The Impact of School Leadership on Teacher Retention: Where Teachers Stay and How They Thrive

• In Event: Understanding the Multifaceted Dynamics of Educational Environments: From Climate to Culture, and Collaboration

Abstract

Investing in teachers’ career-long professional development has been regarded by policy makers as a cost-effective approach to retaining committed and capable teachers. However, teacher retention remains a real challenge for many countries despite concerted effort. The survey evidence from a four-year mixed methods study on early career teachers’ professional development in England shows that teacher learning on government-funded induction programmes can only make a difference to retention if it is supported by professional learning cultures in school. How satisfied teachers feel about their job, how well they teach (i.e., teacher efficacy), and how they perceive the quality of their lives in school (i.e., teacher wellbeing) are dependent upon the quality of professional learning cultures that are created by school leadership.

Authors

• Qing Gu, University College London

• Lisa Baines, UCL Institute of Education

• Kenneth A. Leithwood, University of Toronto - OISE

• Sofia Eleftheriadou, University College London - IOE

• Mark Quinn, UCL Institute of Education