Poll: Teachers pessimistic about education, optimistic about their futures and mixed on AI

Teachers say education isn’t going in the right direction but are hopeful about their futures, a new survey finds.

Released in honor of Teacher Appreciation Week, EdChoice’s survey of 1,030 teachers nationwide found they were skeptical about the teaching profession and artificial intelligence but supportive of school choice, which is expanding nationwide.

Slightly less than half of teachers (47%) said education is going well in their local district, and just 26% believe it’s going well nationwide. They were noticeably less optimistic than parents.

Just 18% of public school teachers said they would recommend the profession, but private school teachers were nearly double at 35%, suggesting higher job satisfaction.

Most teachers reported feeling a “sense of purpose” and were “hopeful” about the future, but many (28%) also feel overwhelmed.

Regarding student learning, more than 80% of teachers are satisfied with their students’ progress this year, but private school teachers were more satisfied, with 37% “very satisfied” compared to 32% of public school teachers.

When asked about technology, most educators said laptops contributed to students’ learning but expressed reservations about cellphones in the classroom and AI use.

More than half of teachers (51%) are “concerned” or “very concerned” about AI’s impact on the future. That compares to 41% of the general public and 35% of school parents.

Similarly, 42% of teachers are “extremely” or “very concerned” about AI’s impact on student learning, although public school teachers reported this at a much higher rate (42%) than private school teachers (32%).

Colyn Ritter, senior researcher at EdChoice, said private school teachers and parents appear to be more favorable toward AI.

“Last year’s survey found 75% of private school parents supported allowing their children to use AI, versus 54% of public school parents,” he told The Lion.

Still, more than 70% of all teachers say it’s important to help students build the critical thinking skills necessary to use AI.

The research also contains polling on who should teach children durable skills such as communication, critical thinking and teamwork, with teachers’ opinions often differing from parents.

On school choice, the majority of teachers (60%) support education savings accounts, and that jumps to 75% when a description is included, showing strong support for education freedom.

“Teachers are also much more likely (by 22 points) to believe that ESAs should be available to all families (67%) than to believe that ESAs should be made available to families based on financial need (45%),” said Alli Aldis, senior research assistant at EdChoice. “This belief is consistent with what we see from parents and the general population.”

The leading school choice advocate will conduct the next iteration of its twice-a-year survey this fall.

“Teachers are a population that don’t get surveyed as much as they should,” Ritter said. “I’m glad that we’re really the only ones asking about school choice policies and support,” as well as teachers’ general sentiment and other topics.