Ed Tech Trends

Research: Administrators Grapple with Morale; Teachers More Open to Student Autonomy

• By David Nagel
• 10/13/22

Project Tomorrow presented findings from its latest SpeakUp Survey in a briefing to Congress today. SpeakUp is the largest research project focusing on education technology, averaging well over 300,000 participants each year since its launch. The latest research captured changes in attitudes and priorities from administrators, teachers, and students.

Among those, according to Project Tomorrow, administrators now cite teacher morale as a top concern. The research found "more than half [of principals] reporting it as a top concern among many issues still facing districts after the pandemic." Eighty-nine percent of administrators also noted that the pandemic changed education significantly for the long term.

Classroom teachers, meanwhile, saw a change of attitude toward students and technology during the 2021–2022 school year. "Teachers are more willing to let students have autonomy in how they learn now than before the pandemic, with a huge jump of educators indicating that they feel comfortable in allowing students to have a say in how they want to learn," according to Project Tomorrow.

Students are not always as comfortable with technology as they are portrayed. However, in this year's survey, students noted they "are more comfortable utilizing school technology to learn and complete assignments. Almost every single category of digital usage in the classroom went up in comfort level among students."

Further details about the SpeakUp survey can be found at speakup.tomorrow.org. Current and past findings are available at tomorrow.org/speakup/speakup_data_findings.html. A recording of the Congressional briefing is available at home.edweb.net/webinar/21c20221013.