Plugging the leaky bucket: The need to develop resilience in novice middle years teachers

Abstract

The high attrition rates of novice teachers during the beginning phase of their career is a concern throughout the western world. There is, therefore, a need to investigate factors that contribute to novice teachers leaving the profession within the first five years. To date, extensive research has concentrated on the process of teacher induction, focusing mainly on the importance of effective mentorship and professional development programs for novice teachers. Few studies have examined the resilience of novice teachers during their early years, including those working in the middle years. This paper offers suggestions on how to fill this void. It investigates the notion of the need to develop resilience to increase the effectiveness, job-satisfaction and retention rate of newly qualified teaching graduates. The paper argues that novice teachers can be taught, and that a working knowledge of how to use effective resilience skills may well be used productively in order to work towards counteracting the high rates of attrition from the teaching profession. This is particularly important for teachers in the middle years, where stressors associated with working in these challenging years are argued to be greater than in later years of teaching