Recently, a friend, who serves as principal of a middle school, had a valued team member resign to pursue another interest. This colleague is incredibly talented, he thought she was happy, using her talents to her fullest, and aligned with my friend's organizational mission. Her resignation came as a surprise, although he says he might have seen warning signs. Her leaving caused him to think again about his school's talent retention strategy.
One study (T&D magazine, December 2007) suggests that 75% of managers are unaware of their organization's talent retention strategy (No-55%, Unsure 20%, Yes 25%).
It's not just about dollars and sense either. Some large school districts are trying to pay bonuses for teachers in specific teaching areas or hard to staff schools. Still, the districts have high turnover for a variety of reasons. Exit interviews may give you some clues but usually the issues become cloudy during an exit interview.
As we start the new year, what are you doing to retain your staff? I've heard schools that REALLY focus upon small concrete ways to demonstrate teamwork and collegiality, find ways to help their staff balance work and home, which becomes even more important as more and more families are balancing child and elder care. Many strategies would be low cost
Look forward to hearing your ideas and suggestions on low/no cost ways to retain your most talented team members.
I don't think teachers realize how hard it is on principals when their staff leaves. It happens every year but we get just as accustomed to having these people around as anyone else in the building. This will be happening to me this year as our district opens another school and some of teacher will be going to that school.
Sometimes we forget to give our best staff members the pats on the back that they deserve. I know that I am guilty of thinking, "Oh, they are such a great teacher I don't need to be in their classroom as much." Well yes I do. They want us to see all the good things that are going on in their rooms too. I try to put notes on their desks or send them emails or put a candy treat in their box every now and then. Right now I have it on my to-do list to complement a certain grade level for everything they have done this year to improve their teaching that goes unnoticed.
But sometimes it is just not us and we can't do anything about retention. Teaching is a hard job and your attitude has a lot to do with how successful you are.
In hardcore inner city schools the best way to retain teaching talent is enforcing disciplinary codes.
The second is to allow freedom of speech. With NCLB, there is a push to mandate "best practices" that worked in lower poverty and magnet schools, without building trusting relationaships or a learning culture. If teachers challenge the mantra, they are accused of "low expectations."
When our school imposed curriculum alignment and pacing, failure rates soared to 90% and up, but veterans teachers lost their say in everything from book selection to methods of teaching. We lost every great young teacher as a result of that fiasco. Most are now excelling in magnet schools.
I'd like us to retire the word "expectations" out of respect for our fellow teachers. Whenever the theorists prescribe expectations as the cure for the traumas that the kids bring from home, many teachers voice loud and sincere agreement. Many or most quietly seeth. At minimum, the word "expectations" is used to stop discussion, but often it is a code word for accusing most teachers of incompetence or racism. If you believe that expectations is the key, please find another word that is not so antagonsitic.
As a teacher who made the decision to leave the classroom to assume a position of leadership in my school as the IT Coordinator & Tech. Integration Specialist, and who has now moved to a Principal position in a different school, I have had the opportunity to reflect on the issue of retention from both sides. As an employee, I came to the realization that my decision to accept a new position stemmed not only from the opportunity for advancement but also from a growing insatisfaction with my current position. My decision came as a surprise to my superiors, despite the fact that I had been vocal on the issue. Decisions and discussions were being held on how to remedy the situation, but I was not aware of that. Therein lies the first lessons I would point out, as Principals, we need to ask and listen to our teachers. But, furthermore, we need to provide specific timely feedback. Perhaps if I had been aware of the fact that my former school was planning to make an effort based on my suggestions and concerns I would have stayed.
As a principal I am now involved in the process of hiring teachers. In some cases I am replacing teachers who have to leave in order to complete academic commitments, those are unavoidable situations. Nevertheless, I am reminded of one sterling piece of advice that I recieved from a District Supervisor, the single most important decision you will make as Principal is the hiring of a teacher.