Teacher Recruitment and Retention: Two Sides of the Same Shrinking Coin

By: Dr. Brandon Enos (2021)

???????????????It’s no secret... there is a shortage of certified teachers (García & Weiss, 2019). This shortage has led many educational leaders to rethink how they recruit teachers. Gone are the days of signing up for one, large teacher job fair in May of each year, where leaders could show up with nothing more than a coffee and a smile, and fill every open teaching position for the following academic year. Now, administrators must compete with others for fewer and fewer qualified teachers. This trend is alarming, growing, and should cause us all to take notice and make changes since according to Chetty, Friedman, and Rockoff (2014) teachers are the biggest contributor to individual student success and the student’s earning potential as an adult. All of this means that finding the right teachers, or developing them when they are nowhere to be found, is the most important job of any administrator, besides campus safety of course.

???????????????I have been blessed with opportunities to work as an educator in South Texas, far West Texas, the DFW Metroplex area, and in Honolulu, Hawaii. Each of these locations held small differences regarding recruiting, but the common trend for all was the lack of qualified and certified teachers applying for and staying in teaching positions. It did not matter if the opening was for core content, was tied to coaching, was full or part-time. Regardless, the number of qualified applicants for each opening is dwindling.

???????????????Fewer college graduates are entering the teaching profession; more demands are being placed on current teachers and more experienced educators are choosing to leave the field each year. There are several potential reasons for fewer incoming and more exiting teachers: low pay, lack of support by administrators, work conditions, low potential upward mobility, or their own negative experiences with education. Whatever the reason, the trend continues at an alarming rate and cannot be overlooked any longer. So what does all of this mean for administrators in HR, on a campus, or other teachers? These educators must either wait for conditions they do not control, like pay increases or community support, to change or they must change. Without immediate and drastic changes in the methods of recruiting and retaining teachers, the future of education will begin to look bleak due to growing class sizes and fewer course offerings available to students.

How I Address the Shortage

???????????????Beginning in 2016, I changed how I recruit and retain teachers and have been amazed by the success. To address recruitment without retention would be a moot point. I consider the two areas related and are essentially two sides of the same coin. When we retain more teachers, we not only have to hire fewer new teachers, but the quality of the instruction is improved exponentially. Teachers, like other professionals, want to work where they are included in decision-making, they want to be valued and they have a need to make a difference in the lives of students. I used this knowledge to develop a three-pronged approach to recruiting and retaining professional staff.

First, I am sure to communicate with an applicant and share the campus or district goals and how they would have an instrumental part in reaching these goals. I walk each applicant around the campus, take the applicant to lunch, send emails and a thank-you notes to ensure the applicant feels immediately valued, and I get the applicant integrated into the campus as soon as a contract is signed. These actions all build a rapport between the novice teacher and the administration that lasts well into the first semester. I have been told on several occasions this is why a teacher chose to work for our district over other offers, even offers tied to more compensation or a shorter daily commute. While at job fairs I ask for email addresses and send digital thank-you notes with easy-to-access district or school information. We have also had to adjust our approach in order to reach the younger teachers; by marketing ourselves on social media (Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram) and by posting job openings online at Indeed or on LinkedIn we have been able to see an increase in applicants for each position among the younger teachers.

Second, I pair new staff with a knowledgeable teacher who has a positive disposition and attitude. All mentors I select to lead new staff must have bought into the campus vision and mission, they need to be able to work with the new teacher pedagogically, but they must also be willing to talk up the campus and district on a regular basis. It is too easy for teachers to listen to negative comments, there will always be plenty of negativity spoken about the campus or its leaders. Instead, I ensure the new to district teacher hears more about all of the positive that happens all around a campus by sharing highlights with my mentor teachers regularly.

Lastly, I provide feedback constantly. Good, bad, or indifferent… teachers want to know what their leader thinks of their performance. Most can relate and have had a supervisor who keeps their feedback close to their chest and this can leave the staff member wondering about the quality of their performance and hoping all of the leader’s expectations are being met. Providing honest and timely feedback is essential to retaining quality staff.

So, in this ever-changing world where it is almost impossible to find quality teachers, administrators must grow their teachers and keep the educators as long as possible. By positively communicating with and integrating the new teachers, pairing them with a mentor who is in agreement with the direction of the campus, and by providing specific and regular feedback about how they do their job you will find you hire and retain more teachers. The problem of teacher shortages must be addressed at a higher level and on a larger scale; however, until it is addressed and actions are taken to correct the causes, you can weather the storm by creating the systems I have shared. Remember, teachers need to grow or somewhere else they will surely go!

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References

Chetty, R., Friedman, J. N., & Rockoff, J. E. (2014). Measuring the impacts of teachers II: Teacher value-added and student outcomes in adulthood.?American economic review,?104(9), 2633-79.

García, E., & Weiss, E. (2019). The Teacher Shortage Is Real, Large and Growing, and Worse than We Thought. The First Report in" The Perfect Storm in the Teacher Labor Market" Series.?Economic Policy Institute.

About the Author:

Dr. Brandon Enos is the Assistant Superintendent at Goliad ISD in Goliad, Texas. He is a recognized expert in instructional design and school leadership. He has presented at regional conferences on transformational leadership and on student interventions. Through his efforts, several schools have moved from low-performing to exceeding expectations in academics, morale, and in overall quality of climate.

Follow Brandon on LinkedIn at https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/brandon-enos-ed-d-a7ba7835/ .