A benefit to the profession: Teacher retention in the middle years

Teacher retention refers to a current national issue of teachers leaving the profession in large numbers after teaching for few years. This topic is in the public eye at the moment; many people have seen news articles about how many teachers leave the profession and varying opinions about what needs to be done about it. There have been countless research studies done on this topic, the vast majority of which focus on government and public policies that lead to a harsh environment for teachers. These policies include low teacher pay and benefits, low support from parents and administrators, and a lack of opportunity to make decisions, along with many other issues (Hahs-Vaughn and Scherff 23). All of these pose serious problems for teachers, across the country and across grade levels. While there is a lot that needs to be done in order to remedy this situation, much of it resides at district, state, and federal levels to change policies affecting teacher retention. Unfortunately, these policies are not something that an individual teacher can directly change, although teachers clearly are able to influence these changes. There will likely be many more teachers leaving the profession until administrations and the government revise these policies. In the meantime, teachers need a way to handle these various stressors in order to continue teaching long term