Teacher attrition embarks seriousness in the teaching arena, whereby research reported a number of teachers leaving their profession in their early years of their profession. Often, this number does not represent CTE teachers’ scarcity in depicting teachers’ dropout. This realm contributes to a deeper understanding and reasons for us to carry out research pertaining to CTE teachers. The nature of the study was coming from a mixed-methods design, however, this article mainly presents findings from the qualitative section. Five hundred and eighty-one CTE teachers responded to the online survey and out of this number, only 272 were identified as career-switchers. Based upon constant comparative methods, there are three themes emerged from the study. The themes are passionate in making a difference of students, teaching as a compassionate job, and teaching as a chosen occupation. Implications of the results and future direction presented in this article contribute to a deeper understanding in cultivating the spirit and values behind the teaching profession among CTE teachers. Valuing the role of CTE teachers in the CTE educational system will ensure the continuity of supply of semi-skilled employee from the industry. For this reason, understanding their reasons of staying as teachers will assist them not only to survive in teaching, but also enjoying the profession altogether.
Billingsley, B. S. (2004). Special education teacher retention and attrition: A critical analysis of the research literature. The Journal of Special Education, 38(1), 39-55. doi:10.1177/00224669040380010401
Boe, E. E., Cook, H. L., & Sunderland, J. R. (2008). Teacher turnover: Examining exit attrition, teaching area transfer, and school migration. Exceptional Children, 75(1), 7- 31.
Boyd, D., Grossman, P., Ing, M., Lankford, H., Loeb, S., & Wyckoff, J. (2011). The influence of school administrators on teacher retention decisions. American Educational Research Journal, 48(2), 303-333. doi:10.3102/0002831210380788
Boyd, D., Grossman, P., Ing, M., Lankford, H., Loeb, S., O'Brien, R., & Wyckoff, J. (2011). The effectiveness and retention of teachers with prior career experience. Economics of Education Review, 30(6), 1229-1241. doi:10.1016/j.econedurev.2011.08.004
Bragg, D. D. (2007). Teacher pipelines: Career pathways extending from high school to community college to university. Community College Review, 35(1), 10-29. doi:10.1177/0091552107302375
Brill, S., & McCartney, A. (2008). Stopping the revolving door: Increasing teacher retention. Politics & Policy, 36(5), 750-774. doi:10.1111/j.1747-1346.2008.00133.x
Chang, M. (2009). An appraisal perspective of teacher burnout: examining the emotional work of teachers. Educational Psychology Review, 21, 193-218.
Cochran-Smith, M. (2004). Stayers, leavers, lovers, and dreamers: Insights about teacher retention. Journal of Teacher Education, 55(5), 387-392. doi:10.1177/0022487104270188
Dainty, J. D., Sandford, B. A., Su, S. H., & Belcher, G. G. ( November 11, 2011). Factors influencing the retention of secondary family and consumer sciences teachers. Retrieved from: http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/JCTE/v26n2/dainty.html
D'Ascoli, Y., & Berger, J. (2012). Becoming a VET teacher as a second career: Investigating the determinants of career choice and their relation to perceptions about prior occupation. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 40(3), 317-341. doi:10.1080/1359866X.2012.700046
Dunford, B. B., Shipp, A. J., Boss, R. W., Angermeier, I., & Boss, A. D. (2012). Is burnout static or dynamic? A career transition perspective of employee burnout trajectories. Journal of Applied Psychology, 97(3), 637.
Friedman, I. A. (2006). Classroom management and teacher stress and burnout. In C. Evertson, & C. Weinstein (Eds.), Handbook of classroom management: Research, practice, and contemporary issues (pp. 925-944). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Gillespie, M. (2005). Student–teacher connection: a place of possibility. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 52(2), 211-219.
Goldhaber, D., & Cowan, J. (2014). Excavating the teacher pipeline: Teacher preparation programs and teacher attrition. Journal of Teacher Education, 65(5), 449-462. doi:10.1177/0022487114542516
Gomba, C. (2015). Why do they stay: Factors influencing teacher retention in rural Zimbabwe? International Journal of Instruction, 8(2), 55-68.
Grayson, J. L., & Alvarez, H. K. (2008). School climate factors relating to teacher burnout: a mediator model. Teaching and Teacher Education, 24, 1349-1363.
Ingersoll, R. M. (2001). Teacher turnover, teacher shortages, and the organization of schools (No. R-01-1). Seattle: University of Washington, Center for the Study of Teaching and Policy.
Johnson, S.M., & Kardos, S.M. (2002, March). Redesigning professional development: Keeping new teachers in mind. Educational Leadership, 59, 12-16.
Johnsrud, L. K., & Rosser, V. J. (1999). College and university midlevel administrators: Explaining and improving their morale. Review of Higher Education, 22(2), 121-41.
Kearney, J. E. (2008). Factors affecting satisfaction and retention of African American and European American teachers in an urban school district: Implications for building and maintaining teachers employed in school districts across the nation. Education and Urban Society, 40(5), 613-627. doi:10.1177/0013124508316047
Lincoln, Y. S., & Guba, E. G. (1985). Naturalistic inquiry. Beverly Hills, Calif: Sage Publications.
McNaught, C., & Lam, P. (2010). Using Wordle as a supplementary research tool. The Qualitative Report, 15(3), 630-643. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/578479417?accountid=4117
Morris, H. J. (2006). An analysis of retention factors that influence Georgia's secondary Career and Technical Education teachers to remain in the teaching profession (Order No. 3345647). Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (304915457). Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/304915457?accountid=4117
Perrachione, B. A., Rosser, V. J., & Petersen, G. J. (2008). Why do they stay? Elementary teachers' perceptions of job satisfaction and retention. The Professional Educator, 32(2), 1.
Peters, M. A. (2006). Compassion: An Investigation into the Experience of Nursing Faculty. International Journal for Human Caring, 10(3).
Reese, S. (2010). Traditional or alternative-finding new teachers along different pathways. Techniques: Connecting Education and Careers (J1), 85(1), 16-21.
Reynolds, A., & Wang, L. (2005). Teacher retention: What role does professional development school preparation play? The New Educator, 1(3), 205. doi:10.1080/15476880590966312
Robertson, H. C. (2013). Income and support during transition from a military to civilian career. Journal of Employment Counseling, 50(1), 26-33.
Sass, D. A., Flores, B. B., Claeys, L., & Pérez, B. (2012). Identifying personal and contextual factors that contribute to attrition rates for Texas public school teachers. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 20(15), 15. doi:10.14507/epaa.v20n15.2012
Senechal, J., Sober, T., Hope, S., Johnson, T., Burkhalter, F., Castelow, T., & Robinson, R. (2016). Understanding Teacher Morale: A Research Report.
Song, J. H., Martens, J., McCharen, B., & Ausburn, L. J. (2011). Multi-structural relationships among organizational culture, job autonomy, and CTE teacher turnover intention. Career and Technical Education Research, 36(1), 3-26. doi:10.5328/cter36.1.3
Spilt, J. M., Koomen, M. Y., & Thijs, J. T. (2011). Teacher wellbeing: the importance of teacher-student relationships. Educational Psychology Review, 23, 457-477.
Spinella, F. (2003). The principal's role in new teacher retention. In P. Kirby (Ed.), (pp. 133 p.): ProQuest Dissertations Publishing.
Strong, M. (2005). Teacher induction, mentoring, and retention: A summary of the research. The New Educator, 1(3), 181-198. doi:10.1080/15476880590966295
Van Maele, D., & Van Houtte, M. (2012). The role of teacher and faculty trust in forming teachers' job satisfaction: Do years of experience make a difference? Teaching and Teacher Education, 28(6), 879-889.
Veldman, I., van Tartwijk, J., Brekelmans, M., & Wubbels, T. (2013). Job satisfaction and teacher–student relationships across the teaching career: Four case studies. Teaching and Teacher Education, 32, 55-65.
Wilkin, T., & Nwoke, G. I. (2011). Career and technical education teacher shortage: A successful model for recruitment and retention. Journal of STEM Teacher Education, 48(1), 22-35.
Omar, M. K., Self, M. J., & Cole, K. L. M. (2017). Career-Switchers in Career and Teaching Education School System: What drives them to remain in Teaching? International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 7(14), 268-282.
Copyright: © 2017 The Author(s)
Published by Human Resource Management Academic Research Society (www.hrmars.com)
This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) license. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this license may be seen at: http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode
