It’s a busy time for districts’ human resources departments as they juggle teacher recruitment efforts for the upcoming school year while gauging which of their current teachers plan to renew their contracts. As this process unfolds, qualified teachers sit firmly in the proverbial driver’s seat.
That’s because teacher vacancies remain stubbornly high in many parts of the country, with at least 42,000 unfilled K-12 teaching positions nationwide, and a minimum of 365,000 positions occupied by people not fully certified for their teaching assignments, according to data from the Learning Policy Institute. Employers who want to stand out from the competition need to give teachers a reason to select, or stay at, their school.
And while there’s no surefire way to attract and retain teachers, one factor appears to dominate teachers’ wish lists when eyeing a new job or choosing to remain in a current one—and it’s not what employers might expect.
Sure, all teachers want decent salaries. But research shows a positive school culture counts more than anything for most teachers.
That was the dominant takeaway from a recent (unscientific) Education Week query to its social media followers that posed the following question: Teachers, what is most important to you when considering a new teaching job?
The LinkedIn poll offered the choices of “salary,” “school culture,” “student achievement data,” or “other.” Of the nearly 2,000 responses that poured in, 63 percent of respondents said school culture mattered most.
Salary came in at a distant second, with 31 percent of respondents checking that box. Just 2 percent voted student achievement as most important when considering a teaching job.
Respondents’ written comments provided additional context about what constitutes positive work culture. Notably, many of these responses were aimed directly at administration. Here are a few examples:
What teachers want from administrators: to be supported, trusted, and heard
This isn’t the only survey to find that teachers’ job satisfaction correlates strongly with how they feel about their school’s administration. The third annual Merrimack College Teacher Survey, conducted between January and March 2024 among an estimated 1,500 public and private school teachers, saw similar results.
In the survey, administered by the EdWeek Research Center, more than 950 respondents took advantage of the survey’s “open response” option. Comments included calls for school leaders to take steps to support, trust, and listen to teachers, such as the following:
- “Teachers need to know that administrators have their back.”
- “Trust the experienced teachers to know how to teach.”
- “Listen to your teachers. You hired them because you trusted them. Let them teach and don’t micromanage.”
Positive feelings about administrators are tied to teachers’ job satisfaction
Takeaways from the 2024 Merrimack College Teacher Survey mirrored, to a large extent, results of a 2021 study examining the relationship between school administrators’ supportive behaviors and teachers’ job satisfaction, published in the International Journal of Contemporary Educational Research.
Analyzing responses from 400 elementary school teachers, researchers found that teachers’ positive perceptions of their principals influenced their job satisfaction. Based on these findings, the researchers offered specific recommendations for how administrators could act in a supportive manner to teachers, including: giving their full attention while listening to them, demonstrating honesty, supporting their decisions, and making them feel valuable.
Teachers aren’t alone in wanting to feel trusted and valued by employers. Results of a survey of 500 U.S. employees listed several traits deemed desirable in managers—honesty (90 percent); fairness (89 percent); trust (86 percent); respect (84 percent); appreciation (74 percent).
It’s easy to understand why all employees, teachers included, want to feel like trusted and valued members in their respective workplaces. It’s up to administrators aiming to recruit and retain teachers to show that it’s ingrained in their school culture.
