Education Experts Say Teacher Autonomy Is Key to Sustaining Educators’ Careers

Education experts argued that maintaining teacher autonomy was important to sustaining educators’ careers at the first event in the 2025 Education Now webinar series, hosted by the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

The webinar, which included education professors and the 2024 National Teacher of the Year, focused on how to address teaching challenges — especially as educators across the nation report low satisfaction in the post-pandemic environment.

HGSE lecturer Victor B. Perreira Jr., who serves as faculty co-chair of the Teaching and Teacher Leadership program, said administrators should focus on “leveraging the goals of the teacher” to ensure teacher’s independence from broad administrative policies.

“Sometimes we’re teaching and the classroom has its own challenges,” he said. “Where can we continue to exercise our creativity and interests?”

Lora Bartlett, an associate professor of education at University of California, Santa Cruz, pointed to her research over the pandemic as evidence of low teacher satisfaction. Out of the 75 teachers she surveyed, only a third were still teaching and satisfied with their career after a two-and-a-half-year period.

“The number one distinguishing feature about those teachers was that they had a strong sense of having voice,” Bartlett said of the satisfied teachers. “By that, I mean they felt their expertise, their knowledge, and their perspective was valued and considered in decision-making in the schools.”

“We are underutilizing teachers’ expertise at the moment, and teachers are feeling that strain,” she added. “They’re feeling the disrespect, and they're not wanting to stay in the profession.”

Even as the discussion shifted to addressing the rise of artificial intelligence in schools, the importance of teacher autonomy remained at the focus of panelists’ comments.

Pierra said teachers should use the new technology to manage their “never-ending list of responsibilities,” so they can “just spend the time focusing on teaching” amidst the proliferation of the new technology.

Missy Testerman, a rural elementary school teacher and 2024 National Teacher of the Year, emphasized that the quality of students’ teachers — rather than their technology — is the most important factor to student learning.

“AI is shiny and new and exciting,” Testerman said. “I’m definitely no AI expert — I teach language to people — but I just want teachers to remember they are the most important part of this entire discussion.”

After recognizing the trend towards the mechanization of education such as increasing use of AI as teachers in classrooms, Bartlett said that educators and administrators must find creative, unique strategies to address student needs.

“I really think it’s time for us to stop imagining there is a one-size-fits-all solution to education,” Bartlett said.

Panelists also contended that fostering collaborative workplaces helps keep teachers from leaving their positions. Reflecting on the role his colleagues played at the start of his career, Perreira encouraged teachers to prioritize “finding your people.”

“We need to restore respect for and voice of teachers in order to make the profession more sustainable,” Bartlett said.

— Staff writer Tanya J. Vidhun can be reached at tanya.vidhun@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @tanyavidhun.