Big Shoes, little feet- The burnt out trend

Teachers professional identity is integral to the education field. It is this sense of self that plays with the schooling culture and creates a necessary environment for positive learning behaviours. It is also this sense of identity that has a long-term impact on the ability of the teacher to stay within the education field. Burnt out teachers immediately after starting their careers are a startlingly large trend.  According to a study conducted by Monash University more than one in four new teachers are suffering from “emotional exhaustion”(Marshall, 2013).

Some of the reasons stated behind these burn outs include extremely emotional conditions, particularly in low socio economic areas, and a lack of administrative support as well as onerous compliance measures (Marshall, 2013). All of these impacts accumulate until new teachers begin to question their sense of self and their abilities within an educational environment.

Dr Andrea Gallant, a senior Lectureer at Deakin University is tracking the attrition rate among beginning teachers - a statistic made difficult to pin down because teachers often remain registered after leaving the profession. The Education Department puts the attrition rate for teachers under 30 at 3 per cent. "We would estimate the rate of attrition to be probably 50 per cent," Dr Gallant said. She recently completed a small case study interviewing high-performing teaching graduates who left the profession within a few years, to find out why. Her findings revealed an interest in introducing new practices, which were not widely accepted by peers. This isolation, coupled with the fact that these teachers were often given the hardest classes is creating an overwhelming environment.

According to the National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future (2003), the attrition rate of teachers has increased faster than the supply of teachers (Hong, 2010, pg 1530). This is a startling trend when viewing the importance of teachers in the learning environment. Byrne (et al 2010) conducted a study into the teacher effect and found teacher quality impacted more than 33% of positive learning behaviours, with fifty percent a result of integral student motivation. With such a high change over of staff teacher quality is highly impacted upon, and as a result the school culture reflect this.

“We have poured more money into school buildings, school structures, we hear so much about reduced class sizes and new examinations and curricula, we ask parents to help manage schools and thus ignore their major responsibility to help co-educate, and we highlight student problems as if students are the problem whereas it is the role of schools to reduce these problems…The answer lies elsewhere – it lies in the person who gently closes the classroom door and performs the teaching act –the person who puts into place the end effects of so many policies, who interprets these policies, and who is alone with students during their 15,000 hours of schooling.” (Hattie, 2003, pp. 2-3)

Teachers’ professional identity is an important factor in understanding their professional lives and career decision making. Existing studies across countries have considered teachers’ professional identity as a key factor in teachers’ motivation, effectiveness and retention (Avalos and Aylwin, 2007, Day et al., 2005, Day et al., 2006, Lasky, 2005 and Van den Berg, 2002). All of these factors culminate to impact not only teacher identity, but also the shaping of their students cultural and personal identities. Ultimately big changes must be made soon for the positive growth of the Australian educational system.

References:

Hon, Ji Y. Teaching and Teacher Education Volume 26, Issue 8, November 2010, Pages 1530–1543

   

 B. Avalos, P. Aylwin (2007) How young teachers experience their professional work in Chile. Teaching and Teacher Education, 23 (2007), pp. 515–528

Lasky, S. 2005. A sociocultural approach to understanding teacher identity, agency and professional vulnerability in a context of secondary school reform. Teaching and Teacher Education: An International Journal of Research and Studies, 21 (8) (2005), pp. 899–916

    R. Van den Berg (2002). Teachers’ meanings regarding educational practice, Review of Educational Research, 72 (4) (2002), pp. 577–625