A Cross-National Study: Staying or Leaving? Teacher Social Status and Retention

• In Event: Teachers in Comparative Settings

Proposal

Introduction and Background
Given the significant impact that school teachers have on students’ academic learning, it can be expected that teachers would hold a respected social status (Hargreaves, 2009). However, recent research has shown that the social status of teachers is similar to that of social workers or librarians in the majority of countries (Dolton et al., 2018). Despite ongoing concerns about the social status of the teacher, it has been negatively affected by various educational policies (Everton et al., 2007; OECD, 2005), such as the exclusion of teachers from the development process of educational reforms, which signifies a lack of trust from the government toward teachers (Mahoney & Hextall, 2000). Additionally, educational reforms, such as accountability policies, have been criticized for diminishing teachers' social status (Berry, 2012; Fwu & Wang, 2002).
While previous studies have examined the relationship between the social status of the teaching profession and various teacher outcomes, as well as its association with students’ aspiration to become teachers (Akiba et al., 2023; Park & Byun, 2015), there is limited research examining the relationship between teacher social status and their intention to remain in the profession using cross-national data. Therefore, we aim to explore the association between teachers’ perceived social status and their intention to remain in the teaching profession in South Korea and the U.S. This research is particularly significant given that the recruitment and retention of teachers have been major concerns around the world (Carver-Thomas & Darling-Hammond, 2017).
While the teaching profession in S. Korea has been considered attractive and esteemed (Dolton et al., 2018; Hargreaves, 2009), there is a growing perception that they are undervalued by society. On the contrary, the social status of teachers in the U.S., as perceived by the general public, falls in the middle range among 35 countries (Dolton et al., 2018), and the U.S. has been experiencing challenges in retaining teachers (Billingsley & Bettini, 2019; Clotfelter et al., 2008; Hill & Barth, 2004; Springer et al., 2016). In this study, we aim to address the following research questions:
1) How is teachers' perceived social status associated with their intention to remain in the teaching profession in S. Korea and the U.S.?
2) How is the perceived social status of teachers with less than ten years of experience associated with their intention to remain in the profession in S. Korea and the U.S.?

Methods and Data
For this study, we use the Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) 2018. TALIS provides comparable international data gathered from nationally representative samples of lower secondary school teachers and principals. We create an index of teachers’ perceived social status based on four survey items, and the reliability of these items is .79 for S. Korea and .84 for the U.S. We analyze data from 2,712 teachers and 148 principals in S. Korea and 2,314 teachers and 159 principals in the U.S.
In the teacher survey questionnaire, teachers were asked, “How many more years do you want to continue to work as a teacher?” We recode responses of 0 to 3, and 0 to 5 years as ‘1’ and more than 6 years as ‘0’, where 1 indicates their willingness to leave the teaching profession within 3 and 5 years. As the outcome variable is binary, we employ two-level Hierarchical Generalized Linear Models (Raudenbush & Bryk, 2002).

Results
On average, teachers in the 41 participating countries have an intention to stay in the profession for about 14.7 years. In the U.S., the average is 14.1 years, while in S. Korea, it is 14.3 years. When looking at the intention to leave within three years, S. Korea has a percentage of 11.7%, and the U.S. has 13.2%. For the intention to leave within five years, S. Korea has 24.4%, and the U.S. has 25.8%. The percentages of the U.S. are similar to the international average, while S. Korea has a slightly lower intention to leave rate compared to the international average.
For the first research question, we control for gender, advanced degree, employment status, working experience in years, total workload in hours, school location, school type, school size, and school-level SES. Regarding the U.S. teachers' intention to leave within 3 years, their social status is found to be negatively associated. The social status coefficient is -.257, indicating that a one-unit increase in the social status index is associated with a 22.7% decrease in the odds of teachers leaving the profession within 3 years. In S. Korea, the social status index is also negatively associated with the intention to leave within 5 years. The social status index coefficient is -.281, indicating that a one-unit increase in the social status index is associated with a 24.5% decrease in the odds of teachers’ intention to leave the profession within 5 years.
For the second research question, we specifically examine teachers with less than 10 years of experience. Table 3 shows that the perceived social status of S. Korea and the U.S. is negatively associated with their intention to leave the teaching profession within 3 and 5 years. Specifically, a one-unit increase in the social status in both countries is associated with approximately a 60% decrease in the odds of teachers’ intention to leave the teaching profession within 5 years.

Significance
The findings of this study show the significance of teachers’ perceived social status in relation to their intention to leave the teaching profession. The relationship is particularly stronger for teachers with less than ten years of experience. These results emphasize the importance of improving teachers’ social status in the U.S. and provide policy insights for retaining and recruiting effective teachers in S. Korea. Furthermore, this study implies that teachers’ perception of their social status is important for their willingness to stay in the teaching profession, regardless of social and national contexts. For future study, we will include more countries for a comprehensive understanding of how the social status of teachers is associated with their intention to remain in the teaching profession.

Authors

• Kyeongwon Kim, Florida State University

• Sung Soo Jung, Daegu National University of Education

• Kijyung Lee, Daegu National University of Education

• Hoonho Kim, Kongju National University

• Jechun An, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities