The ‘Come and Go’ Syndrome of Teachers in Remote Indigenous Schools: Listening to the Perspective of Indigenous Teachers about What Helps Teachers to Stay and What Makes Them Go

Abstract

High turnover of teachers in remote Indigenous community schools in the Northern Territory has long been considered a significant contributing factor to low academic outcomes for students in those communities. The average length of stay for a non-Indigenous teacher in a remote school can more easily be measured in months than years. This instability in staffing is largely responsible for the instability experienced by many students in these schools. This ‘Come and Go’ syndrome holds true for non-Indigenous staff; however, the opposite can often be said of Indigenous staff. Indigenous staff in these schools tend to be the ‘Stay and Stay and Stay’ teachers. They have often worked in their local community school for decades and have seen literally hundreds of non-Indigenous teachers ‘Come and Go’. They have been the ones to provide a semblance of stability and some level of program sustainability in education for the children of their own communities. While there is some qualitative data on the things that improve retention of non-Indigenous teachers in rural and remote schools, it mostly looks at the training and skills development that can be applied to the situation. No one has really ever asked Indigenous teachers for their observations or opinions about what makes teachers stay and what makes them go. This article will draw on conversations from two focus groups of Indigenous teachers from remote schools in Central Australia who were invited to discuss just this question.

Teacher Attrition and Retention Research in Australia: Towards a New Theoretical Framework

“…Relationships are the core business of teaching, and the quality of relationships with colleagues (Buchanan, 2012), students (Boylan & McSwan, 1998;Mason, 2010), and school leaders (Ashiedu & Scott-Ladd, 2012;Fetherston & Lummis, 2012) were found to have an impact on Australian teachers' decisions to stay or leave. Also of importance were teachers' relationships with members of the wider community, and this was particularly important for participants working in indigenous communities (Hall, 2012;Harrington, 2013). Two further and closely related themes, school culture and school leadership, appeared across several studies.…”

“…In some cases, the perspectives of current teachers were sought (Handal, Watson, Petocz, & Maher, 2013;Laming & Horne, 2013), while others sought the perspectives of former teachers (Buchanan, 2009(Buchanan, , 2010(Buchanan, , 2012Howes & Goodman-Delahunty, 2014), and still others sought both (Buchanan et al, 2013;Mason, 2010). A unique study sought the perspective of indigenous Australian teachers regarding the factors they believe promote retention or attrition of non-indigenous teachers in their communities (Hall, 2012). A further study sought the perspective of 'long-staying teachers', defined as teachers who have remained in the profession for more than six years with no immediate intention of leaving, in an effort to identify those factors that assist in retention (Boylan & McSwan, 1998).…”

“…Studies of teachers in non-metropolitan areas (Boylan & McSwan, 1998;Frid, Smith, Sparrow, & Trinidad, 2008;Handal, Watson, Petocz, & Maher, 2013;Plunkett & Dyson, 2011;Sharplin, 2014;Sharplin, O'Neill, & Chapman, 2010), and teachers in indigenous communities (Harrington, 2013;Harrington & Brasche, 2011) are also represented in the literature, as well as a further study that fits into both of these classifications (Hall, 2012). While 'regional', 'rural' and 'remote' are all terms used in the literature, the term 'nonmetropolitan' was used in one study to cover all of these definitions.…”

“…Mason, on the other hand, found a number of language teachers left because their pre-service training had left them feeling "underprepared for the realities of being a language specialist" (p. 17), as well as not having sufficient language proficiency, which in language education is both the content knowledge and the method of instruction. Other researchers argued that teacher's professional knowledge and skills needed to be further developed in areas such as educational and school politics (Ewing & Smith, 2003), pedagogical knowledge, classroom and behaviour management, (Manuel, 2003), and cultural awareness (Hall, 2012;Harrington, 2013) in order to facilitate retention. Pre-service training that presents teaching in an overly idealized and unrealistic way was also criticized (Ewing & Smith, 2003;Frid, Smith, Sparrow, & Trinidad, 2008).…”

“…While most education departments provide incentives for teachers working in non-metropolitan areas, some teachers in a New South Wales study lamented that financial incentives "were quickly eroded or at least neutralised by more expensive costs of living" (Handal, Watson, Petocz, & Maher, 2013, p. 23). A contentious issue for some teachers is the implementation and changing of government driven waves of 'reform' and initiatives which place unnecessary burdens on teachers (Fetherston & Lummis, 2012;Hall, 2012). Lastly, the quality of school facilities and access to resources is also a theme placed under the umbrella of structural capital (Buchanan et al, 2013;Handal, Watson, Petocz, & Maher, 2013;Mason, 2010;Rice, 2014).…”