You Are Not Supporting Your Teachers

Introduction

Do you think that you provide sufficient support to your teachers? Do all teachers at all levels receive professional development to support their growth? Are grade-level teams reviewed for amount of experience? Is the support provided by mentors and peers reviewed for depth and sufficiency? If you answered no to any of these questions, then this blog is for you. You can understand the impact of support on teacher retention. I am Dr. Mary Rivers, and I am the founder of Teacher Retention Academy. I help education leaders like you retain new teachers so that you can focus on developing them. In this short article, I will give you as much information as I can about the four primary reasons teachers quit. At the end of this article, I will give you the opportunity to learn more.

Peer Support

Placing teachers on teams who collaborate is not enough. Many districts provide collaboration time for teachers. They meet on a weekly basis to share data, discuss strategies, and plan teaching. However, new teachers can find themselves on teams with other new teachers or with teachers new to the grade level. Members of the team often feel like they’re on a team where they are the blind leading the blind because everyone is new. Furthermore, not all teachers on a team are willing to compromise in collaboration, so without proper monitoring and training by administration, team members are not really supporting one another. One or a few team members might dominate the decision-making or ignore team decisions and do their own thing in their classrooms. Therefore, struggling teachers feel unsupported and leave.

Induction Support

Many states have mandatory induction programs for new teachers, but there are states that have no induction or do not provide funding for induction. In addition, induction mentors can be coaches who have been out of the classroom for years or located in another state. This makes it difficult for induction mentors to fully understand some of the classroom needs or the problems teachers encounter. However, evaluated and relevant induction support can improve teacher retention and have a positive impact in student achievement.

District Level Support

Districts rely on a variety of positions to support teachers, such as administrators, site coaches or mentors, and resource specialists. Teachers look to their administrators for support as they represent the organization’s support. In addition, teachers who are often confused by issues related to special education rely on resource specialists for help. However, in today’s educational climate, shortages are beginning to appear in many support role areas. Teachers encounter administrators who are new to their positions and are struggling to learn their own jobs, or they face vacancies where resource specialists are needed. This failure to provide support increases the stress teachers face, resulting in added attrition.

Summary

By understanding areas where support needs to be reevaluated and strengthened, organizations can help reduce attrition caused by a lack of support. Good peer teams as well as induction and organizational support can help teachers and reduce retention rates.

As promised, if you would like to go deeper into retaining new teachers, so you can focus on developing them, consider joining my training: Teacher Retention Academy.