― Winston S. Churchill
That thought came to mind as I read that teachers don't leave the profession any more so than in any other profession, despite the breathless paranoia surrounding the potential teacher shortage that has been "just around the corner" since I started teaching 20 years ago:
Teacher Turnover Is High — Except When Compared With Other Professions. “They came on in the same old way,” the Duke of Wellington said of the French attacks at Waterloo, “and we saw them off in the same old way.”Read the whole thing.
I was reminded of this line after reading yet another report by the Learning Policy Institute to frighten us into thinking the U.S. has high teacher turnover rates. Their foray into this territory last year was rebuffed by the elementary methods of a) looking at the numbers; and b) comparing them with those of all other professions. Lo and behold, public education employees quit their jobs at a lower rate than virtually any other profession in the United States.
When you are paying extra to get your teaching credential or Masters degree, you weed out the ones that don't really want to do it. By going through so many hoops, you only have the ones that really want to do left.
ReplyDeletePlus, after you have been in the job for 5-10 years, hot many really quit the teaching profession? Most of the ones that quit usually do it within the first 5 years.