[Squeakland] the non universals
Alan Kay
alan.kay at squeakland.org
Thu Aug 16 06:34:07 PDT 2007
Below is a recent article from Education Week. In (only) my opinion,
it should be impossible for 93% of American teachers to like their
jobs if they had any perspective on what they are doing, how they are
doing it, and what they are supposed to do. There are a few other
mildly interesting tidbits at the very end of the article.
To me this is an example of how a field can and does select the
personalities and skills that fit to its actual mission. I saw this
very strongly when I was in the Air Force (whose general way of doing
things I really did not like). I left after my required term, but
many re-upped, and they were the ones that fit into that particular scheme.
Another example of the ecological power of environments and the
co-evolution and selection of environments and traits.
Cheers,
Alan
--------------
Education Week
Published Online: August 1, 2007
Teachers Tell Researchers They Like Their Jobs
By
<http://www.edweek.org/ew/contributors/vaishali.honawar.html>Vaishali Honawar
Ninety-three percent of teachers reported satisfaction with their
jobs 10 years after entering the field, according to a new survey
that also found attrition rates for teachers were actually lower than
for other professionals.
The <http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2007163>report,
released this week by the National Center for Education Statistics,
surveyed 9,000 graduates who received their bachelor's degrees in
various disciplines in the 1992-93 school year. Nearly 20 percent of
those graduates entered the teaching profession.
The findings from the survey debunk several long-held views on
teacher pay, turnover, and job satisfaction. For instance, it found
that only 18 percent of those who entered teaching changed
occupations within four years of getting a degree. Given that other
professions experienced attrition rates between 17 percent and 75
percent during that period, the number of career-switchers from
teaching was on the low end of the scale, according to the data. More
than half those who became teachers were still teaching 10 years later.
Teacher advocates and unions have long claimed that turnover among
new teachers ranges from 30 percent to 50 percent within the first five years.
"The take for a long time was that there is this incredibly high
attrition among teachers from schools," said Mark Schneider, the
commissioner of NCES, an arm of the U.S. Department of Education. The
report, he said, shows that teacher-turnover rates are actually lower
than those in other professions.
"I understand why schools and school districts are upset about losing
teachers, but it is part of the normal sorting process" in a dynamic
job market, Mr. Schneider added.
The survey also stands on their head some commonly held beliefs about
teacher salaries. Teachers' unions have often cited low pay as a
major reason for teacher dissatisfaction. But only 13 percent of
those who left teaching by 2003 gave it as the reason for leaving.
Forty-eight percent of those who remained in the profession said they
were satisfied with their salaries.
Kate Walsh, the president of the National Council on Teacher Quality,
a research and advocacy group in Washington, called the findings "explosive."
"What was surprising is how cheery the [teachers'] responses were,"
she said. Education groups, including the unions, she contended,
often cite teachers' unhappiness in order to pressure districts and
states for concessions.
Spokesmen for the National Education Association and the American
Federation of Teachers said they were unable to comment on the report
before the story was posted.
Racial Differences
The report's findings are based on the NCES' survey of
baccalaureate-degree recipients conducted between 1993 and 2003.
Participants answered questions via phone and the Internet and during
in-person interviews. The report was prepared by MPR Associates in
Berkeley, Calif.
Of those surveyed who were still teaching 10 years after earning
their degrees, 90 percent said they would choose the same career
again, and 67 percent said they would remain in teaching for the rest
of their working lives.
The rate among African-American teachers, however, was significantly
lower, with 37 percent saying they would choose to remain in the
profession, compared with 70 percent of white teachers.
Nearly 20 percent of black teachers said they would leave if
something better came along, compared with fewer than 10 percent of
white teachers.
Ms. Walsh said the higher rates of dissatisfaction among black
teachers could be due to the fact that more black teachers teach in
high-poverty schools.
The study reaffirmed that attrition rates were higher among male
teachers. While women (29 percent) were more likely to leave for
family-related reasons, men (32 percent) usually left for a job
outside the field of education.
A candidate's age when he or she attended college also appeared to
play a role in attrition rates: Those 30 or older when they obtained
their degrees were more likely than younger graduates to remain in teaching.
Those who earned better grades in college were more likely than those
with lower grades to remain in teaching.
The study offers a window into how college graduates perceive
teaching. For instance, nearly half of all bachelor's degree
recipients in 1992-93 said they had never considered teaching or
taken any steps to become educators.
Lack of interest, having another job in hand, and inadequate pay were
the most commonly cited reasons for not pursuing teaching.
Math, science, and engineering graduates were among those most likely
to leave teaching jobs to work outside education.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://squeakland.org/pipermail/squeakland/attachments/20070816/e4ee85d4/attachment.htm
More information about the Squeakland
mailing list