Professional Learning and Recruitment and Retention

This chapter aims to explore the implications for teacher recruitment and retention of national/system-level education policy about teachers’ continuing professional development and learning (CPDL). It is based on findings from a research study conducted by the Centre for the Use of Research and Evidence in Education (CUREE) between 2015 and 2017 for Education International, a global union federation of teacher unions, by the Centre for the Use of Research and Evidence in Education. The aim of the study was to explore what factors influence the formation of teachers’ professional identities, how those identities continue to evolve in response to the ongoing effects of those factors, and what the implications of these findings are for both teacher representative bodies and policymakers.

In this chapter, we will argue that CPDL is a powerful and complex element in the process which determines whether or not people will join and remain in the teaching profession. There is evidence from across a series of differing education systems which suggests that CPDL can be a potent tool in improving rates of teacher recruitment and retention, but to do so it is important to consider CPDL in depth and explore the purposes to which it is being put. We will explore some key links between CPDL and teacher recruitment and retention as identified in research literature, unpack what they mean in detail and explore some implications of the relationships between teacher professional learning and recruitment and retention with a view to guiding further thinking about the problem.