Telling Tales Out of School: Exploring Why Former Teachers are Not Returning to the Classroom

Abstract

Teacher attrition is a cost to the community and, often, to the teachers concerned. One ready potential source of teachers is those having left the profession, particularly recently, and who may be willing to return. For this article, 22 former teachers were interviewed about their journey into and out of teaching. Understanding what made teachers leave may inform us on what it might take to get them back. This paper reports on these former teachers' professional intentions in light of their changing constructs of teaching through time, comparing, where possible, their former and current constructs of teaching and of their teacher-selves. The study constitutes a series of ‘before and after’ pictures, providing stark contrast at times. The findings generate theory on factors leading to these changes. One emerging inference is that the teaching profession fails to apply some of its corporate pedagogical knowledge to its own newcomers.

Keywords

teaching profession work environment teacher shortage teacher stress teacher recruitment teacher mobility

References

Abdallah

(2009). Lowering teacher attrition rates through collegiality. Academic Leadership: The Online Journal, 7(1). Retrieved from http://www.academicleadership.org/emprical_research/531.shtml.

Australian Bureau of Statistics. (1997). Australian social trends 1997. Retrieved from http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/DetailsPage/4102.01997.

Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2007). School teachers. Retrieved from http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/DetailsPage/2070.02006.

Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2010). Where have all the male teachers gone? Retrieved from http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Lookup/1345.4Feature%20Article1Sep%202010.

Beaudin

(2008). Teachers who interrupt their careers: Characteristics of those who return to the classroom. Educational evaluation and policy analysis, 15(1), 51–64.

Beltman

Mansfield

Price

(2011). Thriving not just surviving: A review of research on teacher resilience. Educational Research Review, 6, 185–207.

Boe

E. E.

Bobbit

S. A.

Cook

L. H.

(1997). Whither didst thou go? Retention, reassignment, migration, and attrition of special and general education teachers from a national perspective. Journal of Special Education, 30(4), 371–389. Retrieved from http://sed.sagepub.com/content/30/4/371.abstract.

Bogdan

Biklen

(1982). Qualitative research for education: An introduction to theory and methods. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon, Inc.

Borman

Dowling

(2008). Teacher attrition and retention: A meta-analytic and narrative review of the research. Review of Educational Research, 78(3), 367–409.

10.

Brownell

Smith

McNellis

(1997). Reflections on ‘Attrition in special education: Why teachers leave the classroom and where they go’. Exceptionality, 7(3), 187–191.

11.

Buchanan

(2006). What they should have told me: Six beginning teachers' reflections on their preservice education in the light of their early career experiences. Curriculum Perspectives, 26(1), 38–47.

12.

Buchanan

(2009). Use of teachers' expertise in subsequent careers. Brain drain, skill spill? Education and Society, 27(1), 35–50.

13.

Buchanan

(2010). May I be excused? Why teachers leave the profession. Asia-Pacific Journal of Education, 30(2), 199–211.

14.

Commonwealth of Australia. (2003). Australia's teachers: Australia's future: Advancing innovation, science technology and mathematics. Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia.

15.

Condie

Livingstone

(2007). Blending online learning with traditional approaches: Changing practices. British Journal of Educational Technology, 38(2), 337–348.

16.

Connell

(2007). Teachers. In Connell

Campbell

Vickers

Welch

Foley

Bagnall

, Education, change and society (pp. 262–279). Melbourne: Oxford University Press.

17.

Connelly

Clandinin

(1990). Stories of experience and narrative enquiry. Educational Researcher, 19(5), 2–14.

18.

Corrie

(2000). Facilitating newly qualified teachers' growth as collaborative practitioners. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 28(2), 111–121.

19.

Dolton

Tremayne

Chung

(2003). The economic cycle and teacher supply. A paper commissioned by the Education and Training Policy Division, OECD, for the activity, Attracting, Developing and Retaining Effective Teachers. Retrieved from http://www.oecd.org/document/9/0,3343,en_2649_39263231_1839497_1_1_1_1,00.html.

20.

Ewing

Manuel

(2005). Retaining quality early career teachers in the profession: New teacher narratives. Change: Transformations in Education, 8(1), 1–16.

21.

Ewing

Smith

(2003). Retaining quality beginning teachers in the profession. English Teaching: Practice and Critique, 2(1), 15–32.

22.

Feiman-Nemser

(2001). From preparation to practice: Designing a continuum to strengthen and sustain teaching. Teachers College Record, 103(6), 1023–1055.

23.

Frijters

Shields

Wheatley Price

(2004). To teach or not to teach? Panel data evidence on the quitting decision. Retrieved from http://ideas.repec.org/p/iza/izadps/dp1164.html.

24.

Galbraith

(1999). Forecasting teacher supply and demand: Searching for shangri-la or chasing rainbows? Flaxton, Qld: Post Pressed.

25.

Gonzalez

Brown

Slate

(2008). Teachers who left the teaching profession. Qualitative Report, 13(1), 1–11.

26.

Goodman

(1961). Snowball sampling. Annals of Mathematics, 32(1), 148–170.

27.

Grossman

Wineburg

Woolworth

(2001) Toward a theory of teacher community. Teachers College Record, 103(6), 942–1012.

28.

Hancock

Scherff

(2010). Who will stay and who will leave? Predicting secondary English teacher attrition risk. Journal of Teacher Education, 61(4), 328–338.

29.

Hanushek

Kain

Rivkin

(2004). Why public schools lose teachers. Journal of Human Resources, 39(2), 326–354.

30.

Huberman

(1989). The professional life cycle of teachers. Teachers College Record, 9(1), 31–57.

31.

Ingersoll

(2001). Teacher turnover and teacher shortages: An organizational analysis. American Education Research Journal, 38(3), 499–534.

32.

Joseph

(2011). Early career teaching: Learning to be a teacher and staying in the job. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 36(9), 1–14.

33.

Kelchtermans

Ballet

(2002). The micropolitics of teacher induction. A narrative-biographical study on teacher socialisation. Teaching and Teacher Education, 18(1), 105–120.

34.

Korthagen

(2004). In search of the essence of a good teacher: Towards a more holistic approach in teacher education. Teaching and Teacher Education, 20, 77–97.

35.

Leigh

Ryan

(2006). How and why has teacher quality changed in Australia? Discussion Paper 534. Canberra: Australian National University.

36.

Lincoln

Guba

(1985). Naturalistic inquiry. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications.

37.

Mackenzie

(2007). Teacher morale: More complex that we think? Australian Educational Researcher, 34(1), 89–104.

38.

Mason

(2010). Language teacher: To be or not to be? Babel, 45(1). Retrieved from http://www.freepatentsonline.com/article/Babel/243357390.html.

39.

McCallum

(2008, March). Beginning teacher perspectives on wellbeing: The transition to teaching. Education Connect, 11, 6–9.

40.

McConney

Price

(2009) Teaching out-of-field in Western Australia. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 34(6), 86–100.

41.

McCormack

Thomas

(2002, 1–5 December). The reality of uncertainty: The plight of casual beginning teachers. Paper presented at the Australian Association for Research in Education conference, University of Queensland, Brisbane.

42.

McKenzie

Kos

Walker

Hong

Owen

(2008). Staff in Australia's schools 2007. ACER, Teaching and Learning and Leadership. Retrieved from http://research.acer.edu.au/tll_misc/3/.

43.

Mulford

Kendall

Edmunds

Kendall

Ewington

Silins

(2007). Successful school leadership. What is it and who decides? Australian Journal of Education, 51(3), 228–246.

44.

O'Connor

(2009). No substitute teacher left behind. Principal, 89(1), 32–36.

45.

OECD. (2002). Education policy analysis. Paris: OECD.

46.

Philippou

Charalambous

(2005). Disentangling mentors' role in the development of prospective teachers' efficacy beliefs in teaching mathematics. Melbourne: International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education.

47.

Plunkett

Dyson

(2011). Becoming a teacher and staying one: Examining the complex ecologies associated with educating and retaining new teachers in rural Australia? Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 36(1), 32–47.

48.

Preston

(2000). Teacher supply and demand to 2005. Paper commissioned by the Australian Council of Deans of Education.

49.

Rinke

(2007). Understanding teachers' careers: Linking professional life to professional path. Educational Research Review, 3, 1–13.

50.

Roberts

(n.d.). Staffing the empty schoolhouse: Attracting and retaining teachers in rural, remote and isolated communities. Surry Hills: NSW Teachers Federation.

51.

Schuck

Brady

Griffin

(2005). Initiation and rites of passage: Learning the school culture. Change: Transformations in Education, 8(1), 44–55.

52.

Schuck

Deer

Barnsley

Brady

Griffin

(2002). Teacher preparation, induction and professional development study. Paper presented to the Teacher Preparation, Induction and Professional Development Consortium, Lindfield, New South Wales.

53.

Sharpin

(2009). Bringing them home: The experiences of imported and overseas-qualified teachers. Australian Journal of Education, 53(2), 192–206.

54.

Shilling

(1991). Supply teachers: Working on the margins: Review of the literature. Educational Research, 33(1), 3–11.

55.

Trinidad

Sharpin

Lock

Ledger

Boyd

Terry

(2011). Developing strategies at the pre-service level to address critical teacher attraction and retention issues in Australian rural, regional and remote schools. Education in Rural Australia, 21(1), 111–120.

56.

Williams

(2002, 1–5 December). Telling tales: Stories from new teachers in NSW country schools. Paper presented at the Australian Association for Research in Education Conference, University of Queensland, Brisbane.

57.

Yoo

(2011). Revisiting and rewriting early career encounters: Reconstructing one ‘identity-defining’ moment. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 36(3), 105–120.

58.

Zeichner

(2005). Becoming a teacher educator: a personal perspective. Teaching and Teacher Education, 21, 117–124.