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Teaching In Good Faith: An Exploration Of The Personal, Professional, And Philosophical Evolution Of First-Year Educators, Katherine Newburgh

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The teaching profession is notoriously difficult. The attrition rate for teachers in their first three years is 25% compared to the national attrition rate of 3.4% (BLS, 2016). Many studies indicate that teaching conditions and school culture influence a teacher's decision to stay or leave (Headden, 2014; Loeb, Darling-Hammond, & Luczak, 2005), but very few studies explore in depth the existential shifts that occur in teachers in their first year. It is this researcher's belief that the seed of attrition is planted in the first year, and that by attending with greater sensitivity to the struggles experienced by first-year teachers, …