The Effects of Teacher Induction Programs on Teacher Retention in Early Childhood

• Main Author: Reames, Heather Marie
• Other Authors: DiCarli, Cynthia
• Format: Others
• Language: en
• Published: LSU 2016
• Subjects: Education
• Online Access: http://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-04042016-121816/

Teacher retention has become an increasing problem in todays school systems. This vast amount of teacher turnover, or teachers leaving the field prior to retirement, is largely due to dissatisfaction with their jobs in the teaching field. There are a multitude of reasons why teachers become dissatisfied or frustrated with their jobs as educators, but it can be concluded that the initial reason for dissatisfaction in the field of education are the poor working conditions that exist for teachers (Halstead, 2013). Increased rates in attrition have also impacted the professional field of early childhood teaching. It is my objective to identify what aspects of the induction process, if any, are being implemented in early childhood classroom; as well as identifying the most beneficial aspects on teacher retention. A mixed method survey of a subset of 48 alumni from the LSU PK-3 program will be sampled using the online survey tool, Qualtrics, focusing on the teacher induction program. Data will be analyzed for trends related to teacher induction practices, as well as, most occurring environmental influences, in accordance with the literature in this area. Results will inform the field of early childhood education on practices that will contribute to keeping early childhood teachers in the classroom.