The Theories and Determinants of Teacher Attrition and Retention
Nguyen, Tuan Dinh
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2018-05-09
Abstract
Teachers represent a critical part of public education and there is compelling interest in retaining teachers. This has led researchers and policy makers to develop strategies to recruit and retain effective teachers, highlighting the importance of knowing the determinants of teacher attrition and retention. As such, this dissertation seeks to contribute to the scholarly understanding of the determinants of teacher attrition and retention in a series of three studies. The first study develops a comprehensive conceptual framework of teacher attrition and retention. The second study is a meta-analysis of teacher attrition and retention using the conceptual framework developed in the first study. The third study is a quantitative study of the determinants of teacher attrition and retention using over-time cross-sectional national data. In short, the first two studies provide a framework that can be used to study and advance the field’s knowledge on teacher attrition and retention in addition to synthesizing the results of nearly forty years of research and providing guideposts for future research, while the third study examines whether and how factors of teacher retention and attrition hold true nationally and over time. Taken together, the three studies in this dissertation add substantial breath and depth to the study of and policy discourse on teacher attrition and retention.