Beginning Teacher Attrition: Magnitude, Causes and Destinations
Author(s):
Rinat Arviv-Elyashiv (presenting / submitting)
Conference:
ECER 2017
Format:
Paper

Session Information

32 SES 08 A, Organization as Threat to Professional Identity

Paper Session

Time:
2017-08-24
09:00-10:30
Room:
K3.18
Chair:
Mariagrazia Riva

Contribution

Teachers' attrition is a social phenomenon that has increased over the past decades in the Western world. Many teachers, particularly those at the beginning of their careers, tend to leave teaching permanently, among them high proportion of good teachers. International surveys indicate on a high proportion of teachers' attrition: around 20% to 50% in the first five years (Darling-Hammond, 2003; Ingersoll & Smith, 2003).  

Why do many teachers leave teaching? Two theoretical models may explain this phenomenon. The first model, the job demand-resources model (Bakker and Demerouti, 2007), is based on a psychological organization theory. It is lying on the assumption that employees are facing two parallel processes, which affect their career decisions: 1. The energetic circle, in which includes the job demands, may overload the employees and increase feelings of stress and burnout. 2. The motivation circle, in which includes the job resources, may strength their organizational identity and commitment. As stressed by the authors, the relation between these two processes will determine employees' decisions to stay or leave.

The teacher role embedded with several different professional demands. Teachers are expected to highly perform professional knowledge and pedagogical proficiency, while taking part in many organizational tasks and filling paper work. They also expected to lead class management, to promote students achievements, as well as to build an appropriate foundation for collaboration with their role participants. Dealing with these issues is not a simple task, especially for young teachers. In this manner, principal support and colleague collaboration as well as professional autonomy and involvement in the organizational decision making are essential resources for moderating feeling of burnout, and encouraging retention (Borman & Dawling, 2008; Skaalvik & Skaalvik, 2010).

The second model, the reward-resource model (Sorensen and Tuma, 1981) is baseg on a sociological perspective. It assumes that employees make rational economic decisions by systematically assessing the benefits and costs of remaining in an occupation. They usually examine the relationship between the job rewards and their personal resources (like: human capital, experience etc.). Therefore, educated and experienced employees who receive high wages or hold prestigious or leadership positions are expected to have low rate of job shift as a result of the benefits they gain through having a "good" job.

Teaching is a female-dominated occupation, offers various job benefits and rewards that are considered suited to woman's social role, such as long vacations, the option of part time work and job security. These benefits compensate their relatively low salary. Obviously, they are not sufficient for many teachers, who decide to quit teaching; many of them are highly educated (Guarino, Saztibanez & Daley, 2006).

The current research aimed to explore teachers' attrition in 3 levels:

  1. Magnitude: the overall amount of attrition among beginning teachers.
  2. Causes: the reasons that motivate beginning teachers to leave the profession.
  3. Destination: the professions that ex-teachers decide to move in?

Israel provides a good setting to examine this issue. Teaching in Israel is highly female-dominated unattractive and less demanding occupation (Adi-Raccah, 2005). Most teachers are employed by the state and usually receive tenure after 3 years; afterward they are protected and cannot be easily dismissed. Attrition rates were published until 2002, showing high proportion of turnover, around 40% mainly in the first 5 years (Israeli Central Bureau of Statistic, 2002). No extensive research has been conducted on this issue for almost two decades. 

Method

The current study is based on a representative sample of Israeli teachers who commenced their first year of work in 2000, 2003, or 2005, following their career until 2010 – a total of 20,585 teachers teaching in the Jewish and Arab sectors at all K-12 levels. The sample is based on the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistic (CBS) records, and it includes demographic information, educational data as well as employment characteristics and schools features. The data was analyzed by descriptive statistics and 2 tests. A logistic regression was estimated to examine teachers' likelihood to leave teaching in compare to staying in the profession. In addition, a phone survey was conducted among 38 ex-teachers, who decided to leave the profession in the first five years. The participants were allocated by a 'snow ball' sample, following applications by the author to the Ministry of Education and to the teachers unions. The research questionnaire included closed and open questions asking the participants about their motives and reasons for leaving teaching, managing this process and choosing their next destinations. Anonymity and privacy were guarantee. Data was analyzed by descriptive statistics.

Expected Outcomes

Magnitude: Findings show that attrition among beginning teachers is still prevailing. This proportion of this phenomenon is particularly high in the first year of teaching, around 16%, and after five years it increases to 30% in average. Causes: The results indicate that occupational conditions are a major factor in explaining teacher attrition, 38% of the variance of job shifting decisions was explained by these factors. Low salary, part-time employment and occupied in regular teaching position (versus managerial position), were all attached with increasing the odds to leave the teaching profession. Another key factor that motivates attrition is human capital. High level of education or professional specialty, mostly in science or engineering, was also increasing the likelihood to dropout and to leave the teaching position. These findings imply that human capital is becoming a safety net in this kind of career decisions. Destination: Job mobility for most female teachers was limited to other female-dominated areas. Many of them stay in the educational arena, mostly in educational services, as advisers and therapists or switch to public administration. Men are more likely to join the industry market. It seems that job shifting decisions among beginning teachers involve a rational calculation that takes into account psychological components and sociological considerations, embedded in both theoretical models. Beginning teachers tend to estimate how school environment support their efforts to deal with job demands, while simultaneously evaluate the gap between the resources they invest when joining to the profession and the rewords they gain for their efforts. These two theoretical perspectives are involved one another and generate an ongoing mechanism that motivate teachers' career decisions. For teachers with low occupational conditions and little support, high level of human capital, mostly in demanded fields, seems to create an opportunity. It opens a way out from the teaching profession.

References

Adi-Raccah, A. (2005). Gender and teachers’ attrition: The occupational destination of former teachers. Sex Roles, 53(9/10), 739-752. Bakker, A.B. & Demerouti, E. (2007). The job demands - resources model: state of the art. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 22(3), 309-328. Borman, G.D. & Dowling, M.N. (2008). Teacher attrition and retention: A meta-analytic and narrative review of the research. Review of Educational Research, 78(3), 367-409. Darling-Hammond, L. (2003). Keeping good teachers: Why it matters, what leaders can do? Educational Leadership, 60(8), 6-13. Guarino, C.M., Santibanez, L. & Daley, G. (2006). Teacher recruitment and retention: A review of the recent empirical literature. Review of Educational Research, 76(2), 173-208. Ingersoll, R.M. & Smith, T.M. (2003). The wrong solution to the teacher shortage. Educational Leadership, 60(8), 30-33. Israeli Central Bureau of Statistic (2002). A survey of the educational teaching Stuff 2000. Publication n. 1193, Jerusalem. Skaalvik, E. & Skaalvik, S. (2010). Teacher self-efficacy and teacher burnout: A study of relations. Teaching and Teacher Education, 26(4), 1059-1069. Sorensen, A.B. & Tuma, N.B. (1981). Labor market structure and job mobility. Research in Social Stratification and Mobility, 1(1), 67-94.

Author Information

Rinat Arviv-Elyashiv (presenting / submitting)
Kibbutzim College of Education
Faculty of Education
Netanya

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