What Drives Teacher Retention? Possible Pathways to Remedy Teacher Attrition Rates

• In Event: Supporting, Sustaining, and Retaining Teachers in the Profession

Abstract

Teachers are acknowledged to play a vital role in our societies. Yet, for various reasons such as workload, job fulfilment and professional status, compensation, among others, there continues to be a global teacher shortage given low recruitment and high attrition rates. A large-scale representative survey of 4173 Singapore teachers across different career stages found teachers’ sense of fulfilment, enjoyment and pride (i.e., affective self-concept) to be the strongest correlate and predictor of retention intention. Informed by what we have learned about teacher-related variables to enhance teachers’ affective self-concept, this paper provides two possible paths to remedy, repair and improve teachers’ retention intention outcomes.

Authors

• Ee Ling Low, National Institute of Education - Nanyang Technological University

• Sao-Ee Goh, Ministry of Education, Singapore

• A. Lin Goodwin, Boston College

• Chun Peng o Tam, National Institute of Education - Nanyang Technological University