Quote:
Originally Posted by PDUB
If you read my post, you saw that I mentioned primary and secondary teachers don't have it... as far as I know... please correct me if I am wrong. As far as a "job for life," again if you read my post, that is not what tenure is about.
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Not correct. Virtually all states confer tenure on elementary and secondary school teachers on the first day of their 4th. year on staff. Thruout that time they are observed (evaluated) a minimum of 3 times each school year. The observation serves as the primary tool for dismissal prior to tenure; after tenure they are still subject to the same evaluation process, altho it has now become considerably harder to remove them.
Problem is, it takes anybody 3 years to become reasonably competent at a new job. And a first year teacher is considerably cheaper than a third-year teacher - hence, there is usually (in times of tight budgets) a predictable turnover of staff prior to that first day of the 4th year. If you do manage to stay on the administration's good side then your chance of staying are good...even if you are a slug. Generally, it is the candidate the Superintendent brings in that is the slug....and guess who invariably makes that 4th. day without issue.
Academia is another world altogether. The "publish or die" motivator there is a powerful incentive - for elem/secondary it is relationships with the parents. Feedback here to administration is virtually always fatal, especially so in the first 3 years. And Gov't regulation impact is largely procedural at the elem/secondary level; i.e., No Child Left Behind regs that mandate classroom inclusion of behaviorally-disturbed and functionally-impaired kids. Mostly just a slightly difficult requirement but not a key to retaining employment.
Public school environments are a morass of favoritism and exclusion. School boards abrogate their duty to the public by leaving hire/fire decisions to their Superintendents - who, unsurprisingly - quickly establish favorites and discards. It is difficult to fire a tenured teacher - but by no meand impossible. It DOES take commitment and a willingness to see it thru by the administration - but it is by far easier and less costly simply to harass and intimidate the staff until they decide they can take it no longer. Frequent grade level changes, class lists that contain the most troubled kids or kids with parents that are known antagonists, scheduled prep times that are constantly interrupted with cafeteria or playground duties, etc. - the list is endless. And going after the most-senior members of their staff establishes two things to the rest; that no one is immune, and if that senior member says "enough", payroll now has dropped dramatically. Good news in times of tight budgets.
If you think that situations like this are exceptions, you are mistaken. Morale suffers in all workplaces, but when it does it is generally for specific reasons. When morale sinks, so does the process, be it education or production or whatever.