The Missing Piece of the Teacher Retention Puzzle: Considering Health in SC Teacher Preparation Programs

Authors

Jonathon Coker, Coastal Carolina University

Abstract

During the 2023-2024 school year, there was a 9% increase in teacher vacancies in South Carolina (CERRA, 2023). For decades, South Carolina has been attempting to address issues of teacher recruitment and retention. This has ranged from continued efforts from an organization called CERRA (Center for Educator Recruitment, Retention, & Advancement) founded in 1985, as well as more recently founded initiatives such as the SC Rural Recruitment Initiative in 2016 (Smith & Sauls, 2022; Tran, Babaei-Balderlou, & Smith, 2022). In 2022, the SC Department of Education established the Teacher Recruitment and Retention Task Force to address the continuously concerning issues around teacher recruitment, retention, and advancement. The task force produced four categories of recommendations regarding compensation and evaluation, recruitment, teacher prep programs, and working conditions (South Carolina State House, 2022, proviso 1.114). Through a document analysis of this task force's report, I will explore working conditions in South Carolina regarding teacher physical and mental health, discuss what factors are missing in that report, and address how educator preparation programs can better prepare teachers with these missing factors in mind.

Recommended Citation

Coker, Jonathon (2024) "The Missing Piece of the Teacher Retention Puzzle: Considering Health in SC Teacher Preparation Programs," Teacher Education Journal of South Carolina: Vol. 18: No. 1, Article 7.
Available at: https://digitalcommons.coastal.edu/tejsc/vol18/iss1/7