Abstract:
Teacher attrition is a growing challenge across all school sectors and regions throughout Australia and in other parts of the world. Workloads have expanded and accountability pressures increased, with teachers often left feeling isolated and unsupported, negatively impacting their morale. This situation is compounded by media representations that frequently position teachers as responsible for poor school outcomes. The challenge of attracting and retaining teachers has seen recent calls for improvements to initial teacher education. By contrast, we focus on the important role of teacher commitment in building rewarding and sustainable careers and how it can be facilitated through teacher professional development. Commitment, understood as identification with and involvement in an organisation, demonstrates a teacher’s bond with their school. Our study investigated the specific ways a collaborative form of teacher professional development, Quality Teaching Rounds (QTR), supported teacher commitment. We found it provided: 1) engagement in intellectual work that reinvigorated teachers’ engagement with pedagogy; 2) validation of what teachers were already doing well, and that they were valued; and 3) development of productive collegial relationships with colleagues. Teachers reported that when their school supported them to engage in QTR, they felt valued, appreciated and committed to their work. We argue that professional development that supports existing teachers to reinvigorate their intellectual understanding about practice, affirms their existing capabilities and builds strong collegial relationships, could be key to improving retention.