4 Why Leave
Why Teachers Leave the Profession
By: Sarah Wolff
Learning Targets
• Reader should be able to identify key factors that influence a teacher’s decision to stop teaching.
• Reader should be able to identify the effects of low teacher retention.
• Reader should be able to identify ways by which states and schools can boost teacher retention.
Introduction
Why do teachers leave the profession? Teacher attrition has been on the rise for the past two decades and it is no surprise that it has become a major concern. (Brooks-Young, 2007). Every year, approximately one-third of the nation’s teaching force turns over and the retention rate of new teachers after five years is only sixty-one percent. (Kersaint, 2007). Researchers believe that teacher shortages are caused not by lack of interest in teaching, but by too many teachers leaving the profession. (Williby, 2004). What must be addressed are the factors affecting teachers’ decisions to leave, the effects on the students and schools of low teacher retention, and the possible solutions to increase teacher retention.
Factors Influencing Teacher Turnover
According to Smithers and Robinson, there are five main reasons for teachers leaving the profession: workload, new challenges, school situations, salary, and personal circumstances. Among those five main reasons, workload was the most important factor in affecting teacher turnover, while salary was the least important. (Smithers & Robinson, 2003).
Workload
Being a teacher is not an easy job. Teachers must teach their students, as well as complete paperwork, lesson plans, assessments, etc., and at times this can be overbearing. There is an increase on assessment and accountability of teachers, which means there is an emphasis on testing, evaluation, and passing state standards. Teachers are required to teach to state standards and for their students to pass standardized tests, adding another requirement to be placed upon teachers. Also, many times, teachers are expected to sponsor a club or activity on top of everything else they must do. This means spending more time at school working. Meeting these requirements and juggling these tasks can be hard and frustrating, especially for new teachers with little experience.
New Challenges
New Challenges often cause new, inexperienced teachers to leave the profession. For the most part, their first few years in the classroom are spent trying to get organized, get a grasp on the pace of teaching the material, and learning how to effectively manage a classroom. Disruptive or troublesome students can make a teacher’s job that much more difficult by having to deal with the students and in some cases having to take disciplinary actions
School Situation
School situation encompasses many different things. It can be how the school is run, who runs the school, what type of programs are available to teachers, geographical setting of the school, and much more. Geography can play a major role in affecting a teacher