Having great teachers in the classroom, or in the home for 1-on-1 in-home private tutoring is of the utmost importance for education, and some of the teacher statistics shown in this infographic contribute to the reasons why we don't retain good teachers for long enough in the classroom.
There are many obvious reasons teachers quit the profession quickly: low pay, strict content standards (what you're allowed to teach), and high stress. However, there are ways for school administrators, or owners of tutoring companies, to increase the retention rate of good teachers.
Why is it so important to keep good teachers teaching? One simple fact. The more better, qualified teachers you have working, the less bad, under-qualified, rookie teachers you have to hire.
How to Hire & Retain Good Teachers
I own a company called Tried & True Tutoring (if you didn't already know), and I have many strategies to retain our good teachers.
1. Constant support and collaboration - tutors don't want to feel like they are "on an island" when working with the student. They want support from parents and administrators. As an administrator, it is your responsibility to create a collaborative environment where administrators (educational professionals), teachers (implement educational tools) and parents (personal interest in student's success), and student all work together toward a common goal. The team environment will make sure that everyone is accountable for their actions, and everyone knows what their specific job is. When you know your specific responsibility, you can do it better. The problem is, we rely to heavily on teachers, and we do not provide them enough support.
Don't leave your teachers "on an island", because just like a cornerback in football covering Randy Moss in his prime, he will get burned, injured, and be out of the business in 3 years.
2. Only hire the best of the best. Thoroughly vet, test, and rigorously interview each qualified applicant. There are many people applying for teaching positions - 95% of them are underqualified. Develop programs that test content mastery for the teacher, and also rigorously test their teaching style. If you are bored during the "mock teaching", or you do not understand the concepts, neither will your students.
3. Rigorous Training & Professional Development - As an administrator, you are very confident that you can teach any student, any subject, any time. I know with my professional experience and expertise, teaching japanese to a monkey on a bus in Africa is really no problem. I may not be able to teach the chimp to be fluent, but I will get him to maximize his understanding of the content based on his cognitive levels. We need to have the same confidence in our teachers that we have in ourselves. The only way to have the confidence in our teachers, is to know that we have professionally vetted them, and then trained them to a level where they are indeed a PROFESSIONAL.
A professional doesn't quit a job after 3 years. Amateurs do that. If we spent more time training our teachers in the public education system, we would have much greater retention of great teachers, and much better results from our students.
Take a page from Tried & True Tutoring's training program and know why we retain tutors and students for longer than any competitor. I know this has now come off as "preachy", but I believe it stems from frustration when I hear administrators saying "what can we do to make our education better". There are an infinite amount of changes that need to be made according to modern technology, but I will save that for a different article.
The most important thing is hire good teachers - and the only way to do that is to know who you are hiring inside and out, and then train them to be a true, bonafide professional. No amateurs wanted when it comes to the education of our children.
