Abstract:
As teacher shortages reach critical levels globally, and especially in Australia, understanding and addressing teacher turnover has become paramount. While numerous studies have explored factors contributing to turnover, few have systematically compared their relative impacts on attrition, migration, and retention behaviours and intentions. This meta-analysis sought to fill this gap by assessing over 60 antecedents across 185 studies, focusing on their associations with various turnover outcomes and intentions.
The study classified prior research into attrition, migration, and different forms of retention (school-level and professional) where possible, highlighting significant distinctions often overlooked in previous analyses. Unlike previous works which often conflated turnover types, this meta-analysis differentiated between intentions and behaviours, shedding light on the nuanced factors influencing teachers' decisions to stay or leave.
Key findings reveal varying strengths of associations between antecedents and actual turnover compared to intended turnover, underscoring the limitations of studies focusing solely on intentions. This discrepancy underscores the importance of considering involuntary turnover, a critical factor in addressing the teacher turnover crisis.
This session will present insights from a comprehensive meta-analysis spanning 40 years of global teacher turnover data, drawing from a dataset encompassing over 3 million participants. By examining more than 3,400 correlation coefficients, the study identifies the most influential factors affecting attrition, migration, and retention behaviours in the teaching profession.
The implications of these findings are significant for educational policy and practice, providing actionable strategies to mitigate turnover issues and enhance teacher retention. This session aims to equip educators and policymakers with evidence-based strategies to tackle the complex challenges of teacher retention, and though quantitative methods were used for this study, qualitative method researchers will be able to interpret and use the results provided.
This research contributes to advancing knowledge by offering a comparative analysis of antecedents affecting teacher turnover across different contexts, nforming targeted interventions and future research directions in teacher retention strategies.
The study classified prior research into attrition, migration, and different forms of retention (school-level and professional) where possible, highlighting significant distinctions often overlooked in previous analyses. Unlike previous works which often conflated turnover types, this meta-analysis differentiated between intentions and behaviours, shedding light on the nuanced factors influencing teachers' decisions to stay or leave.
Key findings reveal varying strengths of associations between antecedents and actual turnover compared to intended turnover, underscoring the limitations of studies focusing solely on intentions. This discrepancy underscores the importance of considering involuntary turnover, a critical factor in addressing the teacher turnover crisis.
This session will present insights from a comprehensive meta-analysis spanning 40 years of global teacher turnover data, drawing from a dataset encompassing over 3 million participants. By examining more than 3,400 correlation coefficients, the study identifies the most influential factors affecting attrition, migration, and retention behaviours in the teaching profession.
The implications of these findings are significant for educational policy and practice, providing actionable strategies to mitigate turnover issues and enhance teacher retention. This session aims to equip educators and policymakers with evidence-based strategies to tackle the complex challenges of teacher retention, and though quantitative methods were used for this study, qualitative method researchers will be able to interpret and use the results provided.
This research contributes to advancing knowledge by offering a comparative analysis of antecedents affecting teacher turnover across different contexts, nforming targeted interventions and future research directions in teacher retention strategies.