Addressing our teacher exodus
Thursday, 31 July 2008
Australia is facing a teacher shortage crisis with many teachers leaving the profession early in their careers, and now a UniSA research project will help to stem this tide by identifying the factors that develop resilient and successful teachers wanting to stay in the profession.
The research project, involving three universities and eight industry partners, will identify the obstacles early career teachers face, how difficulties are approached and overcome, and the factors that encourage new teachers to remain in the profession.
Professor of Education at UniSA’s Hawke Research Institute for Sustainable Societies, Bruce Johnson, says the difficulties and challenges faced by new teachers that often lead to them leaving the profession are well documented.
“It is estimated that between 25 and 40 per cent of beginning teachers in the Western World are ‘burnt-out’ and likely to leave the teaching profession in the first five years,” Prof Johnson says.
“However, there is little research on how those early career teachers that remain in the profession overcome the difficulties they face and develop a commitment to teaching.
“This project will investigate how early career teachers negotiate and deal with challenges to their personal and professional wellbeing during their first years of teaching.
“We are aiming to find out what internal strengths are important in developing resilient new teachers, and how we can foster these qualities.”
Prof Johnson says the project will also identify positive policy initiatives and school based strategies that help to support early career teachers and increase their resilience.
“Finding out what external support strategies help new teachers and which ones make an impact on their decision to remain in the profession is crucial,” he says.
“There are likely to be several positive factors that enhance a new teacher’s experience, such as quality induction programs, supportive school structures, and positive leadership and cultural practices including mentoring systems.
“We also need to be aware of the particular demands and complexities faced by beginning teachers in rural and remote locations, and which mechanisms provide the best support in these situations.”
New national models, strategies and recommendations will be formed to help keep early career teachers in the profession and a website is also being established as a teacher resource through the four year life of the project.
In addition, a set of modules will also be developed for school leadership groups throughout Australia to help these groups best support their new teachers.
Prof Johnson says that the project cannot commence too soon, with the problem of teacher exodus from the profession becoming a critical issue.
“It is not only the supply of teachers falling through retirements – there is increased competition for teaching graduates and early career teaching professionals from other areas of the economy such as the resources sector,” he says.
“This is most evident in Western and Southern Australia with technology, language, maths and science teachers in particular being enticed into the resources and mining industries, with their very transferable skills and offers of increased remuneration.
“Of course we need to retain all of our valuable teachers, but in particular we need to focus on how to best support and encourage our newest teachers in the profession, who will be the leaders of tomorrow’s generation of teachers.”
This project is being supported by the Australian Research Council through an ARC Linkage grant.
Originally published on the University of South Australia website