Jennylyn Pagaduan BSED-English 2

“Teacher Attrition”

Thesis Statement
Across countries, there is an ongoing shortage of language teachers. Promoting the retention of all
language teachers in the profession for the long term is one of the most strategically and financially
viable ways to address this problem. Data on the attrition rates of teachers are scarce, but what is
available shows that attrition is a serious problem that needs to be addressed as part of any attempts
to thwart the teacher shortage.

Abstract
This policy paper is all about addressing teacher attrition particularly in multilingual classrooms. The
paper highlights five key factors contributing to teacher attrition: workload, biases, passion, mental
health, and low salary. It emphasizes the challenges these factors pose in multilingual settings due to
diverse student needs and complex cultural dynamics. Research suggests that burnout, fueled by
these factors, significantly impacts teacher well-being and retention. This loss is particularly
detrimental in multilingual classrooms where skilled, culturally responsive educators are crucial. The
paper concludes by recommending policy interventions to address teacher attrition in multilingual
environments. These recommendations include programs for mental health support, workload
reduction through adjusted class sizes, competitive compensation, mentorship programs, and
fostering ongoing reflection among educators to challenge biases and promote equitable practices.

Introduction
Teachers are the most important school-related factor affecting student learning (Chetty et al., 2014;
Rivkin et al., 2005). To achieve quality education for all, every child, regardless of their culture and
background must therefore have access to a qualified teacher. It is crucial that teachers are
well-trained, motivated, and provided with all the resources they need, and are compensated well.
When a school loses a single teacher, it not only adds to the already tight budget of the school
district but also affects the academic achievement (Armstrong & Rogers, 1997) and cognitive
development (Stewart, 2005) of the students. Addressing teacher attrition requires more
understanding as to why some teachers remain in the field for many decades, while others leave
after a short period. According to one recent news report, Washington is experiencing high rates of
educators leaving the classroom, and more specifically, there is a 1.6 % increase in teacher attrition
rates between 2021 and 2022 (Chavez, 2023). From the context of the United States and Canada, a
review of the literature on language teaching shows that there are five factors associated with the
teacher shortage: work overload, biases, passion, mental health, and low salary (Swanson, 2012b).

Many schools globally have learners with different backgrounds on indigenous languages as their
home language. A challenge of language complexity can be created in a number of schools, and
schools most of the time are forced to opt for English as a language of teaching and learning despite
teachers and learners not being fluent in English. The effect is that it makes the participation of
learners more difficult, and the teachers have more difficulty to develop ideas. At the same time,
English can be a barrier in the understanding of content of other subjects. Hamann (2016) stated that
for pre-service teachers there is little advantage knowing about any other languages other than
English, while at the same time, there are little disadvantages from English Monolinguals.
Educators and teachers must be trained to teach in a multilingual/multicultural environment and
they should receive relevant training to enable them to teach the learners.

Work overload
Teachers often priotize workloads over mental health and self care. According to a report
that investigated the correlation of occupational stress to attrition—teachers who have five
years of experience or less in the classroom and who exhibit daily and weekly anxiety, panic
attacks, and dissatisfaction are more likely to quit (Mack et al., 2019, p.3). Teachers are also
leaving due to the unrealistic workload— unrealistic workload can refer to things like
teachers feeling obligated to work outside their contracted hours and/or using their
resources to support their classrooms. The challenges of workload are further challenging in
multilingual classrooms because these environments have high demand when it comes to
differentiated instructions and handling students with varying language proficiency. Teachers
would often feel that they're in a complex situation of language and cultural nuances. The
fact that they manage even larger and more diverse classrooms, this ultimately hinders the
quality of education for all students.

Biases
Implicit bias refers to the unconscious attitudes or stereotypes affecting our understanding,
actions, and decisions (Kirwan Institute for Race and Ethnicity, 2020). Biases have been
shown to exist towards students’ ethnicity, race, gender, socioeconomic status, special need
status, and dominant language abilities. Bias can influence teacher perceptions of academic
 achievement, grading and assessment evaluations. When students are met with lower
expectations based on negative stereotyping, academic performance can suffer. These biases
often lead to disparities in the treatment of students that affects academic performance.
Teachers who feel disconnected from their students are more likely to experience burnout
and leave the profession.

Passion
Passion has a motivating factor; therefore, it is a significant need for high quality learning and
teaching. Fried (2001) describes a passionate teacher as someone who is in love with the
field of knowledge, deeply excited about the ideas that change our world, and closely
interested in the potentials and dilemmas of young people who come to class every day.
Hargreaves (1997, p. 17), emphasizing the link between learning and education, argues that
all pedagogical approaches fail unless passion is created in the classroom. Passionate
teachers are less likely to leave their profession because their commitment to teaching helps
reduce teacher attrition rates. If teachers find learning languages inspiring, they'll be more
motivated to teach, which creates a more engaging environment for students. This ultimately
leads to successful learning for both teachers and students.

Mental health
Among professionals, teachers exhibit one of the highest levels of job stress and burnout on
the job (Hakanen et al., 2006; Stoeber & Rennert, 2008). Mental health is more than the
absence of a mental health condition or illness: it is a positive sense of wellbeing, or the
capacity to enjoy life and deal with the challenges we face (Canadian Mental Health
Association, 2021). The expectations and responsibilities placed upon teachers both at home
and in schools have an impact on teacher mental wellbeing. Stress is often the first sign that
teachers may be struggling with mental health issues (Schonfield et al., 2017). Teachers, who
are constantly exposed to stressful situations, may “burnout” if these situations are not
handled appropriately.

Low Salary
● A news report about the massive teacher shortage in the Philippines (Edelman, 2018 NBC
News) stated that one big reason for this shortage is that teachers often don't get paid very
well, and many of them end up leaving the profession because of it. Therefore, due to low
 pay and inadequate compensation of teachers, many people do not invest in the education
field, particularly in the teaching profession.

Approaches and Findings

Research indicates that burnout affects teachers’ psychological well-being and job satisfaction, and
burnout also affects the likelihood of teacher retention (Droognebroeck et al., 2021, p. 219).
Teachers are emotionally exhausted and feel that their efforts are never enough, and this emotional
toll is a driving force toward educators leaving the classrooms. This loss not only disrupts the learning
environment but also affects multilingual classrooms wherein the demand for skilled, culturally, and
linguistically responsive teachers is high. To address teacher attrition in multilingual settings, it is
important that teachers should be supported in terms of professional development and emotional
well-being to help alleviate some of the pressures they’re facing. Well-being affects teachers’
professional identities and if one does not have a stable or positive sense of self, then they will find it
much more difficult to apply teaching with fidelity. This attrition has serious implications because
schools across the country are in a crisis to retain a future supply of teachers. The team summarized
burnout as an ambiguous catalyst that causes teachers both inexperienced and experienced to quit
(Williams et al., 2022, p. 3).

Conclusion
Teacher attrition is a complex issue with several contributing factors and multilingual classrooms
experience challenges due to these problems. The demands in multilingual classrooms are very high
and if teachers experience work overload or mental health concerns it can affect their inability to
effectively meet the needs of the learners as they are also struggling with themselves. They need to
be well-trained not just professionally but also emotionally, to help them alleviate and manage the
learners with diverse and complex backgrounds.

Policy Recommendations
This policy recommendation aims to address the issue of teacher attrition in multilingual classrooms
which is a significant factor of the ongoing shortage of language teachers globally. Teacher attrition is
a critical issue that affects not only the quality of education but also the long-term sustainability of
the teaching profession. In multilingual classrooms, it adds on the challenges due to the high
demands on teachers to manage diverse language proficiency levels and cultural nuances. The
recommendation is based on a comprehensive analysis of the factors contributing to teacher
attrition, including work overload, biases, passion, mental health, and low salary. This aims to
propose as well an approach to support teachers in these challenging environments to really ensure
they are all well-equipped to effectively teach diverse student populations.

This would like to recommend implementing programs to promote teacher mental health through
stress management workshops or counselling. Adjusting the class sizes in the classrooms can also
help teachers to manage all the students. It is also important that teachers are well compensated for
their work considering the high demands and complex challenges a teacher faces, especially in a
multilingual classroom. Additionally, mentorship programs can also be beneficial in which
experienced teachers are paired with newcomers teachers to help them in providing invaluable
support and guidance in teaching and managing the classroom. Encourage ongoing reflection and
dialogue among educators as well to challenge stereotypes and promote equitable treatment of all
students. Let us invest in our teachers for they are the one's educating the leaders of the future.

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