Social-Emotional Learning, Awareness, and Strategies for Teachers

It is no secret that education systems across the country are experiencing a dramatic teacher shortage and that burnout and turnover rates for educational professionals is at an all-time high. In addition to every state suffering from a teacher shortage, teacher preparation programs have also seen critical decline in enrollment. Currently in the United States, teacher retention rates are extremely low nationally, with only 50% of new teachers remaining in classrooms after five years. While there are many external factors such as low starting salaries, lack of adequate resources, and negative working conditions that contribute to teacher mobility or people leaving the profession altogether. This chapter explores how fostering emotional resilience in novice educators can help to increase skilled coping strategies when faced with challenging situations, enhance career satisfaction, and translate into greater teacher retention.

Teacher Mobility in Punjab, Pakistan: Stayers and Movers within the Public and Private Schools

Understanding the determinants of teacher mobility is important in order to implement effective policies for the recruitment, retention, and fair allocation of teachers. The teacher transfer policy implemented in Punjab, Pakistan, is intended to address corruption and a fair allocation of teachers in public schools. However, the policy has implications for teacher mobility. This paper presents survey findings on teacher mobility patterns in public schools in Punjab, Pakistan, examining the extent and determinants of mobility in comparison with teachers in private schools. In the survey, 1002 in-service teachers participated, and 46% reported changing school at least once during their teaching career. The findings show that teachers who changed schools in their early career, with an average of two years of teaching experience, gained higher salary benefits by changing schools compared to experienced teachers, with an average of 14 years of teaching experience, who never changed schools. In comparison with early career teachers, experienced teachers who never changed school had lower salaries but higher satisfaction with life in general and with the school as their workplace. The most common reasons for changing school were lack of teaching resources, difficulty in commuting to school, unmanageable student–teacher ratio, and no chance of promotion in their teaching career. Teacher mobility was slightly higher in public schools compared to private schools, despite implementation of a merit-based transfer policy. A binary logistic regression model was constructed with the outcome of teacher mobility (or not), with a base figure of 54%. By adding gender, marital status, school type, length of teaching experience, and teachers’ satisfaction, the model increased correct predictions to 62%. Teacher salary and teaching workload did not explain any variation in the model. These findings have implications for teacher transfer policy in public schools and lessons for private schools to retain teachers by offering longer contracts and reliable pension schemes. Policymakers must consider facilitating teachers’ satisfaction with their workplace, particularly by making public schools in rural areas attractive places for the retention of teachers in early career phases.

Teacher Professionalism in Light of Biometric Controls on Teacher Mobility and Autonomy

In this paper, I investigate the introduction of biometric technology, specifically fingerprint scanners, for the purposes of managing faculty members’ working hours at a higher education institution (HEI) located in the Middle Eastern Gulf States. Utilizing semi-structured interviews to collect qualitative data, three expatriate teachers of English discussed their experiences before and after management installed the fingerprint scanners, discussing the influence such a change has on their professional identities and the additional impacts on their teaching, their identification with the institution, and the overall culture of the HEI. The results show that the existence of the fingerprint scanners adversely affects the teachers’ professionalism, but the greater issue for the participants is the dynamic between faculty and management: in this case, characterized by one-directional communication from the administration and a lack of voice for teachers in decision-making.

Early Career African American Teachers and the Impact of Administrative Support

This study examined the mobility trends of African American public-school teachers. Guided by the integration of critical race theory and organization theory, this study used longitudinal data from the National Center for Education Statistics to explore how race and organizational climate predict African American teacher mobility. Using a quantitative descriptive study with logistic regression to determine which characteristics impact African American early career teachers’ decision to stay in the profession, findings suggest alarming trends in African American teacher mobility and opportunities for school leadership to have a greater role in retaining African American early career teachers.

Race, Climate, and Turnover: An Examination of the Teacher Labor Market in Rural Georgia

Teacher turnover across the country presents a persistent and growing challenge for schools and districts, with the highest rates of turnover geographically concentrated in the American South. Research on teacher staffing and turnover problems consistently highlight two subsets of schools as struggling to attract and retain well-credentialed, effective educators—predominantly Black schools and rural schools. However, research has rarely explicitly examined the schools that meet both these criteria. We use administrative records and unique climate survey data from Georgia to examine how the intersecting roles of race, money, and school climate shape evolving teacher turnover patterns in rural schools. Findings suggest that while teacher mobility is generally less common in rural schools, considerable inequities exist within the rural space, with majority Black rural schools bearing far more of the brunt of rural teacher turnover. Among rural teachers, Black teachers have higher mobility rates—more likely to make interdistrict moves and to exit rural settings for teaching opportunities in urban and suburban contexts. However, in majority-Black rural schools, higher salaries and school climate factors, such as relational climate and parental involvement, were strong predictors of retention, even after controlling for a rich set of covariates.

Research Insights: Does Merit Pay among Public School Teachers Affect the Mobility of Teachers Out of Teaching or within the School System?

This paper analyzes the effect on teacher mobility of a program that rewards excellence in teaching practices in Chile. Successful applicants receive a 6 percent annual wage increase for up to 10 years and an award that publicly recognizes their excellence. The paper uses a regression discontinuity design to identify the causal effect of the public merit award. The program does not alter transitions out of teaching. The program does, however, increase the mobility of awardees within the school system. This is consistent with the program providing a credible public signal of teacher quality.