VIRTUAL Prague Research & Teaching Conference

Abstract

According to reports, the percentage of teachers that have left, and continue to leave the profession worldwide are not subsiding. This is especially true for beginning teachers who are faced with ongoing personal and professional challenges in today’s classrooms, not to mention unprecedented events such as public health challenges. In locations such as Alberta, Canada teacher attrition has not historically been problematic. Teaching positions have been highly sought after as teacher preparation has been appropriately aligned with classroom conditions, provincial funding for education has been suitable, and public support has been consistent. The Alberta Teachers’ Association has carefully monitored trends for all levels of educators’ professional lives including the needs and concerns of early career teachers in their first three years of teaching. Starting in 2019-2020 a comprehensive survey was created and administered asking about the perceptions of personal and professional factors of beginning teachers. It was designed to be part of a longitudinal trend analysis. It was readministered in 2020-2021, 2021-2022, 2022-2023, and 2023-2024. Findings have demonstrated that changes to government spending, public discourse during and following the pandemic, and political changes to curriculum design can alter beginning teacher perceptions toward how influenced they are regarding professional factors (e.g., administrative support, school environments, feeling valued by parents) and how well they respond on a personal level (e.g., resiliency, self-efficacy, potential for burnout). Outcomes and trends will be shared with the intention of examining early career teacher perspectives in one Canadian province.