Retention of construction teachers engaged in Missouri's secondary school system

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the reasons construction teachers were leaving their profession in their first five years of service, or if they stayed, what were the dominant factors that caused them to consider leaving the profession and what were the factors that were causing them to remain in the CTE field. The data revealed there was a significant difference in the retention rate of two-year alternatively certified teachers and four-year teaching degreed teachers. The four-year degreed teacher had a higher retention rate. The data also revealed the only significant difference in why two-year certified and four-year teaching degreed teachers had considered leaving the profession was the two-year certified teachers were considering leaving because of poor opportunities for professional advancement. The main reason the stayer teachers thought teachers were leaving their profession was because of the low salary issues, however, the leavers stated that salary was not at all important in their decision to leave the CTE teaching profession. They stated their main concerns were discipline problems, dealing with special needs students, poor student motivation, and lack of influence over school policies. Considerations of stayer teachers to leave the profession included low salary, inadequate support from administration, and student issues, especially discipline and poor motivation. The data were overwhelming in the reasons teachers were staying in the profession. Over 75% of the stayer teacher responses dealt with enjoyment of working with the students and seeing student success followed by teacher benefits and a strong teacher retirement program.