Supportive culture keeps teachers in the profession

A strong sense of community, orderliness and a psychosocial work environment that promotes health. These are some of the keys to teachers choosing to stay in their workplace and in the profession, research shows.

Many schools face significant challenges in recruiting qualified teachers and retaining them in the workplace and in the profession over time.

– This project is rooted in the teacher shortage and aimed to increase knowledge about how teacher turnover in schools can be reduced, as well as what measures are needed to retain teachers, says Jeffrey Casely-Hayford, postdoctoral researcher in occupational health at Karolinska Institutet.

Stress and burnout can be counteracted

Together with Gunnar Bergström, professor of occupational health science at the University of Gävle, he has written an article on how a protective and supportive culture in the workplace can make teachers stay at a school.

– If a school is at high risk of having high teacher turnover, this kind of protective teacher culture could help, where there is a friendly and strong support between colleagues. If there is a safe working environment, there is a greater chance that it will have a positive impact on teachers' health and that stress and burnout can be counteracted, says Gunnar Bergström.

He co-supervised the PhD project in which Jeffrey Casely-Hayford looked at one school in particular that was positively deviant.

– It was a low-resource school in a low socio-economic status area. As a matter of routine, the school should have been able to have high teacher turnover over time, but instead the school had managed to retain its teachers over time. The teachers who worked there had no reason to stay if they didn't want to, and the median length of time teachers had worked there was about 15 years, he says.

The physical building also matters

In one study, teachers were interviewed at the school and asked to talk about their professional lives and thoughts about the school and the work environment.

– It was very interesting. There was a lot about social protective factors and there was a strong teacher culture and a strong community with a supportive climate. Everyone in the teaching team felt seen and heard and it was important to be there to help their colleagues. They also felt that the physical building was important, as it was set up in a way that encouraged social interactivity, with people often running into each other, says Jeffrey Casely-Hayford.

Teachers described it as a culture that was embedded in the walls. It was important that new recruits were also socialized into the community, while the strong culture of the school might not suit everyone.

– What struck me was that when there is a strong culture in a workplace, it also becomes a sifting process quite quickly. If someone does not accept the culture, they will probably look for another job quite quickly. If such teacher turnover happens early, it also becomes less of a concern. From an educational point of view, I also think that the pupils feel it when there is a lot of closeness between the teachers, which can also make things easier in different situations, says Gunnar Bergström.

Teachers' work capacity strengthened

Studies show that teachers are an occupational group where stress and exhaustion are common, and focusing on occupational health can then have positive effects, Gunnar Bergström believes.

– The link to health is an important factor and, for example, teachers mentioned that a protective collegiality strengthened their work capacity, which also contributed to their desire to remain in the workplace.

In the school included in the studies, there was a clear structure and 'order', with the school management also providing important support.

– Teachers also experienced an exchange of professional knowledge between each other, which boosted their self-confidence. They felt seen, appreciated by colleagues and confident to rely on each other and on the management. This made it easy for them to cope with everyday challenges, says Jeffrey Casely-Hayford.

Text: Anna Sällberg