Don’t Leave, We Need You: 8 Reasons We Need More Teachers
We need more teachers because openings keep appearing without the profession expanding. Projections Central expects elementary teaching employment to dip about 2% through 2034 alongside roughly 91,000 annual openings, which largely reflect replacement needs as workers transfer to other occupations or leave the labor force. This essay argues the real gap is retention.
One random Wednesday in March, our staff all wore red to school. It signified red for public education. We talked about "why" we should wear red all day! It made me proud to be part of this one-day movement, and many have pledged to continue to promote this cause.
Public education in America is the subject of intense debate right now, and teachers and administrators often sit at the center of it. This was a cause that all staff stood behind. The need for solidarity has never been more evident. If we want to continue making sure our students receive a strong public education at our current level, we need to take a stand.
If you are disenchanted with education and want to change professions, I ask you to please stop and reflect. We need you, and we need you with our kids.
As the teaching job gets more difficult, we must stop and reflect to think about our "why." Our "why" grounds us and reminds us why we got into this profession in the first place. Teachers leave for all kinds of reasons: pay, workload, working conditions, leadership, retirement, and what is going on at home. I still think naming your "why" is worth the time.
Here are eight cries for why we need more teachers you probably know, but may not have realized how important they are to the teaching profession.
1 - It's about the Kids!
We hear this all the time…relationships with students are important. In fact, I would take that one step further. My own view is that "relationships drive instruction" belongs right alongside "data drives instruction," not instead of it.
In our school, we talk about how the number one school priority is a positive school culture. Every employee, student, and parent has a role in making our school the best place to work and learn. We spend a majority of our time at the beginning of the school year establishing and reestablishing relationships.
Teachers can be a constant for kids. When that works, students walk in knowing they will be accepted, encouraged, and celebrated.
Personally, my number one reason why I teach is that I love kids. If you don't like kids, you probably shouldn't be in education. We need to be thankful for each and every kid that sets foot in our school. We are entrusted with parents' most prized commodity, their child. I have always treated my students like they were my own. All my decisions are based on what's best for kids, and not what's best for the adults.
This is why we need more teachers…teachers that know it's all about the kids!
2 - Igniting a Passion
In education for 20 years, I have seen teachers who can ignite a passion within a child. In fact, they can do it so well that they are remembered and revered for a lifetime. I was lucky enough to have been raised by a mother who taught elementary school. Education was talked about at almost every meal. Though I was never a student in her class, she ignited passion with two generations of learners.
As a principal, I get to walk through schools, and specifically my own, and watch, interact, and be a part of amazing teaching going on by my staff members. The passion they exude on a daily basis is commendable. I know this is happening across the nation. Teachers make instructional decisions on how they will engage this generation of learners seated in front of them.
These passion-creating teachers should be celebrated more often. A math or science class can be where a student first gets curious about engineering. A consumer science course can be where someone finds baking. A computer science class can be where a future analyst starts poking around. Though passion is not tangible, students tend to pick up on whether a teacher has it.
This is why we need more teachers…teachers that can ignite a passion.
3 - Challenge
I absolutely cannot stand the age-old idiom, "Those who can, do; those that can't, teach!" Spending one hour, one day, or even one year in the shoes of a teacher can start to give you a perspective on the teaching profession. Of course, the longer you do it, the more you can speak to the challenge that this profession provides.
Being a teacher for nine years and a principal for eleven, I believe the challenge motivates me to come to work. A new or difficult situation with a student, family, teacher, or community member occurs every day. As the challenge is more difficult, I realize the need for good teachers and principals. Those of us who say we are "doing it for the kids" are driven by this challenge.
Teachers are often the first to notice when a student needs clothing, food, stable housing, mental health care, or a safer situation, and the job includes getting that student connected to school counselors, social workers, and community services. That is coordination work, not something a teacher provides personally. Students arrive carrying very different things with them, and learning to read that and respond to it is part of what makes the work complex.
Teachers accept this challenge every day and ask, "How can I support you?" This premise blows up the age-old idiom written above…and it is a real ask. Not everyone wants a job that works this way, and that is worth knowing about yourself before you sign up for it.
This is why we need more teachers…teachers that are driven by this challenge to support kids.
4 - Creativity
Sometimes following a textbook word for word leaves little for creativity. Teachers know that they must teach the content to meet a standard, but also must have the leeway to add in engagement pieces. It may look different in every school, in every classroom, and possibly with every student.
We must empower teachers and allow them to use their creativity. Teachers have the ability to take a lesson on prepositional phrases and make it into a learning experience that they will not forget. We want teachers to be the Wildcard in a student's education.
This is why we need more teachers…teachers that are creative.
5 - Empowering Others
The ability to empower others is a unique quality that not many can do effectively. Giving up power can seem counterproductive to many people. Teachers and leaders who can give up power find themselves leading in new and unfathomable ways. Pride may be a determining factor, but allowing others to lead helps all of us understand our end goal…student growth and success.
As teachers, we can build genuine partnerships with families by being clear about what we are working on and what tends to help at home. This may come in the form of resources, materials, or even time with us. Parents and caregivers play a vital role in their child's education, and they have far more time with a student over a year than any teacher does.
Teachers can also help students become more independent. The steps it takes can be taught explicitly and then celebrated. Handing over responsibility gradually, rather than all at once, is one way to make that transition manageable.
This is why we need more teachers...teachers who have the ability to empower others.
6 - Empathy and Compassion
Many professions require empathy and compassion in order for the people who work these jobs to be successful. Besides health care workers who provide life support, I believe teachers are next in line when acting on compassion. We must show this with our students, families, and community members every day of our jobs. Though we have some critics who say, "You only work 180 days with students a year." I would point them to the intensity of those days and the hours that go into preparing for a school year.
If empathy is the ability to feel what others are feeling, then showing compassion is that next step. Teachers can show compassion by putting their empathy into action. The way I think about it is this:
Empathy + Action = Compassion
This is why we need more teachers…teachers who can show compassion.
7 - Collegiality
One teacher can be powerful in the education of a student, but several teachers who have the same goal can move mountains. Collegiality and the ability to team with others matter as much as anything else in our jobs. The culture in which we work shapes how it feels to show up. We are all in charge of this culture.
How can teachers work on collegiality? In these high-performing schools, it starts at the top…the modeling of positive relationships and making sure relationships are the most important aspect of the school. If this is not the focus of the school, teachers can start by working on classroom culture, the grade-level culture, and then spreading this culture across the grade levels. Luckily, positive collegiality is contagious. Once someone is part of a positive experience, they want more!
This is why we need teachers…teachers who know that culture and collegiality matter to a school's success.
8 - Growth
An achievement test on one day may tell you whether you are getting into college or not, but is a one-day test fair for students? Growth over time tells us things a single day of testing cannot. As teachers, how can we keep making that case to people outside education? The easy answer…celebrate it!
What we focus on is what we get. If we pay real attention to growth and everyone treats it as a serious measure of learning, we can make it more tangible. Growth shows us the pace at which a student learns, the areas where they need continued support, and, most importantly, what we can celebrate. What gets tested and reported, though, is largely set by state and federal accountability policy rather than by us.
Teachers who understand kids know that growth belongs alongside test scores in how we judge student success.
That is why we need more teachers…teachers who take student growth seriously.
Don't leave; we need you!
Frequently Asked Questions
Why do we need more teachers if teaching jobs are projected to decline?
Because the openings are not coming from growth. Projections Central puts elementary teaching down about 2% between 2024 and 2034 against roughly 91,000 openings a year, and middle school down about 2% against about 40,500 annual openings. Openings largely reflect replacement needs from workers transferring to other occupations or leaving the labor force, rather than employment growth.
Which teaching areas are actually growing?
Preschool teaching is the clearest one, projected to be up 4.1% through 2034 with about 65,500 openings a year. Short-term substitute teaching is up 1.6%, and special education preschool is up 1.4%. Core K-12 classroom roles are flat to slightly down over the same period.
Does staying in teaching have to mean staying in the same job?
No. Plenty of educators shift roles instead of leaving the field, through a special education endorsement, a reading specialist credential, or an administrative license. The principal who wrote this piece taught for nine years first. What each route requires is set by your state, and the requirements vary, but they commonly include an approved preparation program, a minimum amount of teaching experience, supervised internship or fieldwork, and one or more state-required assessments.
Is there a teacher shortage?
National employment projections cannot answer that on their own. They describe total employment, not whether districts can fill the positions they post. Shortages vary substantially by state, district, subject, grade level, and credential area, so a district can struggle to staff a field that looks flat or shrinking nationally. Where you are and what you teach change the answer.
- The openings are replacement, not growth - core K-12 teaching employment is projected to decline 1.6% to 2.0% through 2034, while roughly 91,000 elementary positions open annually, largely reflecting replacement needs as workers transfer to other occupations or leave the labor force.
- Naming your "why" is offered as a reflection - the essay presents it as an exercise worth doing, not as an explanation for attrition. Teachers leave for many reasons, including compensation, workload, working conditions, leadership, retirement, and personal circumstances.
- Culture is the author's central argument - the sections on relationships and collegiality carry the most weight here, and they read as a principal's professional judgment rather than as established evidence about what keeps teachers in classrooms.
- Leaving the classroom is not the only exit - a special education endorsement, a reading specialist credential, or an administrative license can keep an experienced educator in schools, on requirements your state sets and that may include approved preparation, experience, fieldwork, and state assessments.
- Preschool is the growth exception - projected up 4.1% with about 65,500 annual openings, alongside smaller gains in short-term substitute teaching and special education preschool.
Job growth projections (2024-2034) are from the US Department of Labor-sponsored resource, Projections Central. Figures reflect national data, not school-specific information. Conditions in your area may vary. Data accessed September 2026.
Staying in teaching sometimes means changing what you teach or who you lead, and that usually runs through another credential. The sponsored programs on this page include special education endorsements, reading specialist tracks, and administrative licensure, with online and hybrid options built for people already working full time. What each credential requires is set by your state and may include approved preparation, teaching experience, supervised fieldwork, and state-required assessments, so confirm your own rules before committing to a program.
As a 5th grade teacher, in 2010 Jon won the Presidential Award for Elementary Math and Science Teaching (PAEMST). As a principal, his school won the 2012 Blue Ribbon Award. In 2018, he won the National Distinguished Principal Award (NDP). In 2019 he won the National No Kid Hungry Breakfast Hero Award.
Jon is the author of three guides published on teacher.org: An Educator's Guide to Combat Bullying & Bully Prevention; Teacher Evaluation: A Transition Guide to Exemplary Performance; and You are the Wild Card: Infusing Fun Back into Curriculum. He has authored a children's picture book that was released January 2019 titled Benjamin’s Visit to Principal Reads Office…again! (available at www.archwaypublishing.com)
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