Teaching in 2024: Comparative Interviews Between Teachers in the Northeastern and Southern United States
Open Access DepositedThis study was conducted to provide greater insight to the experiences of teachers and how they may or may not differ based on their geographic location within the United States of America. Over the course of the past decade issues such as insufficient pay, politicization of curriculum and the COVID-19 pandemic have impacted teachers and our education system. Many of these issues have contributed to ongoing teacher shortages that have been observed across the country. These shortages are not consistent across the United States as states within the Southern region are seeing more pronounced shortages than those in the Northeast. In order to investigate what differences and similarities exist between teachers located in the Northeastern and Southern region of the United States, 12 semi-structured interviews were conducted among K-12 teachers located in these regions. These interviews were first transcribed then analyzed using inductive coding to determine what patterns exist between responses. Perspectives provided by the theorists Patricia Hill Collins, Zygmunt Bauman and Pierre Bourdieu were used to construct theoretical frameworks to better understand driving factors behind teacher shortages. Common issues discussed within these interviews were feelings of respect towards teachers, the impact of the COVID-19 on students and demands for increases in pay. Feelings of flexibility with lessons and safety while in school were also consistent across all interviews. These interviews suggest that teachers within these two regions share more similarities than differences as several sentiments were shared across all interviews. While this study provides greater insight into the experiences of teachers, the problems they face and ways to ameliorate these issues, additional data must be gathered to provide generalizable results.
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