Session Information
32 SES 08 B, Teachers' Needs as Organizational Challenges
Paper Session
Contribution
Teacher attrition has long been identified as a challenge for educational systems worldwide. There is abundant data showing that a large proportion of beginning teachers, between 20% and 50%, leave the profession within the first five years. This phenomenon is also familiar among senior teachers, although it occurs in a lesser extent.
High level of teacher attrition negatively affects school routine and management. It harms the efforts to construct a solid organizational culture and to maintain staff solidarity (Hanselman, Grigg, & Bruch, 2014). It costs a lot of money (Haynes, 2014), and it means loosing human capital dealing with teacher shortage (Ingersoll & May, 2012). It also harms student achievements (Ronfeldt, Loeb, & Wyckoff, 2013) and students' relationships with teachers (Liu & Meyer, 2005). Replacing teachers is not always an easy task, and sometimes principals are forced to employ unqualified teachers (Donitsa-Schmidt & Zuzovsky, 2014).
According to the cost-benefit theory, optimal level of attrition in organizations is beneficial (Siebert & Zubanov, 2009). A particular benefit of attrition is replacement of poorly performing individuals with better job matches. In this way, employee turnover maximize the organization productivity, and set the basis for promoting conceptual innovations. This is also true in the teaching context, provided that the professional qualities of the newly coming teacher exceeds those of the one who left (Ronfeldt, Loeb, & Wyckoff, 2013).
A significant body of literature aimed to understand the factors and conditions that motivated teacher attrition focus on the teachers' perspective (e.g. Borman & Dawling, 2008). These studies mentioned poor job conditions, challenging organizational aspects, non-supportive resources and difficulties in class management. Human capital resources are also mentioned as a factor that increases the likelihood to leave teaching (Dupriez, Delvaux and Lothaire, 2016).
Fewer researches study teacher attrition from the perspective of schools and districts. School and districts leaders, mostly principals and inspectors, take a key role in determining teachers' satisfaction and career decisions. Nevertheless, their perspectives concerning teacher attrition were hardly investigated. The few existing studies have focused on the influence of school principal on teacher job satisfaction (e.g. Burkhauser, 2017) and resilience (Peters & Pearce, 2012). These studies provide evidence that principals' pedagogic leadership based on democratic school environment, collegial culture, mutual partnership and professional support is positively associated with teachers' job satisfaction and commitment to school.
Theories of emotional intelligence assume that involving emotions explicitly through leadership practices may increase employee effectiveness and job satisfaction (Beatty, 2000). Crawford (2007) examined leadership practices in Britain schools. She explained that the use of the language of emotions at school strengthens trust, collaboration and support, and thus increases teacher's sense of belonging and the persistence in the teaching profession.
Indeed, many studies showed that principal support decrease teachers' likelihood to drop out (Borman & Dowling, 2008). This support involves open communication, assistance and consideration of personal and professional needs. The district inspector has hardly been mentioned in the professional literature concerning teacher attrition. Arviv Elyashiv and Zimerman (2013) found that district inspectors' support also decease teachers' dropout decisions, although their support is rarely available to teachers. As mentioned, principals and inspectors' perception towards teacher attrition have received limited attention in the research literature. The present study seeks to shed light on this aspect. Three research questions were posed:
- How do school principals and district inspectors identify teacher attrition?
- What challenges do teachers' attrition produce according to school principals and regional inspectors?
- What can be done in order to reduce teacher attrition according to school principals and regional inspectors?
Method
Context: Teaching in Israel is highly female-dominated occupation. It is associated with high level of job security, the option of part time work and long vacations. Most teachers are employed by the state, and usually receive tenure after 3 years; afterward they are protected and cannot be easily dismissed. On the other hand, Teachers' salary is rather low (Addi-Raccah, 2005) and promotion channels are limited (Avidav-Ungar & Arviv-Elyashiv, 2018). Teaching credential requires academic degree and a teaching certificate. It also comprises participation in internship program in the first year. Teacher attrition is high in the beginning of the career, around 16%, in the first year of teaching and after five years it increases to 30% in average (Arviv-Elyashiv & Zimmerman, 2015). Participants: The study is based on a mix-method methodology, using qualitative and quantitative research design. The participants in the qualitative part include eight school principals (4 men and 4 women) and five district inspectors (all women). They were assigned through a "snow ball" sampling, while representing each sector and level of education. The participants in the quantitative part include 126 school principals and 74 inspectors. They represent the distribution of schools within the total population Research Tools: The qualitative research used semi-structured interviews. The interviews comprised of 6 major questions, focusing on the participants attitudes and experience concerning teacher attrition, documentations and follow up procedures as well as relationships with dropout teachers. Each interview lasted for 30 to 40 minutes. The quantitative research used an anonymous questionnaire. The questionnaire referred to the respondents' experience with dropout teachers, their involvement in such occurrences and the documentation procedures. It also examined the participants' attitude toward teacher attrition and its consequences to school management. The questionnaire was tested in a focus group that comprised of two principles and two senior researchers and were adjusted following their comments. Analysis: The qualitative data was analyzed using an inductive approach. In the first stage, responses were divided into topics. Answers on similar topics converged into categories that represented the central aspects of interviews. The quantitative data was analyzed by descriptive statistics, independent t-tests and 2 tests.
Expected Outcomes
The results indicate that school and district leaders perceived teacher attrition via two-dimensional structure, including explicit and implicit dimensions. The explicit dimension presents the formal aspect of teacher attrition. This dimension refers to the act of leaving the profession and it was extensively examined. In this manner, principals and inspectors indicated that the main reasons that motivate teachers' decision to leave the profession relate to stressful working environment and poor job conditions. Novice teachers are more vulnerable in these situations, mostly since they see their teaching career in comparison to other occupational alternatives. Principals and inspectors report that there are no established and clear procedures to deal with teacher attrition. A larger proportion of principals used to hold personal conversations with these teachers, document the relevant events and inform school supervisor. It is worth mentioning that principals and inspectors agreed that teacher attrition scarcely produce teacher shortage. They reported that they were able to fill the position of teachers who dropped out in a reasonable period. The implicit dimension presents a hidden attrition. This concept is less familiar in the professional literature. It was explained by the participants as professional incompetence and ineffective performance. Principals and inspectors claim that many teachers are characterized with low level of teaching qualifications or inappropriate social skills. The absence of authority to dismiss these teachers, constantly forces them to find creative solutions in order to minimize the damage caused by these teachers' poor performance. The participants mentioned some ideas, such as: reduction of teaching hours, providing marginal positions at school and recommendation to move to another school. This study highlights the complex structure of teacher attrition. This structure confirm the cost-benefit theory, and it emphasizes the need to find systematic procedures address both dimensions of teaching attrition.
References
Adi-Raccah, A. (2005). Gender and teachers’ attrition: The occupational destination of former teachers. Sex Roles, 53(9/10), 739-752 Arviv-Elyashiv, R. & Zimmerman, V. (2015). Which teachers are liable to drop up? Demographic and institutional characteristics of teaching dropouts. Dapim, 59, 175-206 (Hebrew). Arviv-Elyashiv, R. & Zimmerman, V. (2013). Teaching Attrition in Israel. Research Report. Tel Aviv: Mofet Institute (Hebrew). Avidav-Ungar, O & Arviv-Elyashiv, R. (2018). Teacher perceptions of empowerment and promotion during reforms. International Journal of Educational Management, 32(1), 155-170. Beatty, B.R. (2000). The emotions of educational leadership: breaking the silence. International Journal of Leadership in Education, 3(4), 331-357. 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. Burkhauser, S. (2017). How Much Do School Principals Matter When It Comes to Teacher Working Conditions? Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, Vol. 39(1), 126-145. Crawford, M. (2007). Emotional Coherence in Primary School Headship. Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 35(4) 521–534. Donitsa-Schmich, S. and Zuzovsky, R, “Teacher supply and demand: The school level perspective”, American Journal of Educational Research, 2(6), 420-429. Dupriez, V., Delvaux, B., & Lothaire, S. (2016). Teacher shortage and attrition: Why do they leave? British Educational Research Journal, 42(1), 21-39. Hanselman, P., Grigg, J., Bruch, S. & Gamoran, A. (2016), The Consequences of Principal and Teacher Turnover for School Social Resources, in Grace In: Hyunjoon Park, K. (ed.) Family Environments, School Resources, and Educational Outcomes. Research in the Sociology of Education, Vol. 19, pp.49 – 89. Haynes, M. (2014). On the Path to Equity: Improving the Effectiveness of Beginning Teachers. Research Report. The Alliance for Excellent Education. Ingersoll, R.M. & May, H. (2012 ). The Magnitude, Destinations, and Determinants of Mathematics and Science Teacher Turnover. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 34(4), 435-464. Liu, S.X. & Meyer, P.J. (2005). Teachers’ perception of their jobs: A multilevel analysis of the teacher follow-up survey for 1994-1995. Teacher College Record, 107(5), 985-1003. Peters, J. & Pearce, J. (2012). Relationships and early career teacher resilience: A role for school principals. Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice, 18(2), 249-262. Ronfeeldt, M., Loeb, S. & Wyckoff, J. (2013). How teacher turnover harms student achievement. American Educational Research Journal, 50(1), 4-36. Siebert, W.S. & Zubanov, M. (2009). Searching for the optimal level of employee turnover: A study of a large U.K. retail organization. The Academy of Management Review, 52(2), 294-313.
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