Becoming a Teacher and Staying One: Examining the Complex Ecologies Associated With Educating and Retaining New Teachers in Rural Australia?

Teacher Attrition and Retention Research in Australia: Towards a New Theoretical Framework

“…Two other methods of gathering data on teachers' intentions to leave were also used in the studies. Plunkett and Dyson (2011) asked teachers in a purposely vague way about their goals in the 'short term', and in the 'long term'. Another method was the content analysis of teachers' narratives, where 'thoughts of leaving' were identified post-data collection (Laming & Horne, 2013).…”

“…One issue that has been revealed is the time frame over which early career teachers were studied. This ranged from twelve months (Paris, 2013); fifteen months (Ewing & Smith, 2003;Sharplin, O'Neill, & Chapman, 2010), three years (Frid, Smith, Sparrow, & Trinidad, 2008;Harrington & Brasche, 2011;Plunkett & Dyson, 2011), four years (Buchanan et al, 2013) to five years (Manuel, 2003). While financial and time constraints do not always allow for the collection of data over extended periods, the lack of consistency in defining the term 'early career teacher' is an issue that must be addressed, as different time periods will produce different results, results that cannot be compared across studies unless everyone is on the same page.…”

“…Studies of teachers in non-metropolitan areas (Boylan & McSwan, 1998;Frid, Smith, Sparrow, & Trinidad, 2008;Handal, Watson, Petocz, & Maher, 2013;Plunkett & Dyson, 2011;Sharplin, 2014;Sharplin, O'Neill, & Chapman, 2010), and teachers in indigenous communities (Harrington, 2013;Harrington & Brasche, 2011) are also represented in the literature, as well as a further study that fits into both of these classifications (Hall, 2012). While 'regional', 'rural' and 'remote' are all terms used in the literature, the term 'nonmetropolitan' was used in one study to cover all of these definitions.…”

“…While some studies used the broad term 'work conditions' (Ashiedu & Scott-Ladd, 2012;Buchanan, 2009Buchanan, , 2010Buchanan, , 2012Manuel, 2003), others identified specific examples of these conditions such as workload (Buchanan et al, 2013;Laming & Horne, 2013), increased administrative tasks (Handal, Watson, Petocz, & Maher, 2013), and increased levels of accountability (Howes & Goodman-Delahunty, 2014). The conditions of teachers' employment is also of significance, and job insecurity was a widely acknowledged problem (Buchanan, 2009(Buchanan, , 2010(Buchanan, , 2012Frid, Smith, Sparrow, & Trinidad, 2008;Handal, Watson, Petocz, & Maher, 2013;Plunkett & Dyson, 2011). Additionally, the centralized methods used in many sectors for appointing teachers to schools have been shown to promote attrition (Ashiedu & Scott-Ladd, 2012).…”

“…Additionally, the centralized methods used in many sectors for appointing teachers to schools have been shown to promote attrition (Ashiedu & Scott-Ladd, 2012). Plunkett and Dyson (2011) argued strongly against the "current system utilised in many Australian Education Departments, involving a contract system whereby the employment of new teachers is mainly based on short term contracts" (p. 35). Further to this, some teachers are employed in discipline areas outside of their field of expertise.…”