Written by John Meyer
We don’t have time for continuing education! That’s what nearly 8 of 10 Wisconsin Ev. Lutheran Synod (WELS) teachers reported in an August 2014 survey (figure 1). It’s not surprising. According to the 2003-04 School and Staffing Survey, WELS teachers spend more time per week (60.4 hours) on all teaching-related activities than any other group of teachers—public or private (see 2003-2004 School and Staffing Survey). At the same time, Lutheran teachers in the early part of their careers are most interested in growing professionally (figure 2), but they also report being the most pressed for time (figure 3).
The survey results are understandable given commonly accepted calling practices among Lutheran congregations and schools. Many congregations and schools seek to maximize the talents of and their financial investment in called teachers and add duties beyond classroom instruction into the call. Such duties may include coaching, directing the church choir, teaching Sunday school, leading the youth group, or playing organ for worship services. Additionally, teachers are urged to be seen as leaders in the congregation by participating in choir, fundraisers, fellowship meals, and a variety of other church-related activities. The called worker, often mistaking busyness for faithfulness, feels stretched.
In many Lutheran schools, teachers find it difficult to prioritize the most important aspect of their call—teaching. When this happens, preparation gets shortchanged, relationships are strained, and time for professional growth is eliminated. If Lutheran schools are to develop a community of professionalism and continued growth, they need to view classroom teaching as sufficient for a full-time call. What follows are some suggested ways to increase time for teacher professional development.
- Focus the called worker on teaching. Eliminate any duties from the call that may distract from the classroom. This allows the teacher to maximize the amount of time devoted to teaching and improving her craft. As added blessings, it enables others to offer their gifts of time and talents, and it lets teachers volunteer their time—making tasks joyful offerings instead of tiresome duties.
- Encourage experienced teachers to volunteer for additional school responsibilities. Typically, veteran teachers are assigned fewer duties than new teachers. Teachers report that as they near retirement, they have less desire to grow professionally. This creates a situation in which younger teachers who want to grow lack the time, but older teacher who have lost their zeal to learn more have more time. One way older teachers can contribute to overall school ministry is to volunteer for additional duties so those most eager to learn have the time.
- Maximize already scheduled inservice days for high-impact professional development. Public schools figured out a while ago that building professional development time into the regular school day works. Lutheran schools often do not utilize those days for teacher growth. They may hold class for maximum student learning and for parent convenience, or they may simply take the time off to give the busy Lutheran teacher a time to get caught up or rest. A school that prioritizes professional growth will utilize the embedded inservice opportunities for teacher learning.
The Lutheran teacher’s perception that lack of time prevents professional growth is real. At the same time, people make time for what is most important. If school and congregation leaders truly believe that teachers’ classroom instruction is the most important aspect of the teachers’ calls, they will find ways to provide needed time for teacher professional growth.
Figure #1
Figure #2
Figure #3
John Meyer, PhD (DMLC ’87) is the director of graduate studies and continuing education at Martin Luther College, New Ulm MN.
I’m buying stock in your assessment of the situation.
When students graduate MLC, do they want to serve faithfully? Chuches and schools have been blessed with called workers from MLC who are willing to be sent anywhere. Individuals who want to serve and are often self-motivated to do whatever is asked of them. What a wonderful servant mindset for called workers to have. Who, however is telling them what being faithful to your call looks like? What does being faithful to your call look like? What does/should a congregation want from its called workers?
John, you are dead on with your assessment of the lack of support for perfecting the teaching craft. I am entering the dissertation phase of a PhD. and still teach full time at LES and coach do music, lead youth group etc… Masters was supported by the board and principal. PhD. is not and has been done all on my dime. Point is that boards and principals change and support can be withdrawn. It all boils down to who controls the purse strings.
While I admire anyone who wishes to continue his or her education, I do wonder whether it would really be the best use of church funds to pay for a PhD for one of the church’s LES teachers. I am definitely in support of the church funding a (subject-matter relevant) master’s degree and probably an continuing education allowance sufficient to allow teachers to take at least a class each year beyond that for continued professional development.
However, while I have nothing against PhDs per se–I have one myself–my general advice to prospective PhD students is that the degree is not generally a good idea for professional purposes unless 1) the student has a specific career path in mind which requires it; and 2) it is fully funded by either the university or an outside grant. If those two conditions aren’t met, while I wouldn’t stand in the way of anyone who is dead-set on the degree for personal reasons, I couldn’t advise it as being cost/benefit effective from a professional development standpoint.
Good comments, Dr. Jewell. From the reading I’ve been doing on higher education degrees, a PhD serves better in a research position. As an educator, and Ed.D. or Ed.S. degree serves better in practice. Would the commentators on this post come to a similar conclusion?
It would be interesting to me to see data on the retention of teachers who have added on continuing education/graduate school. Do most WELS teachers stay teaching in the WELS even after attaining a higher degree? Another interesting aspect behind professional development would be considering fixed versus growth mindset. (Carol Dweck from Stanford has studied it, but since WELS is such an ‘interesting’ subset of all teachers, it would be enlightening to compare our data.)
You know what? Pipedreams professor….utter fluff. I have a friend currently working for a WELS school….3 years of experience…started an online Masters program for special ed and was told by her WELS principal (even after she had paid registration fees and taken a class over summer fully known to the entire staff) that she was not allowed to take classes onher own time and her own dime during the school year. The “call” limits professional developement….and unless policies change…principals and school boards will continue to squash it into pipe dreams.
I think your illustration reinforces my point.
Thank you professor. Your blog starts amazing conversations. Hopefully talk will lead to action. Change is a difficult thing to encourage sometimes.
Ms. Baird, that isn’t a WELS thing limiting your friend, that is a personality conflict with the principal.
The statistical data from 2003-04 Schools and Staffing Survey is eye-opening. I suspect we haven’t changed our ways much in the years since. And I notice that in the race to be overly busy as teachers, behind first place WELS in second place is LCMS. I think your diagnosis is correct. Within Lutheranism, all too often we “mistake busyness for faithfulness.” It’s not just called workers who make that mistake, but the congregations who call them and expect more than is healthy for the ministry or for ministers.
David Sellnow
The SASS data is ten years old only because the available data tables depend on researchers analyzing the data from each survey and then sharing it. The last time the WELS data was separated on the time question was 03-04.