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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
August 27, 2001
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CONTACTS:
Susan Moore Johnson, 617-495-4677
Susan Kardos, 617-496-7468
Christine Sanni, 617-496-5873
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Research on New
Teachers Shows a Changing Profession:
43% of New Teachers in New Jersey Plan to Leave Classroom
Teaching; Nearly Half are Mid-Career Entrants
Harvard Graduate School of Education
August 27, 2001
At a time when U.S.
schools will need to hire over two million new teachers to serve a growing
number of students and replace a large cohort of retiring teachers, new research
findings from the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) suggest that 43%
of new teachers do not anticipate staying in the classroom as full-time teachers
for their entire careers. The findings, part of a study of first- and
second-year teachers in New Jersey, also show that 46% of the state’s new
teachers are mid-career entrants to the field, suggesting that mid-career
entrants are becoming teachers in roughly the same numbers as first-career
entrants. Researchers at HGSE’s Project
on the Next Generation of Teachers also found that compared with 6% of
first-career entrants, a greater proportion (19%) of the mid-career entrants
participated in alternative certification instead of traditional teacher
education programs.
“New teachers today do
not all fit the stereotypical image of 22-year-olds embarking upon their first
careers after graduating from university teacher education programs,” says Susan
Moore Johnson, a professor at HGSE and Director of the Project on the Next
Generation of Teachers. “Given the crisis-level teacher shortage that many
districts are already experiencing, we need to provide the support and
opportunities necessary to keep this diverse group of individuals in the
classroom, teaching effectively.”
Findings suggest that
while almost all of the new teachers anticipate staying in education for the
remainder of their working lives, many of them report that they expect to move
on to education-related jobs other than classroom teaching (curriculum
development, professional development, administration). Compared to the
mid-career entrants, a greater proportion of the first-career entrants
anticipate leaving the classroom over time.
Findings:
 | Forty-six percent
(46%) of new (i.e., first- and second-year) teachers in New Jersey in the
2000-2001 school year had entered teaching from a career other than
teaching.
| Fifty-four of (54%) of
new (i.e., first- and second-year) teachers in New Jersey in the 2000-2001
school year entered teaching as their first career.
| The average age of the
mid-career entrants in New Jersey is 33. Almost a quarter (24%) of the
mid-career entrants are over the age of 40.
| The average age of the
first-career entrants in New Jersey is 26. Ninety-two percent (92%) of these
first-career teachers are in their twenties.
| Almost one-fifth (19%)
of mid-career entrants in New Jersey received certification through an
alternative certification program.
| Only six percent (6%)
of first-career entrants in New Jersey received certification through an
alternative certification program.
| Ninety-four percent
(94%) of the mid-career entrants in New Jersey stated that they expect to
stay in education for the remainder of their careers. But of the mid-career
entrants who expect to stay in education long term, almost one-fifth (19%)
reported that they do not anticipate staying as classroom teachers for their
entire careers.
| Ninety-three percent
(93%) of first-career teachers in New Jersey stated that they expect to stay
in education for the remainder of their careers. But of this group, over
two-fifths (43%) reported that rather than remain in classroom teaching for
their entire careers, they would like to move onto other positions in
education such as curriculum development, professional development, or
administration. |
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Recommendations:
According to researchers
at the Project on the Next Generation of Teachers, schools can move toward
retaining new teachers by accounting for the different career experiences, types
of teacher preparation, and career orientations of the two groups. Researchers
suggest that schools and districts:
| Provide
school-based training and support:
Project researchers stress that training and support at the school site is
particularly important given that entrants enter the field at varying levels
of preparedness, and often make decisions about whether to remain in the
field after having classroom experience
“The school site has become the primary training ground for many who enter
the field through alternative certification programs,” explains Edward
Liu, one of two researchers at the Project on the Next Generation of
Teachers who designed and carried out the New Jersey survey study.
“Classrooms are also the place where teachers most often make the decision
whether to remain in classroom teaching, and lack of training and support in
the classroom can have a critical impact on this decision. While states and
districts can assume responsibility for increasing pay, reducing or altering
entry requirements, or creating career ladders, such initiatives will
ultimately make little difference if a teacher is dissatisfied with
teaching. And it is at the school site, rather than the district, where key
factors influencing new teachers’ experiences converge; it is there that
induction efforts should be centered.”
| Create
opportunities for variation and advancement within teaching:
Because a large proportion of first-career teachers anticipate moving into
non-classroom-teaching jobs sometime during their careers, project
researchers surmise that they are looking for variety in their work. Also,
since mid-career entrants bring professional experiences from outside
education, new career structures might create new roles that can tap some of
that expertise.
“Because we found that many new teachers approach teaching tentatively or
conditionally,” says Susan Kardos, another project researcher and
co-investigator on the survey study, “retaining them may be more difficult
than retaining the previous generation. For those who will pursue teaching
for the long-term, the possibility for differentiated roles and the
possibility of redesigned work holds promise, while for those who envision
short-term careers, meaningful support at the school site might ensure that
they enter and remain in teaching and do their work well.” |
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Background:
The
Project on the Next Generation of Teachers
(www.gse.harvard.edu/~ngt) at the Harvard Graduate School of Education is a
multi-year research project addressing critical questions about the future of
our nation’s teaching force by studying how best to attract, support, and
retain quality teachers in U.S. public schools.
Principal investigator
Susan Moore Johnson and researchers Sarah Birkeland, Susan M. Kardos, David
Kauffman, Edward Liu, and Heather G. Peske dedicated the first year of the
Project to conducting an interview study with first-year and second-year
Massachusetts teachers. Eighteen months later, follow-up interviews with these
teachers are now underway. Papers from this study are forthcoming in Educational
Administration Quarterly, Teachers College Record, and Phi Delta Kappan.
The researchers are also analyzing hiring practices in schools, and continuing
to work on teachers’ careers, professional culture, principals’ leadership,
and curriculum. Plans have been developed for a multi-site case study of
alternative certification programs. In subsequent years, the Project will study
effective minority recruitment strategies, career ladders, and new teachers’
attitudes toward teacher unions.
The New Jersey study was
designed and carried out by Susan M. Kardos and Edward Liu of the Project on the
Next Generation of Teachers. Kardos and Liu randomly selected a sample of 110
new teachers in New Jersey teaching at both charter and non-charter public
schools, and surveyed them about their experiences with the hiring process and
the professional culture. The Project on the Next Generation of Teachers will
conduct a follow-up survey in four states.
The Project on the Next
Generation of Teachers is funded by the Spencer Foundation.
For More Information
More information
about the ongoing research of the Project on the Next Generation of Teachers can
be found at www.gse.harvard.edu/~ngt. For more information, contact Susan Moore
Johnson at 617-495-4677, Susan Kardos at 617-496-7468, or Christine Sanni at
617-496-5873 or christine_sanni@harvard.edu.
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