--- title: "What Public K-12 Teachers Want Americans To Know About Teaching" description: "Many public K-12 teachers say people should know that teaching is hard job, and that teachers care about students and deserve respect." date: "2024-04-04" authors: - name: "Dana Braga" job_title: "Research Analyst" link: "https://www.pewresearch.org/staff/dana-braga/" - name: "Kiley Hurst" job_title: "Research Analyst" link: "https://www.pewresearch.org/staff/kiley-hurst/" - name: "Shannon Greenwood" job_title: "Former Digital Production Manager" link: "https://www.pewresearch.org/staff/shannon-greenwood/" - name: "Nick Zanetti" job_title: "Associate Engineer" link: "https://www.pewresearch.org/staff/nick-zanetti/" - name: "John Carlo Mandapat" job_title: "Information Graphics Designer" link: "https://www.pewresearch.org/staff/john-carlo-mandapat/" url: "https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2024/04/04/what-public-k-12-teachers-want-americans-to-know-about-teaching/" categories: - "Education" - "K-12" --- # What Public K-12 Teachers Want Americans To Know About Teaching - [Facebook](#) - [Twitter](#) - [LinkedIn](#) # What Public K-12 Teachers Want Americans To Know About Teaching By [Dana Braga](https://www.pewresearch.org/staff/dana-braga/), [Kiley Hurst](https://www.pewresearch.org/staff/kiley-hurst/), [Shannon Greenwood](https://www.pewresearch.org/staff/shannon-greenwood/), [Nick Zanetti](https://www.pewresearch.org/staff/nick-zanetti/) and [John Carlo Mandapat](https://www.pewresearch.org/staff/john-carlo-mandapat/) April 4, 2024 *Illustrations by Hokyoung Kim* ![](https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/03/pewresearch_lede_final-jpg.webp) At a time when most teachers are [feeling stressed and overwhelmed](https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2024/04/04/how-teachers-manage-their-workload/) in their jobs, we asked 2,531 public K-12 teachers this open-ended question: ****If there’s one thing you’d want the public to know about teachers, what would it be?**** We also asked Americans what they think about teachers to compare with teachers’ perceptions of how the public views them. ***Related: ***[*What’s It Like To Be a Teacher in America Today?*](https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2024/04/04/whats-it-like-to-be-a-teacher-in-america-today/) ![A bar chart showing that about half of teachers want the public to know that teaching is a hard job.](https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/03/ST_24.04.04_teacher-essay_1.png) **How we did this** Pew Research Center conducted this analysis to better understand what public K-12 teachers would like Americans to know about their profession. We also wanted to learn how the public thinks about teachers. For the open-end question, we surveyed 2,531 U.S. public K-12 teachers from Oct. 17 to Nov. 14, 2023. The teachers surveyed are members of RAND’s American Teacher Panel, a nationally representative panel of public K-12 school teachers recruited through MDR Education. Survey data is weighted to state and national teacher characteristics to account for differences in sampling and response to ensure they are representative of the target population. Overall, 96% of surveyed teachers provided an answer to the open-ended question. Center researchers developed a coding scheme categorizing the responses, coded all responses, and then grouped them into the six themes explored in the data essay. For the questions for the general public, we surveyed 5,029 U.S. adults from Nov. 9 to Nov. 16, 2023. The adults surveyed are members of the Ipsos KnowledgePanel, a nationally representative online survey panel. Panel members are randomly recruited through probability-based sampling, and households are provided with access to the Internet and hardware if needed. To ensure that the results of this survey reflect a balanced cross section of the nation, the data is weighted to match the U.S. adult population by gender, age, education, race and ethnicity and other categories. Here are the [questions used for this analysis](https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/03/ST_24.04.04_teacher-essay_topline.pdf), along with responses, the [teacher survey methodology](https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2024/02/22/race-lgbtq-in-schools-methodology/#teacher-survey-methodology) and the [general public survey methodology](https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2024/02/22/race-lgbtq-in-schools-methodology/#general-public-survey-methodology). Most of the responses to the open-ended question fell into one of these six themes: ### Teaching is a hard job About half of teachers (51%) said they want the public to know that teaching is a difficult job and that teachers are hardworking. Within this share, many mentioned that they have roles and responsibilities in the classroom besides teaching, which makes the job stressful. Many also talked about working long hours, beyond those they’re contracted for. “Teachers serve multiple roles other than being responsible for teaching curriculum. We are counselors, behavioral specialists and parents for students who need us to fill those roles. We sacrifice a lot to give all of ourselves to the role as teacher.” - Elementary school teacher “The amount of extra hours that teachers have to put in beyond the contractual time is ridiculous. Arriving 30 minutes before and leaving an hour after is just the tip of the iceberg. … And as far as ‘having summers off,’ most of August is taken up with preparing materials for the upcoming school year or attending three, four, seven days’ worth of unpaid development training.” - High school teacher --- ### Teachers care about their students The next most common theme: 22% of teachers brought up how fulfilling teaching is and how much teachers care about their students. Many gave examples of the hardships of teaching but reaffirmed that they do their job because they love the kids and helping them succeed. ![](https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/03/ST_24.04.04_teacher-essay_illustraion_1-jpg.webp) “We are passionate about what we do. Every child we teach is important to us and we look out for them like they are our own.” - Middle school teacher “We are in it for the kids, and the most incredible moments are when children make connections with learning.” - Elementary school teacher --- ### Teachers are undervalued and disrespected Some 17% of teachers want the public to know that they feel undervalued and disrespected, and that they need more public support. Some mentioned that they are well-educated professionals but are not treated as such. And many teachers in this category responded with a general plea for support from the public, which they don’t feel they’re getting now. “We feel undervalued. The public and many parents of my students treat me and my peers as if we do not know as much as they do, as if we are uneducated.” - Elementary school teacher “The public attitudes toward teachers have been degrading, and it is making it impossible for well-qualified teachers to be found. People are simply not wanting to go into the profession because of public sentiments.” - High school teacher --- ### Teachers are underpaid A similar share of teachers (15%) want the public to know that teachers are underpaid. Many teachers said their salary doesn’t account for the effort and care they put into their students’ education and believe that their pay should reflect this. ![](https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/03/ST_24.04.04_teacher-essay_illustraion_2-jpg.webp) “We are sorely underpaid for the amount of hours we work and the education level we have attained.” - Elementary school teacher --- ### Teachers need support and resources from government and administrators About one-in-ten teachers (9%) said they need more support from the government, their administrators and other key stakeholders. Many mentioned working in understaffed schools, not having enough funding and paying for supplies out of pocket. Some teachers also expressed that they have little control over the curriculum that they teach. “The world-class education we used to be proud of does not exist because of all the red tape we are constantly navigating. If you want to see real change in the classroom, advocate for smaller class sizes for your child, push your district to cap class sizes at a reasonable level and have real, authentic conversations with your child’s teacher about what is going on in the classroom if you’re curious.” - Middle school teacher --- ### Teachers need more support from parents Roughly the same share of teachers (8%) want the public to know that teachers need more support from parents, emphasizing that the parent-teacher relationship is strained. Many view parents as partners in their child’s education and believe that a strong relationship improves kids’ overall social and emotional development. ![](https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/03/ST_24.04.04_teacher-essay_illustraion_3-jpg.webp) “Teachers help students to reach their potential. However, that job is near impossible if parents/guardians do not take an active part in their student’s education.” - High school teacher --- ### How the U.S. public views teachers While the top response from teachers in the open-ended question is that they want the public to know that teaching is a hard job, most Americans already see it that way. Two-thirds of U.S. adults say being a public K-12 teacher is harder than most other jobs, with 33% saying it’s *a lot *harder. And about three-quarters of Americans (74%) say teachers should be paid more than they are now, including 39% who say teachers should be paid *a lot *more. ![](https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/03/ST_24.04.04_teacher-essay_2-2.png) Americans are about evenly divided on whether the public generally looks up to (32%) or down on (30%) public K-12 teachers. Some 37% say Americans neither look up to or down on public K-12 teachers. ![A bar chart showing that teachers’ perceptions of how much Americans trust public K-12 teachers to do their job well is more negative than the general public’s response.](https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/03/ST_24.04.04_teacher-essay_3.png) In addition to the open-ended question about what they want the public to know about them, we asked teachers how much they think most Americans trust public K-12 teachers to do their job well. We also asked the public how much *they* trust teachers. Answers differ considerably. Nearly half of public K-12 teachers (47%) say most Americans *don’t* trust teachers much or at all. A third say most Americans trust teachers some, and 18% say the public trusts teachers a great deal or a fair amount. In contrast, a majority of Americans (57%) say they *do* trust public K-12 teachers to do their job well a great deal or a fair amount. About a quarter (26%) say they trust teachers some, and 17% say they don’t trust teachers much or at all. ***Related:*** *[About half of Americans say public K-12 education is going in the wrong direction](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/04/04/about-half-of-americans-say-public-k-12-education-is-going-in-the-wrong-direction/)* #### How the public's views differ by party There are sizable party differences in Americans’ views of teachers. In particular, Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents are more likely than Republicans and Republican leaners to say: - They trust teachers to do their job well a great deal or a fair amount (70% vs. 44%) - Teaching is a lot or somewhat harder when compared with most other jobs (77% vs. 59%) - Teachers should be paid a lot or somewhat more than they are now (86% vs. 63%) ![](https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/03/image.png) --- *[Interactive Feature: teachers-essay]* #### In their own words Below, we have a selection of quotes that describe what teachers want the public to know about them and their profession. “”