Assessing Teacher Intentions to Leave Education using the Plans to Leave Current Job Measure

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Saturday 7:45 am - Gold 2
  In Roundtable Session: Under Pressure: Teacher Stress, Workload, and the Hidden Cost of the Professions

Abstract

In a recent study, 75% of teachers reported seriously considering leaving their current position (Charles Butt Foundation, 2023). Reliable and valid strategies for measuring teachers’ intentions to leave the profession can inform policy makers regarding the specific stressors, working conditions, and aspects of school climate that are associated with early exit from the profession. This study gathered evidence for the reliability and validity of the Plans to Leave Current Job measure (PLCJ; Authors, 2014) and explored the process teachers go through as they consider leaving education. This study demonstrated reliability and validity evidence for the PLCJ scale scores and demonstrated relationships, in the theoretically expected directions, between the PLCJ scores and scores from external self-report measures of occupational health.

Authors

• Richard G. Lambert, University of North Carolina - Charlotte

• Kristen C. Mosley, University of Texas at Austin

• Christopher J. McCarthy, University of Texas at Austin

• Alessandra Caldwell, University of North Carolina - Charlotte