Teacher recruitment and retention
I am concerned about teacher recruitment and retention because a large percentage of educators are nearing retirement. Over the years I have seen what I have perceived as very bright and promising teachers leave the profession with in five years. The reasons are varied on why they leave a career that can be very rewarding. A number of new teachers leave because of more lucrative salaries and benefits. Others leave because of the sometimes overwhelming discipline problems and lack of parental support. Then their are others that were not a part of a supportive teacher induction program which included on site mentors. New teachers need to be nurtured and supported through those crucial years of entering the profession. More incentives should be given to teacher that go beyond the call of duty for their students and school community. The practice of giving new teachers the most difficult students and classes should be discouraged because we are losing too many great teachers that fail this proverbial test by fire.
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The first 3 years as an educator can be difficult. A mentor program for new teachers is important. Many educators do leave the field. It is crucial for new teachers to have adequate support. Many new teachers leave the field before they have a chance to seek the rewards. They become burned out. Sadly, this continues to take place.
I also think it is unfair that so many beginning teachers are the first ones to be transferred when enrollment is down. I had a very successful first year of teaching at a school where I felt supported and valued. At the end of that year I was devastated the learn that I was being involuntary transferred to another school in the district becasue my school was losing a teacher position. I was very fortunate to be able to interview at 3 different schools and then choose where I wanted to go. Unfortunately, that is not the situation for most new teachers that are transferred. Many of them are treated like cattle and herded from school to school, often after spending time and money setting up their classroom and planning curriculum, only to find out after the tenth day of school that they are being moved. I feel strongly that ILT’s should be protected from being transferred. Once we find qualified, enthusiastic people we need to do everything we can to nurture them, not discourage them.
I think we do a wonderful job at teacher recruitment. Just look at the line at any job fair. Where I think we lose teachers, is that we do not do a good enough job at putting these teachers in the correct situations. Example, we put new teachers in our most challenging schools with our most challenging students. Doesn’t this need to be where we need to have our most experienced and gifted teachers? I think we are all in agreement on this.
I think the other part of this is the reality of teaching. It is not, as it once was, a noble profession in the eyes of the public. The respect that went with being an educator is long gone. We are a society that views teachers and schools as adversaries. Take that into account and add the fact that many people are ill equipped to deal with the added pressures of this generation and you have a large number of people who burnout or look for greener pastures.
I think I will end with a quote from an old television show. The show is Boston Public. Often overlooked because it wasn’t exactly the most popular show, it nevertheless made some good comments about the current state of education. The following quote was made by the school principal to the school board.
“Three out of every five teachers quit teaching after the first seven years. Not because it isn’t in them, but because they can’t keep it in them.”
We have to find a way to keep the passionate, energetic, and gifted men and women in this profession in this profession.
I did a major project on this issue and interestingly, money was not a huge determing factor of whether a teacher remains in the profession. What keeps teachers in the profession is the support that they are given and their perception of job satisfaction. To me we do things backwards, though. When I first graduated, it was difficult to get a teaching job in the suburbs. The only vacancies where I lived in Charlotte were in inner city schools. I worked a couple of years there and then moved to a “better” school (that can be another topic!) As I look back, it seems to make sense that the most expereinced teachers should be at these more challenging schools and the new hires should be at less challenging ones. I think that we should set teachers up for success…and while I worked hard at both settings, there is something to be said about moving to places where there is a stronger network of parental involvement, etc. Going home worrying about what students will be eating for dinner or if they will be safe adds to the stressors that new teachers face. I just think that we do it backwards here! Our best and brightest teachers should go where they are needed the most!
I think a big issue is money. You have to pay the piper if you are going to get good people and keep them. Until our society stops paying lip service to educators and puts their money where their mouth is, we will still have the recruitment and retainment problems. I also agree with you about giving new teachers the tough classes. I don’t think it is fair either. I’ve always thought it should rotate. Problematic classes need good teachers just as much as those AP classes do – or so I say.
You’re absolutely right, teacher recruitment and retention continues to be a substantial challenge throughout the nation. Contrary to popular beliefs, the low teacher salaries, bonuses and supplements are not the primary reasons for the teacher shortage. The majority of the teachers who leave the field of education do so because of lack of support. If we would invest the time, money and attention that is needed to properly train novice and beginning teachers our schools districts would have less turn-over, and our students would have better qualified teachers.
Teacher recruitment and retentions continues to be a topic of interest to me. Teacher shortages are critical across the nation but often our actions as educational leaders do not indicate that we are serious about reversing the trend.
Beginning teachers are often given the most challenging students that are difficult to manage even for experienced teachers. Many times they are given the daunting task of organizing all of their materials on a cart floating from room to room. When the more experienced teacher desires to remain in their room as the new teacher is teaching problems arise. The new teacher may feel intimidated and that she is being constantly critiqued. Distractions made by the other teacher in the room could prove to be unbearable. New teachers have reported that teachers have phone conversations, conduct conferences at their desk while the new floating teacher is attempting to teach her class. Just imagine how uncomfortable this could make a new teacher feel.
We must be more accommodating and support the needs of new teachers if we are serious about impacting teacher retention. What do you think?