A new study finds teachers care more about their working environment than getting higher salaries. In fact, the study indicates poor campus work environments are driving teachers away. KPBS reporter Ana Tintocalis has more.
Twenty-two percent of California teachers leave the profession after their first four years. The main factor is a negative teaching and learning environment. But this doesn't refer to broken toilets or leaky roofs. Teachers say they don't have adequate time for lesson planning, they're overloaded with excessive paperwork, and there's too many restrictions on teaching itself.
Researcher Ken Futernick says teachers also leave because state and federal accountability systems zap their team spirit.
Futernick : Those kinds of things deflate morale at the school and they sometimes cause teachers to point fingers. And so this sense of team starts to erode.
Futernick says teachers do care about how much money they make, but would rather like to see improvements to their work environment. The California State University Center for Teacher Quality released the report.
Ana Tintocalis, KPBS News.
