Abstract:

Research has demonstrated that teacher competency is a significant contributor to student achievement and success, regardless of years of experience. As a result, the importance of attracting, training, and the retention of teachers is of utmost importance for the educational futures of students. Until recently, teacher attrition has not been a cause for concern in Alberta. By national and international standards, loss of early career teachers has been historically low and continues to remain so even during economic, political, and public health challenges. Although there is no official database indicating why attrition occurs in the province, speculated reasons are family and personal obligations, guaranteed full-time permanent contracts in other provinces and international settings, and possible career changes.However, the risk for early career leaving is beginning to show potential for increase now that beginning teachers are faced with a rise in political, economic, and pandemic challenges. Regardless of current conditions, it is important to remember that some attrition occurs in the first five years regardless of current teaching conditions and is difficult to officially track and document. Other reasons can be more predictable and in alignment with those reported in the literature: personal factors (e.g., resilience, self-efficacy, stress and burnout, family life) and/or professional factors (e.g., teaching majors, salary desires, student discipline concerns). By researching beginning teachers perceptions each year and understanding their experiences in the field, we can attempt to prevent or protect against early teacher loss in Alberta.

Beginning in 2019 the Alberta Teachers’ Association (ATA) began longitudinal trend analysis research to examine the intersection between personal and professional factors that are related to attrition and retention. Data was first collected for the 2019-2020 school year with a survey in the fall of 2019 (N = 300) prior to COVID-19 school closures. In 2020-2021 it was collected for a second year with a similar focus on professional and personal factors but with greater emphasis on resiliency and well-being during the pandemic. The third implementation of the survey (N = 765) was conducted in June 2022 with the emphasis on professional and personal factors with a focus on resiliency and self-efficacy. In June 2023 (N = 901) the survey included burnout questions to determine if resiliency, self-efficacy, and burnout were interacting and potentially predicting attrition. This year in June, 2024 (N = 967) questions concerning inclusive learning were included. Data analysis is currently underway. All results derived from the studies have successfully demonstrated that while beginning teachers in Alberta have endured stressors, they continue to remain largely optimistic. However, given the changes over the past five years, it is difficult to predict if such positive beginning teacher survey results will remain stable in the near future.

Data will be presented to demonstrate the Urgent, Less Urgent, and Not Urgent categories of interest in the results for each year of administration. These findings helped the Alberta Teachers’ Association in discussions with stakeholders in addressing ways to address preservice teacher preparation, induction, mentorship, professional development, and mental health and well-being for the purposes of early career retention.

Keywords:

Beginning Teachers, Longitudinal Trend Analysis, Retention.