Session Information
27 SES 11 B, Didactics and Teacher Professional Developement
Paper Session
Contribution
This paper reports on an EU-funded collaborative Action Research study (RETAIN: Inclusive Environments to Retain Teachers in School), which aims to explore different facets of the problem of teacher retention across Europe, and to develop and test some supportive tools that could be adapted for different European contexts. The theoretical framework for our research was informed by a sociocultural perspective: we are interested in the breadth of social and cultural influences on teachers’ career trajectories across Europe. Whilst initially interested in the influence senior leaders might have on the career trajectories of early career teachers, and how novice teachers who leave the profession early might be better supported, findings from an early scoping exercise suggested that mid-career teachers were amongst those most at risk of disillusionment in the profession. We therefore maintained an interest in these teachers within our research, keeping novice, experienced and senior leadership teachers within our samples.
We began with an exploratory phase to investigate teacher’s perspectives on teacher retention across the five partner countries (Denmark, the UK, Belgium, Spain and Turkey). Our initial research question was:
1 What are the differences and similarities in the reasons teachers give for staying in or leaving the profession, and their perception of how teachers’ ‘quality retention’ can be effectively supported, across five European countries with different educational, political and economic backgrounds?
Our findings showed a range of similarities and differences, with workload, stress, and 'top down' change being common across countries, despite differences in the way these issues affected the actual retention of teachers. In interpreting the findings, we frame the issues of teacher retention identified through the lenses of 'quality retention' (see Gu and Day 2007) and 'teacher resilience' (Mansfield and Beltmann, 2012). This is important because, as our research shows, 'quality retention' - the retention of engaged, motivated, effective teachers - is an issue in all the project partner countries, whereas actual retention of teachers within the profession was a much more significant issue in some countries (notably the UK) than others (Spain, Belgium, Turkey).
Our second research question was concerned with the impact of tools we designed to promote collaboration between novice and experienced teachers and thus teacher quality retention. Following the exploratory phase of the study, we designed a ‘framework for collaborative dialogue’ tool, based on the Exeter Model of Teacher Education (Skinner, 2010), to be used within a lesson study approach (Ylonen and Norwich, 2013). We asked:
2. What is the impact of the ‘framework for collaborative dialogue’ within a lesson study approach, for promoting teacher quality retention and resilience?
To explore this impact, we conducted two case studies, led by senior leaders within schools in both the UK and Turkey. In executing these case studies, we found that some schools did not continue within the project, and that these tended to be those with the greatest challenges in teacher retention. This led us to a third research question:
3. Why do schools with high rates of teacher turnover find it difficult to commit to using the teacher retention tools?
In a sense, the answer to this question is obvious, but it is important to consider since it appears to be the case that the schools that most need it find it the most difficult to commit time and energy to engage with supportive action such as that offered by the research team and the tools on offer, with obvious implications for the utility of the tools.
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
Beltman, S., C. Mansfield and A. Price (2011). "Thriving not just surviving: A review of research on teacher resilience." Educational Research Review 6(3): 185–207. Day, C. and Q. Gu (2009). "Veteran teachers: commitment, resilience and quality retention." Teachers & Teaching 15(4): 441-457. Ross, A. and M. Hutchings (2003). Attracting, Developing and Retaining Effective Teachers in the United Kingdon of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (OECD Country Background Report). London, Institute for Policy Studies in Education/OECD. Skinner, N. (2010). "Developing a curriculum for initial teacher education using a situated learning perspective." Teacher Development 14(3): 279-293. Ylonen, A. and Norwich, B., 2013. Professional learning of teachers through a Lesson Study process in England: contexts, mechanisms and outcomes. International Journal for Lesson and Learning Studies, 2(2), pp.137-154.
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