Why Do Teachers Quit?

Recent research by the National Center for Education Statistics found that eight percent of public school teachers—and fully 20 percent of those with no prior full-time teaching experience—left the classroom in the 2004-05 school year. The NCES's researchers suggest that lack of professional autonomy may be partly to blame. Others point, relatedly, to growing pressures on teachers as a result of standards and accountability initiatives, and a feeling that the profession is not personally rewarding.

Teacher Magazine had the good sense to ask teachers and others to comment on the research and share their own stories about departures from the profession. There's some predictable whining but you'll also find very thoughtful reflections, including a list of Why's from education consultant Jim Downey, "most of which involve political gamesmanship between parties that have little to do with what happens in the classroom, or the school in general, but have a great impact on how teachers are allowed to do the job."

Comments

[simply an educator]

Why do we Quit?
Mainly, lack of autonomy and support. We are told what to do, how to teach, where to teach, no matter what our philosophies or views are. If it is not comparable with other teachers, then we cannot do it, meaning, we cannot raise the bar, because others will look bad, as I have been told. Using Technology in the classroom has transformed my views completely, though if the rest is not using it, we do not parents complaining nor comparing, no matter if it is good for the Digital Natives. Many reasons why, and it is sad, the best teachers are leaving the job, hopefully to be able to promote Tech integration through other channels.
There is a need for reform in every classroom, not just a few. Schools have become dictatorships, where teachers do not have a voice for fear of reprisal, but some , will plainly...leave.

[Vince Standing Deer-Gomez]

The posting by "simply an educator" is well stated. Bravo! However, of the many complexities of our profession I must briefly add two additional items. First, I believe "master teacher" programs desperately need to be established for those who wish to be master teachers. I have witnessed a variety of methods for assigning student-teachers to staff members, over the past 30 years as a social science teacher. Even the professionally disgusting method of coin flipping. To top that off, I have also observed some of the worse student-teacher supervisional skills. The Army has sergeant schools that create top notch leaders. The teaching profession needs programs that turn out top notch master teachers. I believe this would help to produce confident new teachers and partially help to reduce our serious teacher drop-out rate. Secondly, and last, this also goes for student-teacher college supervisors. To reduce space, I will only say that I've witnessed some pretty sorry examples of college representatives. Many of them who had never taught K-12 and were not even aware of grade level standards and course frameworks. I suggest that the colleges could use a better "supervisor" selection process. Come on, folks, let's wake up and look what's happening in the trenches.

[Anthony Cody]

I have not quit the profession, but I left the classroom a couple of years ago for some of these reasons. For me, as a teacher in an urban district, I was feeling frustrated with the level of morale at the school. This manifested in lackluster administrative followthrough on discipline, which translated into constant medium grade disruptions in the class by students who were having trouble ficusing on learning. As an experienced teacher, I had developed a number of innovative programs -- grants for professional development, an all-girl technology class, and a district-wide science curriculum initiative. But the state had a budget crisis and the funding for these things dried up, so I lost these outlets for my creative energies. I felt as if I were spending way too much time writing office referrals, and not enough doing the teaching that I loved. This year I am working as a science coach at the district level, but am actually filling a vacancy at a school site, teaching high school chemistry. I have found myself really enjoying teaching again. I had taught for 18 years at the same school. I think sometimes experienced teachers need a break, a change of scene, a fresh start. But for me, the most important things are that I have support for the creative initiatives I want to pursue with my students and colleagues, and a stable, supportive administration that is dedicated to protecting the integrity of the classroom environment.

[Nancy Flanagan]

Adding to all of the previous comments, it's worth noting that sometimes teachers quit because they should. Teaching isn't for sissies--there are people who are temperamentally or intellectually unsuited to teaching, and not all teacher losses are bad for the profession.

I am intrigued by the ideas in the article and in posted comments--everyone seems to think that more autonomy and support will keep teachers in classrooms, and teachers themselves report greater satisfaction when they have more control over their working conditions (Ingersoll). However--this runs in direct opposition to the trend toward scripted and managed instruction which has been created and promoted to counteract lack of goal-focused learning results. In this scenario, teachers need to be told what to do; giving them autonomy and freedom to be creative has led to lack of focus on important skills and knowledge.

So which is it? Are teachers too restricted and controlled, or too loose and free? If we used the military as a model for training new teachers, we would be looking at some specific skills, highly prescribed teaching, I expect. Most highly successful teachers do have very individualistic teaching programs and styles, though.

I don't have an answer here; I lean toward teacher autonomy backed up by a school administration that supports innovation and creativity. Still, I have seen a lot of teachers do a lot of nothing, and label it academic freedom.

[Katy Farber]

Readers, commenters, teachers and ex-teachers, please read-

I've been reading, writing and researching about why teachers quit for the last several years. It all started when I watched one young, energetic, motivated and talented teacher leave the profession for good. No matter how much I mentored her, her model for teaching was not sustainable. The community was devasted to see her go. Then I started researching teacher attrition and conducting interviews with people I knew who left the profession or who were thinking strongly of doing so. Most of the time it is the academics, poiticians and others who are removed from teaching that write books and make comments about teacher attrition. I wanted to get the voices of teachers who are leaving, like those who commented, and thousands of others, who have their own reasons for leaving the classroom. I am writing Why Great Teachers Quit, an in the trenches, real life view of teachers describing their reasons for quitting, along with creative suggestions for ways to change and improve.

I need to hear from teachers from all over the country about why they are leaving teaching. Please visit http://whygreatteachersquit.wordpress.com to answer survey questions, or to write a more open ended response (I promise it is short and relatively painless). You will see two posts with more details about the project. Please be sure to include the grade level, geographic region (general), and subject that you teach in your comments.

Please take a moment to stop by and share your perspective (and please spread the word!). We can only change things by speaking out and working for change.