Greatest Challenges Facing High School Fine Arts Educators

One in five teachers quit in their first five years, and the percentage is even higher in high poverty area schools. The reasons vary a bit, but working conditions, low wages and administration difficulties always top that list. And while the reasons remain the same, the percentage of fine arts educators who quit during the first five years is 44 percent – almost one-half. Most make it to years two and three before becoming overwhelmed.

These teachers are spending more than four years in higher education and nearly a lifetime developing their talents or skill, only to quit their chosen profession. Challenging to say the least. But are the overall reasons that teachers in general quit the same reasons that fine arts educators – those who bring their passion for their art into the classroom with them – hang it up as well?

Fine arts educators teach classes and deal with the same difficult working conditions, the same low wages and the same administration challenges. Often their classroom working conditions hinder their teaching more because of the nature of their class offerings – the need for special equipment, more space, different classroom arrangements.

Fine arts educators are also sharing a personal skill or ability with their students, one that the teacher was investing time and effort in long before the choice of a college major or career. Added to those factors are the burnout many cite as an annual part of teaching and the limited access students have to fine arts classes, especially sequentially. No wonder nearly half change careers within the first five years.

Burnout is driven by many factors in teaching that keep teachers from being able to connect with their students. Most fine arts courses – music, art, drama, forensics, dance – are offered in classes taught by one teacher with the expectation that students will enroll in them multiple years (or every year) in high school. Fine arts educators not only invest their efforts in having their students be successful in the annual final exams, but there is also an investment in developing their talents over the long term. To have students who show real talent and progress during their first year in a fine arts course is inspiring, even if it is a continuation of one from elementary or middle school like music. But then to not be able to work with that student the next year adds to the teacher’s frustration with their teaching position and its administrative support.

Burnout manifests itself in many ways including ever-present fatigue, lack of empathy, headaches and simply being stressed out and overwhelmed. All careers have a level of stress; pressure applied from others to be successful at the assigned tasks. Education carries with it the additional pressure of trying to serve multiple masters: administration, parents, community, students – and for fine arts educators, that is especially true as the students are making a personal, not an academic, investment in the classes being taught.

Burnout in fine arts educators is also present when individuals lose their passion for their art, be it music, drama or creating artwork. Not being interested in creating art themselves any longer, in any form, with or without students, marks a significant change for teachers who have practiced their arts for decades. But stress is not the only factor that drives fine arts educators to find other careers.

Access is another issue. Fine arts courses, as important as they are to have on a student transcript, do not have the same scheduling importance as math, science and the humanities. Students who want to take a fine arts course often need to work with their guidance counselor to make adjustments to their schedule so that they can be in band, chorus, pottery, drawing, etc. and still complete the courses required for their high school graduation requirements. Include a foreign language, digital media, technology or other core subjects in the mix and scheduling a motivated student becomes a challenge, a challenge to be faced every year.

Fine arts students are motivated students, opting to give up an easier schedule, a study hall each day, to be in a course that feeds their passion, but not necessarily their career or college goals. Add to that the importance of scheduling fine arts courses in a multiyear sequence, and it is understandable why students have a hard time scheduling band or art or chorus in their schedule all four years of high school. The fine arts teacher is thus unable to continue to support that student’s development of their skills and talents, an additional component of the burnout that leads to a career change.

None of these issues are new. Losing fine arts students just as they show promise in developing their passion and losing one’s own joy in producing art have been a part of being a fine arts educator for generations. Are there schools that support the fine arts in simple and complex manners that help relieve these two issues? Certainly, those that value fine arts equally when scheduling, provide facilities that support the unique requirements of those courses, acknowledge the impact fine arts has on their school’s culture, celebrate their students’ successes in every classroom, every day.

As a teacher, avoiding burnout is paramount. There are websites devoted to providing suggestions. For fine arts educators, additional suggestions would include taking time to share your art in a personal manner on a regular basis, stay focused on the longterm goals for your program, your students and yourself to not get bogged down in the daily minutia, and to communicate often with those who manage your student access and your working conditions.

Share the successes you have with them often and in person if possible. Invite them to interact with your students in class or performance or presentation. Include them in your plans for the future and your concerns about the present. Do all you can to have them feel like partners in your efforts. Your students will thank you for it.

Steffen Parker is a retired music educator, event organizer, maple sugar maker, and Information Technology specialist from Vermont who serves as the Performing Arts/Technology representative on the NFHS High School Today Publications Committee. He received the NFHS Citation Award in 2017 and the Ellen McCulloch- Lovell Award in Arts Education in 2021.