Full Description
Winner of the 2020 American Educational Studies Association Critics Choice Book Award
Teacher attrition has long been a significant challenge within the field of education. It is a commonly-cited statistic that almost fifty percent of beginning teachers leave the field within their first five years, to the detriment of schools, students, and their own career development. There Has to be a Better Way offers an essential voice in understanding the dynamics of teacher attrition from the perspective of the teachers themselves. Drawing upon in-depth qualitative research with former teachers from urban schools in multiple regions of the United States, Lynnette Mawhinney and Carol R. Rinke identify several themes that uncover the rarely-spoken reasons why teachers so often willingly leave the classroom. The authors go further to provide concrete recommendations for how school administrators can better support their practicing teachers, as well as how teacher educators might enhance preparation for the next generation of educators. Complete with suggested readings and discussion questions, this book serves as an indispensable resource in understanding and building an effective and productive educational workforce for our nation's students.
Contents
Contents
Foreword
Introduction: Walking in Through the Out Door: Professional Trajectories of Urban Teachers
PART I: The Dynamics of Teacher Attrition
1 Push and Pull in Career Development
PART II: Structural Factors in Teacher Attrition
2 The Struggle is Real: Administrators, Teachers, and The System
3 Wading Through the Waters: Exhaustion, Stress, and Disillusionment with Teaching
4 Where Has All the Job Security Gone?
PART III: The Personal and the Professional in Teacher Attrition
5 You Don't Fit Here: Teachers of Color Coping with Racial Microaggressions in Schools
6 Negotiating Gendered and Cultural Expectations on a Teacher's Salary: The Mediating Role of Identity
7 I Just Feel So Guilty: The Role of Emotions in Leaving
PART IV: Addressing Teacher Attrition
8 Closing the Revolving Door: Teacher Leavers' Final Lesson for the Profession
Acknowledgments
Bibliography
Index
