On Teaching: Top Ten Reasons Teachers Leave

On Teaching:  Top Ten Reasons Teachers Leave
Colleen Rogers 

As both a retiring teacher and a newly hired rookie teacher within a one year time span, I have had the unique ability to assess with a seasoned eye the reasons why so many fresh-faced, enthusiastic young teachers opt to leave our profession so quickly.  With a retention rate of less than fifty percent of new teachers remaining in the classroom beyond five years, I have tried to evaluate why things have flipped so significantly.

I have determined that these ten issues serve as the primary, fundamental indicators to trigger the mass exodus of teachers, and the increased shortfall of instructional personnel deciding to work with our children.  Each indicator listed is in no particular order of impact--what fuels one teacher's departure in a District may leave no scars on another teacher employed somewhere else.

1.  Lack of instructional supplies or resources 

There is no teacher on the planet who does not invest some of their own salary on students' instructional supplies.  Markers, folders, pens, pencils and the like cut into every teacher's annual salary.  No teacher passes a writing tool laying on the ground without picking it up for future use--these are the BOGOs of educators.  Teachers dole out unaccounted for "invisible" expenses--buying kids winter coats, paying for students to attend field trips so that they are not left behind, etc. The public is not aware of these items, but the "hidden expenses of teaching" are sometimes burdensome to college educated professionals at the lower end of the totem pole of a professional's salary schedule.  

Additionally, many teachers must arrive to school with a Plan B in mind. Functional copy machines, reliable presentation equipment, usable computers, etc., can never be counted on as a certainty.  Generally, these commodities are in a state of disrepair, and irregular availability is a workplace annoyance unknown to other professionals in a business setting.  Rarely do business office staff face this level of inconsistency in accessing their "tools of the trade".

2.  Working conditions 

Having worked in a building constructed around the turn of the century, my own classroom has been frequently visited by mice AND cockroaches.  I have had brown water drip on my head in restrooms, and have witnessed bloody fights and projectile vomiting.  Students often eat lunch in teacher work areas, and we are subjected to every non-contained viral illness and wormy lice infestation that you can imagine.  Even teachers who work in state-of-the-art buildings are not immune to the grime factor of a crusty hand-delivered homework assignments.

3.  State mandates

Some Great Oz at the State Boards of Education inevitably blocks engaging lessons to be shared with students by requiring state mandated testing, which is done with puzzling frequency at the elementary levels. It is difficult to witness students struggling, sitting in chairs for extended periods of time, to take MAP or PARCC tests. The stated purpose of these tests is to garner data, determine student ability levels, and plan targeted goals for students, which ironically, may not be reached due to the loss of curriculum time, the ultimate result of testing. 

4.  Lack of administrative support 

When I was a young teacher, Principals and Assistant Principals were Educational Warlords.  I remember once hearing a Principal tell a parent to "get out of my building".  Teachers were covered.  No parent or student would dare "act a fool" anywhere near the school building without the full wrath of an administrator.  Now, with threats of legal action by parents or unfavorable media coverage, administrators tread lightly and generally opt to admonish or throw teachers under the bus to save their own hide.  The trend of "parent pacification" has taken the administrative back-up away from teachers, who now fend off parent sieges on their own.  Today's administrators feel that their hands are tied by school boards that don't understand what high level maverick support is needed for teachers in the trenches.  For an administrator to expel a student requires a considerable amount of corroborating data to convince skittish school boards of the need for such an "extreme" action. 

5.  Teacher review systems 

For already burdened teachers who provide excessive hours and "overtime" for which they are not compensated, a review citation of "needs improvement" seems to be a serious professional "slap in the face".  Many teachers feel that such a rating fails to look at the substantial dedication and service they provide the school and community, and instead focuses on "nitpicking" the teacher's Achilles' heel.  Covertly, this administrative downgrading can actually be done to slide someone into the teacher's job, reinforce an administrator's exchange of power over goodwill, and therefore demonstrate the failure of cumbersome and ineffective personnel rating systems.  In any case, the loss of validation and affirmation impacts teachers' willingness to continue in District classrooms.

6.  Parental reactive sets 

Many parents are like Storm Troopers when it comes to schools.  Instead of assuming that teachers are right in correcting the behaviors of their child in the classroom, the focus has shifted to believing that teachers have done their child grave educational injustices, causing their student irreparable psychological damage.  Parents now appear at schools demanding an audience with any teacher sans an appointment, after having been texted by their child at recess about the teacher's transgression.  It is now imperative for teachers to keep copious records of student misdeeds and parent contacts as backup and professional self-preservation.

7.  Student classroom and school behaviors 

Students have undoubtedly been more combative and threatening since I began teaching.  The incidences of bullying and assault have increased tremendously.  The fear of being attacked crosses the mind of many teachers.  I, personally, have seen desks being thrown at teachers, teachers being choked by their school ID lanyard, and teachers being shoved down a flight of stairs.  This does not include the incidents wherein teachers attempt to break up student fights.  In one of my own classrooms remains the chalkboard bullet hole from a student who attempted to shoot his Math teacher there.  I suspect that many teachers, who are beginning to start families of their own, are reticent to remain in environments where sporadic violence erupts.  

8. Limited alternative placement or social resources 

Many students are coming to school with a myriad of social issues that are beyond the scope of reach for one classroom teacher with 25 students in the room.  This year, in my classroom, I had one boy suffering from leukemia, one homeless girl, and one girl whose father was recently arrested for pedophilia--her older sister was one of his victims.  These are the students about whose life traumas I KNEW.  I am certain many other students had serious problems that went unaddressed.  Even with awareness, it is difficult to find the level of counseling, social service resources, and ongoing support required for these students daily.  School counselors, social workers and nurses are stretched very thin in any school building.
  
9.  Professional Downgrades

I have listened to the adage "those that can't, teach" being touted more now than ever.  They say:  Teaching is something for "those who want three months off in the summer" (eye roll).  It's like being a "babysitter", or like working at a "daycare center", etc.  The "art" of teaching is not respected anymore.  There is no acknowledged magic in getting over twenty seventh graders to line up in a hall without swatting each other.  There is no miracle in getting a class engaged in acting out a book you all read together.  When your other friends listen to what you do daily, they don't see the mastery in it.  They don't see how clever and dodgy you are for switching a lesson on the spot because a student asked a compelling sidebar question.  They think you're foolish for all the extra work you do for which you don't get paid.  When I was younger, I'd smile at them, and know that the "World's Greatest Teacher" notes from students were "my little secret"--incomparable compensation greater than any cash bonus.  I don't know that it is that way any longer--the isolated AH-HA moments when all students in unison "get it", and the few times when students send notes of gratitude don't seem to outweigh other educational issues that face classroom teachers.  When we align the investment of our educational time and training with our friends' cushier lifestyle, we wonder sometimes if it was worth our sacrifice for those rare moments of joyful connection with our classes.

10.  The Media Age

Of late, numerous postings of teachers caught in moments of exasperation, political incorrectness, or out-and-out unprofessional conduct have been filmed by students in the classroom and posted for what I call "Teachertainment".  The idea, here, is to provoke the teacher to appear in an educational form of the T.V. show "Snapped".  The students guffaw, poke fun at, verbally abuse, or physically pummel the teacher, all with the intent of posting the event on social media.  Generally, the ensuing embarrassment causes the teachers' departure or, depending on the nature of the infraction, the swift dismissal of the instructor.  The transmission of the alleged "transgression" causes an immediate need for District response and reaction.  Media is a double-edged sword when it comes to the classroom.  On the positive, it can be an effective instructional tool, or a system to monitor inappropriate conduct.  Negatively, though, it can be a way to humiliate faculty or classmates and put control in the hands of intimidating students.  There are few teachers that wish to engage in the heckling world of "Teachertainment". 

Final Thoughts

It is imperative that teachers begin to express and share the concerns that restrict the preservation of our profession.  With open dialogue, we can confront each of these issues, reduce teacher bailout, keeping effective, creative teachers in the classroom.