being and caused some to consider quitting, the study found.
Those results come from by the RAND Corp., as well as a companion survey of other workers. (Both surveys were deployed in January.) The researchers defined total hours worked per week as hours spent on all school-related activities during the 2022-23 school year during the school day, before and after school, and on weekends. The other workers were asked to account for their hours since September 2022, so their responses covered roughly the same time frame as teachers.
鈥淢ost teachers feel overworked, ... [and] unsurprisingly perhaps, most teachers feel underpaid,鈥� said Elizabeth Steiner, a policy researcher at RAND and a co-author of the report.
Nearly 9 in 10 teachers said they work more than the standard 40 hours each week, compared with less than half of all working adults.
About half of teachers say they work for extra pay, which could include coaching, writing curriculum, or serving as a department head. But most of the extra work teachers do is unpaid鈥攆or instance, responding to student or parent emails at all hours, grading on the weekends, or planning lessons late into the night.
On average, teachers work 15 uncontracted hours per week, 12 of which are unpaid.
And Black and Hispanic teachers reported working more hours than their white peers at similar types of schools.That could be because past research has suggested that teachers of color might be spending more time engaged in culturally responsive practices, such as developing relationships with families, or because they鈥檙e often seen as the school disciplinarian and have extra responsibilities associated with that stereotype, the RAND researchers noted.
Teachers of color also might be under greater financial pressure and be working more hours to increase their total pay, the report said.
Teachers are less satisfied with their working conditions than other Americans
Only 1 in 4 teachers said they were 鈥渕ostly鈥� or 鈥渧ery鈥� satisfied with the hours they worked in a week, compared with half of all working adults. And only 1 in 3 teachers said they were satisfied with their base salary, compared with 2 in 3 working adults.
鈥淭eachers feel very differently about their compensation than most working adults do,鈥� Steiner said.
Teachers reported an average annual base salary鈥攎eaning their paycheck before any supplemental pay or benefits鈥攐f about $67,000 for the 2022-23 school year. That鈥檚 consistent with the National Education Association鈥檚 analysis.
The RAND researchers asked teachers who weren鈥檛 satisfied with their base salaries what they would have to be paid to consider their salaries to be adequate, assuming their role and responsibilities were unchanged. On average, those teachers said $80,000鈥攁bout a 27 percent pay increase from what they鈥檙e currently making.
Steiner noted that the size of the desired increase was the same across cost-of-living areas, education levels, and experience levels.
It鈥檚 also comparable with the estimated teacher pay penalty: Past research has found that when comparing weekly wages, teachers earn an average of about 24 percent less than other college-educated workers.
Poor working conditions could cause teachers to quit
In recent years, many school districts have reported difficulties staffing classrooms, as the teacher pipeline has shrunk and more teachers exit the profession. The survey results suggest that low pay and long working hours are key reasons why teachers want to quit.
The top reason teachers said they were considering leaving their jobs at the end of this school year is that they felt like the stress and disappointments of teaching were not worth it. That could include dissatisfaction with pay, hours worked, or other working conditions.
鈥淵es, pay is very important: Teachers desire to be paid more,鈥� Steiner said. 鈥淚ncreasing pay for teacher seems like it would influence their perception of other working conditions. But increasing pay alone doesn鈥檛 seem like it would be the only thing that is necessary to do.鈥�
She said she hopes policymakers will increase base salaries as well as make other efforts to improve teachers鈥� working conditions. For example, district leaders could create more opportunities for supplemental pay or dedicate more planning time during the school day. Hiring support staff can also reduce teachers鈥� workloads.
The RAND report also found that teachers who reported being dissatisfied with their hours worked were more likely to report frequent job-related stress, feelings of burnout, difficulty coping with the stress, and symptoms of depression. (The analysis could not account for factors outside of work that might affect these indicators of well-being, or other work-related factors, such as class size or support from paraprofessionals that could ease teachers鈥� job burden.)
While many of the teachers who say they are considering leaving the classroom won鈥檛 actually do so, Steiner said it鈥檚 still an indication of job satisfaction overall.
鈥淓ven if a teacher doesn鈥檛 actually leave their job, if they鈥檙e dissatisfied, they might be less engaged in their work, they might be absent more often鈥攎aybe they鈥檙e less engaged in the school community,鈥� she said. 鈥淭he risk of having a dissatisfied and disengaged workforce that is present, but not fully present, is a risk for students and for teachers and for school communities.鈥�
