Longitudinal Teacher Education and Workforce Study (ltews) Final Report

3.4 Attraction, Retention and Attrition

I think that one of the things that attracted me to teaching was that I feel that it’s an undervalued thing. To be a really excellent teacher is one of the most skilled jobs and so I really was attracted to teaching, because I saw it as that ultimate challenge and I still want to do that, and I try and – even though I get frustrated with this sort of relief stage, I try and focus on the positives that come from it – being in a range of classrooms and a range of schools and things like that – and try and not get too frustrated with the negative side of it. I do have a very strong sense that if I was to do teaching, that it would be a big commitment, and that I wouldn’t want to do just a good enough job, that I’d want to experience – work towards being an excellent teacher. Graduate teacher, trained in speech pathology, casual relief teaching in a primary school

This section discusses attraction to teaching, and retention and attrition in the early years of teaching. Section 3.4.1 examines graduate teachers’ attraction to join the teaching profession. Section 3.4.2 discusses the retention and attrition patterns of teachers, followed by Section 3.4.3 on the reasons why graduate teachers leave teaching in their early years. In this study, attrition is defined as not continuing in a teaching position.

Teaching remains a ‘revolving door’ (R. M. Ingersoll, 2001) with high mobility and exit numbers for its newest and most vulnerable entrants. Ingersoll & Perda (2010) reported that in the US between 40 to 50 per cent of those entering teaching leave within 5 years. In 2007, the attrition of Australian early career teachers was reported to be as high as 25 per cent (House of Representatives Standing Committee on Education and Vocational Training, 2007).

The attraction to a career in teaching has altered little over time. Those who teach and those who are attracted to teaching report that they aspire to the intellectual fulfilment and contribution to society provided by employment in a helping profession. Intrinsic and personal values such as being a positive role model, enjoying children and young people, wanting to make a difference and a strong commitment to social justice principles are common reasons stated for wanting, or continuing, to be a member of the teaching profession (see for example, Richardson & Watt, 2006).

Ashiedu and Scott-Ladd (2012) reported on a survey of teachers carried out in 2002 by Australia’s Ministerial Council on Education Employment Training and Youth Affairs found that approximately 31 per cent of the respondents enjoyed working with children, 22 per cent had a desire to teach, and 11.5 per cent were attracted through a recruitment campaign or the positive impact of a role model. A further 8.6 per cent were attracted to the employment conditions and 8.3 per cent had a desire to make a difference or were attracted because of the value of education and care for students.

Box 5 lists the main findings for Section 3.4.

Box 5. Main Findings: Attraction, retention and attrition Graduates wanted a teaching career for altruistic reasons. Approximately 90 per cent of the graduate teachers joined teaching ‘wanting to make a difference’ and more than 70 per cent indicated that they ‘Always wanted to teach/work with children’. About 70 per cent also highlighted that they wanted to work in their areas of specialisation or interest. Very few saw teaching as a ‘backup plan’ or entered teacher education just because their ATAR score was sufficient. Overall, attrition of graduates from teaching (i.e. leaving/ not continuing in a teaching position) was 7 per cent over the data collection period. The retention rate was 75 per cent, with almost 100 per cent retention in the Northern Territory. Those teachers had also completed their teacher education program in the Northern Territory. The ACT and Tasmania had the highest attrition rates. In terms of geographical areas, the highest attrition rate occurred in schools in outer regional areas, followed by very remote schools. Attrition was lower than average in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Focus schools. In addition, even though the actual numbers were very small, it is worth noting that by comparison with schools in major cities as well as inner and outer regional areas, schools in remote and very remote areas showed a higher retention rate over the 12-month period. Overall, the highest attrition rate over the 12 months was in secondary schools. According to principals, schools were attractive to new graduates when they offered better location and accessibility, reputation for performance or use of technologies, newer facilities, and partnership arrangements with universities. Principals in metropolitan schools reported the least difficulty retaining graduates, while those in remote locations had the most difficulty retaining them with the exception of Northern Territory. More than 82 per cent principals planned to keep some or all of their graduate teachers. Less than 11 per cent stated that they would not wish to continue to employ them. Principals reported that the most common form of school support provided to new graduate teachers was ongoing professional learning opportunities. Graduates considered this type of support was the most effective to them as an early career teacher, followed by an informal mentor arrangement. However, it is also worth noting that while more than 97 per cent of principals identified induction programs as available in their schools at all three survey points, 20-26 per cent of graduate teachers identified this as not available at the same points in time.