Opportunities and Challenges in Teacher Recruitment and Retention

Teachers’ Voices Across the Pipeline

Edited by:
Carol R. Rinke, Marist College
Lynnette Mawhinney, University of Illinois at Chicago

A volume in the series: Contemporary Perspectives on the Lives of Teachers. Editor(s): Carol R. Rinke, Marist College. Lynnette Mawhinney, Rutgers University-Newark.

Published 2019

Opportunities and Challenges in Teacher Recruitment and Retention serves as a comprehensive resource for understanding teachers’ careers across the professional lifespan. Grounded in the notion that teachers’ voices are essential for understanding teachers’ lives, this edited volume contains chapters that privilege the voices of teachers above all. Book sections look closely at the particular issues that arise when recruiting an effective, committed, and diverse workforce, as well as the challenges that arise once teachers are immersed in the classroom setting. Promising directions are also included for particularly high-need areas such as early childhood teachers, Black male teachers, STEM teachers, and urban teachers. The book concludes with a call for self-care in teachers’ lives.

Chapter contributions come from a variety of contexts across the United States and around the world. However, regardless of context or methodology, these chapters point to the importance of valuing and respecting teachers’ lives and work. Moreover, they demonstrate that teacher recruitment and retention is a complex and multifaceted issue that cannot be addressed through simplistic policy changes. Rather, attending to and appreciating the web of influences on teachers lives and careers is the only way to support their work and the impact they have on our next generation of students.

CONTENTS
Introduction: Bridging the Personal and the Professional in Teacher Recruitment and Retention, Carol R. Rinke and Lynnette Mawhinney. SECTION I: OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES IN TEACHER RECRUITMENT. Building and Sustaining Social Capital: Understanding First Year Teachers’ Sense of Agency and Retention, Ji Hong and Kristyna Looney. Analyzing Determinants of Teacher Commitment and Retention: Role of Teachers’ Professional Identity and Organizational Identification, Ibrahim Duyar, Muhammed Fatih Bogrek and Andrew Hunt. Gaining Insights Into Career Decisions of Prospective Teachers, Zeynep Ölçü Dinçer and Gölge Seferoğlu. “Teaching ... It Just Feels Right”: Contemporary Perspectives of Career-Change Teachers and Their Motivations for Teaching, Michelle Parks, Chad Morrison, Christine Gardner, and John Williamson. SECTION II: OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES IN TEACHER RETENTION. What It Takes to Stay: Three Stories of Teacher Retention, Corey Sell. Why Teachers Move: School Context Influences on Teachers’ Experiences, Peshe Kuriloff, Brooke Hoffman, Will J. Jordan, Danielle Sutherland, and Annette Ponnock. An Irregular Verb They Cannot Conjugate: One Latina’s Autoethnographic Journey Out of Teaching, Alba Isabel Lamar. Teacher Agency in the Context of Teacher Retention: Narratives of Teachers Who Leave, Hayriye Kayi-Aydar and Angel Steadman. SECTION III: PROMISING DIRECTIONS FOR BUILDING AND SUPPORTING THE PIPELINE. “Why Not Become a Police Officer?”: Challenges in the Recruitment and Retention of Men in Early Childhood Education, Kirsten Cole, Mindi Reich-Shapiro, Tina Siganporia, Jason Tan de Bibiana, and Jean-Yves Plaisir. Reshaping Perceptions Through Experiences: Recruiting, Promoting, and Retaining High Quality Educators for Urban Districts, Laura Porterfield, Tracey Nix, Luciana Cançado and Nina Linneman. Recruiting Future Physics Teachers Through a Field-Based Summer Enrichment Program, Marissa E. Bellino, AJ Richards, Melissa Chessler, Lauren Madden, and Nathan Magee. Strengthening the Black Male Teacher Pipeline at HBCUs: Recruitment, Retention, and Breaking Down Barriers, Larry J. Walker. “I Need to Take Care of Myself”: The Case for Self-Care as a Core Practice for Teaching, Megan Madigan Peercy, Johanna Tigert, Karen Feagin, Tabitha Kidwell, Daisy Fredricks, Megan Lawyer, Melissa Bitter, Nancy Canales, Andrew Mallory, and the Voices From the Field Teachers. SECTION IV: THEMES AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS. Conclusion: From Pipeline to Web in Teacher Career Development, Carol R. Rinke and Lynnette Mawhinney. About the Contributors.