New To Teaching? Make Sure You Ask About These Questions at Your Next Job Interview

Being a new teacher is challenging and you should enter knowing how working conditions affect your satisfaction throughout the school year. High teacher attrition rates are causing shortages within school districts and costing billions of dollars per year to fill the gap. These attrition rates are also higher within schools that serve students of color. Cities that serve high populations of students of color, such as Boston, are struggling to find teachers that are both qualified and determined to put in the effort.

When looking at which teachers are leaving, data shows teachers with little experience are quick to leave. A recent study by Kukla-Acevedo (2009) found that teachers with less than 5 years of teaching experience were 1.5 times as likely to leave the teaching field and twice as likely to change schools when they did not feel supported. Being a full-time teacher at a charter school in Dorchester and a part-time graduate student working toward an Ed.M. in Elementary Education, it is easy to feel the burnout that most new teachers get hit with. Workplace conditions for teachers, including myself, have strong influences on whether I feel this burnout. There needs to be a feeling of a strong, positive school culture in order to feel satisfied rather than stressed.

Teachers are more likely to stay at school if they feel satisfied their relationships with leadership, students and faculty. In another study focusing on novice teachers, it was found that teachers were more likely to leave their positions when academic support was lacking and when leadership could not help support teachers (Yost, 2006). Having autonomy in a school is important; your voice needs to be heard because you will know your students better than anyone else.

So before you even apply to schools, do your research and find the types of schools you would feel most supported in. Ask yourself about the students such as “Can I teach and support students that come from completely different backgrounds than me?” Ask yourself about colleagues, and what you look for in a co-worker. Finally ask yourself about the type of leadership you would like to see and how much a voice you would like to have in your own classroom.

As a new teacher, you should experience the day-to-day routines and procedures in order to understand the school climate; ask to shadow at your next job interview and when you do visit come prepared with the following questions:

• Does your school have professional development sessions? If so when and how often?

• How accessible is the principal/school leader on a day to day basis?

• Will you have a mentor or experienced teacher to help guide you through school routines?

• Does the school have any data on previous School and Staffing Surveys or exit interviews?

• Finally ask to speak to teachers who have been there for more than three years and ask them why they stayed.

Citations

Kukla-Acevedo, K. (2009). Leavers, movers and stayers: The role of workplace conditions in teacher mobility decisions. The Journal of Educational Research, 102(6), 443-452. Retrieved from www.jstor.org/stable/40539741

Yost, D. S. (2006). Reflection and self-efficacy: Enhancing the retention of qualified teachers from a teacher education perspective. Teacher Education Quarterly, 33(4), 59-76. Retrieved from www.jstor.org/stable/23478871