Elysian fields and battlefields: Four teachers of challenging students reflect on their careers.

摘要

Teacher attrition is a significant concern for the teaching profession, especially giving the impact of impending retirements. Despite reportedly difficult conditions in urban, suburban and rural schools alike, the teaching profession is able to boast teachers who have made teaching the work of their lives. Throughout their careers they have continued to refer to their teaching jobs with warmth and enthusiasm (Cockburn, 2000; Heafford, 1998, McLaughlin, 1993; Yee, 1990).;The purpose of this study was to add to the teaching profession's understanding of teacher retention. Qualitative research methods, principally the interview, were used to explore the perceptions of four teachers who remained in the field of teaching and who often chose to teach children regarded by their schools as difficult to educate.;Literature that explores the reasons teachers leave and reasons they remain was presented including job satisfaction (Evans 1998; Perle & Baker, 1997), collegiality and support (Fullan & Steigelbauer, 1991; Lortie, 1975; Yee, 1990), occupational benefits (Metropolitan Life, 1995), intrinsic rewards (Fried, 1995; Metz, 1993), salaries (Berliner & Biddle, 1995; Johnson, 2001), public perception (Temes, 2001; Wise, Darling-Hammond, & Berry, 1987), professionally endorsed practices (Lieberman, 1992; Lortie, 1975), and cultures of egalitarianism (Johnson, 2001; Lortie, 1984) and isolation (Bender & Gray, 1999; Fullan & Steigelbauer, 1991).;Four teachers were selected who were still teaching after five years and who had devoted a large part of their careers to working with students viewed by their districts as difficult to educate. Each participant was interviewed over a period of a year, for a total of between seven and eight hours apiece. The interviews were taped, transcribed, and subsequently analyzed in order to identify key themes in the participants' stories.;Several themes emerged from the stories of the four teachers that were consonant with the literature. These themes included the importance of making a difference (Lortie, 1975; Nieto, 2003), the need for support and collaboration (Yee, 1990), the satisfaction they received from constructing relationships with their students (Blakeney, 1997), and the positive impact working in an alternative school has had on their professional growth (Dugger & Dugger, 1998; Lange, 1998). Themes also appeared that were not as abundantly represented in the literature such as school-wide embedded discrimination and administrative mal-treatment of staff. Opinions were expressed that mal-treatment of teachers is one of the reasons that some potentially excellent teachers choose to leave.;Recommendations for future research were included in the study.