Introduction
The current public education system faces difficulties in retaining teachers. The profession’s popularity has reduced significantly, and low teacher retention rates make human resources and leaders find new effective ways to attract and retain qualified staff. Low teacher retention rates lead to a shortage of qualified educators, which decreases the level of education. Schools should provide adequate compensation, introduce working performance appraisal programs, and reduce excessive pressure on teachers to avoid adverse outcomes.
Discussion and Analysis
Low teacher retention rates lead to a significant decrease in the quality of education. It is impossible to provide students with an individual approach to learning that satisfies their diverse needs and allows them to achieve the best results when there is a shortage of teachers (Berg & Conway, 2020). There is a direct connection between the number of educators and the number of working hours they have to spend in school (Fusco, 2017). Even though many teachers can cope with the increased work, it is not suitable to be in a state of constant stress for months. There is a limit that determines the abilities of educators to work in a stressful environment and to spend long hours at the workplace. The results of overworking can be various depending on a particular teacher. For example, there is the chance that the teacher will not pay enough attention to all their duties in the classroom and will disregard those students who need special attention and approach (Fusco, 2017). It leads to a decrease in the quality of knowledge the teacher provides to their students, which is harmful to schools and children.
There are several ways that might stop teachers from leaving school. The first way to change this situation is by introducing various educational appraisal programs. Many examples show that teachers refuse to work in schools because the compensation for the amount of work they do does not correspond to payment in other related spheres (Franchino et al., 2019). For instance, teachers often prefer to give individual lessons instead of working in public schools because they earn more and have less stress. At the same time, this initiative is the most complicated to implement in practice due to the state financing of public schools and lack of money. It is vital to remember that the budget of schools is usually restricted, and school leaders do not have the opportunity to increase the monetary compensation for teachers. Attracting investors and independent funds might help to improve the situation with money and compensate educators for their efforts.
Another critical problem that leads to the low retention rate among teachers is the excessive pressure from the side of the school administration and parents. Teachers are often blamed for their students’ poor academic performance even when the educator’s responsibility is limited in this case (Podolsky et al., 2017). It contributes to teachers’ significant stress when they start working at school. As a result, reducing the pressure from the school administration’s side, including working with students’ parents to solve possible conflicts without blaming the teacher, might lead to positive changes. A respectful attitude toward teachers combined with adequate financial compensation for the stress they experience at work will undoubtedly improve the public mood toward this profession and its popularity among people.
Fair compensation for the efforts of all teachers is a critical component of the educator’s work. Sometimes, one teacher spends more time after classes helping their students with tasks, and the administration does not evaluate these efforts and individual approaches to every child (Kamrath & Gregg, 2018). Bonuses for diligent and high-quality work might make teachers stay in schools because they will feel that they are helpful to people. Moreover, it will increase the status of the teacher’s profession in the eyes of society, making this job more attractive to people due to public recognition. Therefore, the holistic approach to the position of the teacher in the educational institution can positively influence the public perception of this specialization, leading to the high retention of teachers.
Conclusion
Several serious issues are connected with the low level of teacher retention in schools. Among the most critical problems that make educators leave their jobs and search for better alternatives are lack of financial support and compensation for their work, excessive emotional and psychological pressure on teachers from the side of the school’s administration and parents, and lack of recognition of their work. It is often easier to change the place of work, leave school, and start giving private lessons because this alternative is less stressful and more valuable. All these aspects lead to a low retention rate of schoolteachers, which is a significant problem because the quality of education is reduced, and those teachers who did not quit their jobs have more workload. School administration and leaders need to provide teachers with performance appraisal programs that show them their work is valuable to ensure they receive adequate compensation and work in a friendly and supportive environment without stress and excessive pressure.
References
Berg, M. H., & Conway, C. M. (2020). Retired teachers as mentors in the American string teachers association mentor program. Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, 223, 59–78. Web.
Franchino, E., Garza, R., Loewenberg, A., Love, I., & Whistle, W. (2019). Attracting and retaining teachers. In Looking Ahead to 2020: How the Presidential Candidates Fare on Education Policy Issues (pp. 16–22). New America. Web.
Fusco, M. (2017). Burnout factories: The challenge of retaining great teachers in charter schools. The Phi Delta Kappan, 98(8), 26–30. Web.
Kamrath, B., & Gregg, J. (2018). Escaping the prison classroom: A case study of correctional teacher turnover and retention. Journal of Correctional Education (1974-), 69(2), 59–71. Web.
Podolsky, A., Kini, T., Bishop, J., & Darling-Hammond, L. (2017). Sticky schools: How to find and keep teachers in the classroom. The Phi Delta Kappan, 98(8), 19–25. Web.