Factors Influencing Job Satisfaction and Teacher Retention: A Supportive Administration and Content Teams, Relationships with Colleagues, and Frequent Positive Adult Interaction

            Having a supportive administration is definitely a huge factor in a teacher’s satisfaction and in teacher retention. I do think the principal is a huge difference maker as they set the vision and the tone for school culture and can create a positive supportive, culture or a negative, threatening culture. They also have to communicate the goals of the school and how staff actions help the staff to reach the goals. However, I think we need to widen our definition of administration and not solely focus on the role of the principal, as that is a lot of pressure for a principal as one blogger noted, and, if one works in a large school, it is a lot to expect a principal to have a strong relationship with every teacher. I think that the assistant principals and the department heads have an ability to make or break a teacher’s experience and feeling of support within the school environment as well.

            Though I do not interact that frequently with my principal, because she is very busy, I have a strong relationship with my Department Head and that has made a huge difference in my personal job satisfaction. I feel like I have a mentor and someone who “has my back,” which provides an important element of security. When we were discussing what we want from our principals and administrators during class, we said we wanted to feel supported and that we wanted better communication and more transparency about why we have to do certain tasks. I realized, upon reflection, that my Department Head does a very good job of making you feel supported and appreciated, because she is very quick to say thank you for any extra work she asks you to do. She makes an effort to ask how you are personally before getting to business, so that we have built a friendship over the last two years. I also realized, that she is very transparent about why we need to complete certain tasks, especially when the tasks do not seem important and are tasks that are required by the district and which do not appear to link to increased student achievement. I know that I can go to her if I have a quick question about a lesson plan or need advice on classroom management. Our positive relationship has been influential in my decision to remain at my school next year and continue teaching, because I feel like I am a part of a team and that I will continue to learn from her next year.

             As one blogger noted in her post on “Blended Learning,” teachers can often feel isolated during the day when they spend all of their day with their students. For this reason, I do feel that positive adult interaction during the day can lead to increased job satisfaction, as I know this has been the case for me. My Department Head and I had opportunities to co-teach for a few days to prepare students for the HSA, and, while co-teaching does not always work because the team is not a strong team, because we were a team it made such a huge difference having another adult in the room while teaching. My stress was lower, because I knew there was someone else to help teach small group or deal with a management issue. It also meant that you did not have to waste class time to deal with management issues, as one blogger noted, because having two teachers in the classroom helped management a lot. However, even when we are not co-teaching, which is the majority of the time, we interact daily, at least once if not more, which has also had an impact on my job satisfaction.

            Not only do I have a positive relationship with my Department Head, but I also have good relationships with other colleagues in the building, which definitely influenced my decision to stay in the classroom for another year as well. I know that a few of my peers who have chosen to leave the classroom next year have expressed frustration with the lack of collegiality between colleagues and dissatisfaction with a department head or an administrator, as opposed to dissatisfaction with their students and with teaching as a whole.

           On the contrary, my days are still often challenging in the classroom, and I cannot say that I like teaching every day, because certain classes and certain students give me management challenges every day. Interestingly enough, these management challenges are less prevalent for some of my peers who are at higher-performing schools yet who still desire to leave the classroom due to a dissatisfaction with their administration. I feel like I am learning and growing as a teacher and that I am a part of a team that is working towards a goal and that we are making progress with regards to solving problems that affect some of the lower-performing schools and that gives me motivation to say one more year.

So, is it the kids or the adults that actually push teachers out of the classroom?