Abstract Book of the 9th International Conference on Advanced Research in Education
Year: 2025
[PDF]
Every Seven Years: Recursive Trends and Mandates in Teacher Education Drive Rising Attrition Rates
Susan Tyrrell
ABSTRACT:
Regarded a noble profession, teaching remains in a suspended tension of politics, pedagogy, and external partnerships, which all claim to serve the teacher a plate of quantifiable student success. The results, however, feed rising teacher attrition rates. Each year in the US and UK, swaths of teacher vacancies go unfilled. While myriad reasons exist, stress and burnout are central concerns teachers offer for their departure (Kush, et al., 2022; Walker, 2021; Adams, 2025). As trained, licensed professionals with specialized knowledge, teachers still do not enjoy the respect that other professional fields carry, e.g., law, medicine. Instead, teachers see curricular restraints and mandated lessons, eschewing creative design. Hallman (2024) argues that teacher-educators should help facilitate discourse around the meaning of professionalism within teacher education programs. This worthy goal however, conflicts with what Mayer & Mills (2020) note is a drive toward performance assessments, coupled with testing the teacher, and ultimately serving to neglect the professional aspect of teaching. Ericsson & Harwell (2019) note renewed attention to “deliberate practice” (Ericsson et al. 1993). Sometimes presented as a panacea, the concept fits some fields, e.g. music, better than other. This cure-all, however, often comes from non-educators, attempting to solve a perceived “gap” in education (Hordern, et. al, 2025). Thus, many teachers view their expertise is shrouded by the mandate for datasets that fit in a linear map. This paper addresses the renewed attention on deliberate practice as a focus of teacher education, situating the concept of professionalism in teaching within the post-pandemic teacher attrition crisis. Among results and recommendations presented are applications of elements of rudimentary creativity research when used within teacher-education programs, mentoring, and professional development.
Keywords: Creativity; curriculum, deliberate practice; educator preparation