A Handbook for Retaining Early Career Teachers: Research-Informed Approaches for School Leaders

By: Anna Elizabeth Du Plessis

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Synopsis: This book addresses the global concern of teacher attrition rates, particularly those who walk away from the profession within the first five years. The author offers new knowledge about the factors that influence beginning teachers’ career decisions through an in-depth examination of their lived experiences. Using a unique lens that explores the complexities of a beginning teacher’s classroom through its many attendant axiological, structural, interpersonal, and practical contexts, the book presents strategies that address the deep matters of retention in the educational arena. Using its insights, school leaders are enabled to shift the balance of school policy understanding towards beginning teachers’ acute needs for support. Based on an empirical study of more than 2,000 beginning teachers and school leaders, this book reveals perceptions, truths, and lived experiences in order to guide the development of effective retention strategies and policies, which are fundamental to stabilising the teacher workforce.