It’s difficult to overstate how vital teachers, a key factor in student success, are to post-pandemic academic and social-emotional recovery.

It’s troubling then, to be faced with signs of a teaching profession in decline — with alarming teacher shortages, fewer college students choosing to become teachers and many current teachers not recommending that others enter the profession.

As former teachers, we are left wondering how a job that unlocks student potential and opens up new worlds of possibilities on a daily basis could not be heralded as one of the most rewarding professions on Earth.

What drew us to the profession — connecting with students, supporting their growth and development, fostering future problem-solvers and world-changers — has become overshadowed by the rigidity of school schedules and curricula and the constant demands of being all things to all students and families.

Post-pandemic, as other professionals are enjoying more flexibility in when and where they work, teachers remain bound to the same inflexible expectations and schedules that have defined their roles for hundreds of years.

The reality is that teachers can (and have for generations) come in many forms. And current shortages are finally beginning to spur an embrace of broader conceptions of teaching.

But letting go of preconceived notions about who teaches what, and where, will require systemwide acknowledgement of what’s no longer working for teachers, students and families.

The traditional perception of teachers as the sole arbiters of knowledge, dispensed within school buildings from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. for 10 months a year, needs to be expanded. To be effective in today’s system, 10+ hour days are the reality — with many teachers also taking on after-school and summer jobs to augment their incomes. It’s time to reimagine the role so that educators can collaborate and bring their very best talents to bear for each student while they work realistic hours for wages that permit them to support families of their own.

Read the full article about educator shortages by Jen Holleran and Jill Norton at The Hechinger Report.