Retention of Teachers: Some Alarming Trends !

A serious question we need to ask ourselves is “Are we losing some of our potentially great teachers? And if we are, how is this happening?”

During my time as a recruiter, my staff and I have seen the demands for relief/temporary teachers fluctuate, as would be the case in any Industry. However, more recently, we have noticed a growing number of teachers finding that they can only access temporary work because this is the only option available to them. Additionally, the time they are spending undertaking temporary work whilst waiting for contract opportunities is increasing substantially.

I believe this to be the case for the reasons listed below:

• Contract work is not as prevalent in the industry as it once was;
• Permanent positions are difficult to come by;
• Current teachers are working past retirement age, due in part to the volatile financial marketplace; and
• Teachers are remaining in positions longer, as they know job security is paramount given the current unstable job market (Previously people were more inclined to leave jobs they did not enjoy without having another job in place, as they were confident they would find another equivalent role). 

All of this has created a somewhat stagnant job availability environment for teachers who aren’t already in permanent or longer term contract roles.

There are distinct groups into which temporary teachers tend to fit. Although there are other groups, those that I will list below form the main groups, ultimately leaving the industry with a very large temporary teacher workforce.

The Graduate

Graduates are securing contracts straight out of university, however the numbers who successfully do this are low, and this leaves the remainder in a position whereby they will commence their teaching career as a relief teacher.

The Semi-retired

Teachers ending their career are transitioning slowly out, rather than taking the plunge and simply leaving - either for financial reasons or simply because they don’t want to make the leap from full time work to no work. These teachers are choosing to decrease the numbers of days that they work in a week (a day or two a week) allowing them to still keep their toe in the water, but working more on their own terms.

Returning to Work

Choice and flexibility are more often seen as not negotiable for works, particularly those with young families. Being a temporary teacher provides both these options to a parent who might be returning to the workforce after parental leave. The transition back to the workforce is at their own pace, while providing an opportunity to add to the family budget and manage their time to suit the needs of themselves and the whole family. This also provides the teacher with a real solution to return to the workforce, given that they are possibly unable to commit to specific days.

Love Relief Work

The next group are those teachers who remain temporary simply because they love the variety of the role and choose to remain as a temporary teacher because of this. This cohort of teachers should not be underestimated, the industry needs these people and we should be doing what we can to support these very passionate teachers who enable the permanent and contract teachers of the world to take leave etc. I cannot reinforce enough the importance of these teachers, particularly in my line of work.

Poor performers

It would be remiss of me not to mention those teachers who cannot get a contract job as they may not be performing at the level required to do so. These teachers undertake temporary work, but often do not do so on a regular basis. While there are teachers who fall into this category, they form a much lower percentage than the other categories mentioned previously.

Issues and Risk Factors

The greatest concern in regard to the large numbers of temporary teachers mentioned in the above groups is the risk of losing them permanently from the Industry. Temporary teachers have invested as much time, money and energy getting to a point in their career as both contract and permanent teachers have, but are at the greatest risk of leaving the Industry due to the lack of both contract and permanent job opportunities. 

For example, the parent who has returned to the workforce for long enough and is now in a position to juggle a contract position with family life, finds they are unable to secure one due to the unavailability of opportunities. These teachers will find themselves in a holding pattern, so to speak, waiting for the mailman to arrive every day to deliver the news a contract has opened up at a school. However, once again, the volatile financial situation we all find ourselves in comes into play and that parent can only wait so long before they decide to cease being a temporary teacher and move onto alternate employment in another industry, in order to gain stable work and provide for their family.

Those who choose to remain temporary teachers by choice, face the real possibility of burn out, potentially quicker than their peers who are in contract and permanent positions, due to always needing to be in a new place every day or week and often without the same sort of support that a contract or permanent teacher would receive. These teachers, as I mentioned previously, need to be nurtured as a very special cohort and provided with attention, direction, guidance and most importantly, access to professional development. These are the teachers who need to be kept in the industry and we need to work out a solution as to how this can happen.

Anecdotally these teachers tell us that their burnout is most often caused by not having a school they can call “home”, where they know they will be provided with daily guidance and support. As a whole they begin to feel undervalued and although they enjoy their work, don’t feel they are making the difference in children’s lives, which they originally set out to achieve when they embarked on their teaching career.

There are a number of schools who believe temporary teachers are worth the investment and who give feedback and guidance and who offer the same professional development to their relief staff as they do to their contract / permanent staff. Unfortunately, there aren’t enough of these schools. Understandably, it is often due to financial reasons or simply not having the extra time or resources available to provide the temporary teacher with feedback.

Many of my clients in South Australia do take the time to include temporary teachers as part of their professional development programs, a practice which has increased over time since I started my business. I make sure I acknowledge this contribution when I speak to schools, as it is important they also receive positive feedback for playing their part in supporting our temporary teachers.

As a recruitment firm, we are very conscious of playing our part too. Where possible we try to offer guidance and support to our temporary teachers, but unfortunately there will always be some who fall through the cracks.

Everyone within the Industry needs to play their part and we all need to find a way to give back. If we do include the temporary teacher in the bigger picture by providing for them specifically and also supporting and recognising the fabulous job they do, this will directly benefit schools and, most importantly, the children they teach. If we can do this, do it right from the beginning and keep doing it right, it will result in a happier, better supported and more valued temporary workforce for the Education sector – rightly recognised as being one of the most important sectors of society.

The problem with retention rates of teachers, particularly temporary teachers, is a growing problem and is much larger than the majority would like to recognise. As a recruitment firm, it is not uncommon for us to receive correspondence from a temporary teacher telling us that he or she is leaving teaching, because they couldn’t find stability in the industry so as a result have had to spread their wings.

It is time for us to recognise that a large portion of our national teaching cohort is being unnoticed, undervalued and unsupported.

Where to from here? I believe we can start with small things such as...

• taking more time to offer support to these individuals when they are in your schools simply through engaging with them more in staff rooms;
• recognising their great efforts – not just talking with them if things don’t go to plan
• offering to have a chat after the school day has finished; and
• offering them a place (if one is available and viable) at one of your PD sessions
• and then for consideration at a sector level... can funding be better allocated to support this cohort? This could be through the provision of more relevant professional development opportunities.

I believe we can do a better job of looking after these great teachers by making them feel better supported and valued, but also by equipping them with the tools they need to continue to do this job well.  

We need to do this because ultimately this will help retain them in our industry!