The Thing About Imposter Syndrome in Education

I have been lucky to have been surrounded by incredible talent throughout my two decade career as a teacher. The teachers I know have a skill level worthy of awards. The work they do every day in their classroom is incredible and truly changes lives. Despite this truth, one thing that continues to strike me as odd is the persistent presence in educators of what some might call Imposter Syndrome, the internal belief that despite evidence of success, one maybe really isn't truly successful. It is defined as the persistent inability to believe that one's success is deserved or has been legitimately achieved as a result of one's own efforts or skills.  This false belief runs rampant in educations and is a symptom of a society that demands expertise in the field but refuses to treat the professionals as the experts.

No matter how successful, knowledgeable or acclaimed a teacher is, society continues to paint the opposite picture. If it isn't being done blatantly in the press, even implicitly painting teachers as lesser than, not capable of the intellectual prowess needed to make the right type of decisions to ensure student success is damaging to the entire system. Teachers constantly are painted as being weak minded. The trust in decision making is taken away from them and more often than not, the media and journalists suggest important decisions should be "left in the hands of experts."

Are teachers somehow not the experts?

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