Abstract:
Internationally, nations are facing crisis level teacher shortages. Teacher burnout is rampant, attrition is rising, and job satisfaction is in decline (OECD, 2024). According to UNESCO & International Task Force on Teachers for Education 2030, 44 million additional teachers are needed to achieve universal primary and secondary education by 2030. There are two consistent perspectives regarding how the international teacher wellbeing and attrition crisis came about, and thus how it should be addressed; current Initial Teacher Education (ITE) inadequately prepares teachers and requires amendment as expressed in the recent Australian Government Teacher Education Expert Panel (TEEP) Report (2023), and school workplace factors, such as the growing complexity of students needs and consequent student behaviours, are resulting in teacher burnout and consequent attrition.
We conducted a research synthesis, reviewing quantitative studies analysing the association between current ITE, teacher program interventions, ITE environmental factors, and school workplace factors with teacher’s perceived preparedness (self-efficacy), objective preparedness (competence), engagement and optimism (e.g., intention to leave/stay), positive emotions and satisfaction, and resilience and buoyancy. Both ITE and workplace factors have significant associations with all teacher outcomes. ITE appears to adequately prepare early career teachers. The growing complexity of student needs appears to materially impact teacher outcomes, evident via the associations found between student behaviour and teacher outcomes. Teachers may better mitigate the growing demands of the school environment via improvements to their resilience and buoyancy. Developing an evidenced-based ITE curriculum promoting such qualities is currently not feasible due to the lack of research.