As written in The Conversation by Jordan Laidlaw, PhD. student Faculty of Education.
As an educator, I attest to the remarkable aspects of the teaching profession. Teachers truly have the capacity to be agents for positive change in this troubled world.
That said, a myriad of factors have left the teaching field in a global state of occupational precarity.
Factors include strenuous impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic, inadequate funding and limited resources, escalating school violence, increased public surveillance as well as parental distrust often amplified by social media hostility.
While teachers’ primary responsibility is to teach, the profession is ever-evolving and more socially complex than is often publicly understood.
Although there has been ample coverage about many of these issues, seldom discussed is how existing school infrastructures constrain collegial practices and contribute to teacher isolation. This was the topic I explored in my award-winning doctoral dissertation.
Wide-ranging tasks
Teachers’ roles and responsibilities are far more expansive than just teaching, but such wide-ranging tasks remain invisible.
In Manitoba, where my study was situated, the provincial government released its teacher competencies regulation in 2025.
This framework mandates teachers to not only lead curricular instruction, but also to safeguard students’ well-being, routinely consult and collaborate with Indigenous communities, participate in peer mentorship and engage in ongoing professional learning — among other diverse occupational responsibilities.
As per Manitoba teachers’ provincial collective agreement, teachers are professionally obligated to routinely participate in school committee work, attend faculty meetings, liaise with parent/community groups and other miscellaneous organizational functions.
Read the full article at The Conversation.
