Care Work and Teacher Retention in an Urban Charter School

• In Event: 275 - Regular Session. Transnational and Racial Dimensions of Care Work/Caring Labor

Abstract

Effective teaching is a key factor in schools’ abilities to close achievement gaps among students of differing racial, ethnic, language, and socioeconomic backgrounds. However, schools serving predominantly minority and low-income students continue to experience the highest rates of teacher turnover and tend to employ the least experienced teachers. This project explores the impact of “care work” – defined as teachers’ attempts to meet the social, emotional, and material needs of their students – on teacher retention in an urban charter school. Drawing on 140 hours of classroom observations and interviews with 10 teachers and other staff members at the school, this study examines the types of care work that teachers engage in on a daily basis to support the education of their students, the ways in which this work is enabled or constrained by school practices, and the relationship between care work and teacher retention. Findings suggest that school culture, organization, and resources all play a role in the types of care work that teachers engage in and that recognition and support for this often invisible work can play a role in teachers’ perceptions of the sustainability of their work. This study contributes to emerging literature that examines the impact of school context and climate on teachers’ work and is part of a larger project that seeks to identify practices and policies that make it possible to better support and retain high quality teachers in schools serving low-income students.

Author

• Katie Kerstetter, George Mason University