Date of Award
Summer 2020
Document Type
Consultancy Project
Degree Name
Doctor of Education (EdD)
Committee Chair
Dr. Jeffrey Hamilton
Abstract
The educational system in the United States of America is under attack. The attack is not in physicality but is being caused by abnormally high teaching shortages. The shortage has become an area of concern nationally, including within my home state of South Carolina.Over 6,700 teachers left the profession in the year 2017 for a variety of reasons. This type of attrition is only expected to continuously increase because universities and colleges globally have reported and that less students are aspiring to be teachers year after year. Thirty-eight percent of South Carolina’s teachers left their jobs in their first five years of teaching (Self, 2018). This trend cannot continue if we are to protect the education of our most prized assets, children, the future. Based on a review of over fourteen articles I discovered several factors that have led to this steady decline as well as several implementations that vastly improve retention.Some of the initiatives that improved retention in organizations were cultural aware environments, inclusivity in the workplace, and the embracing of diversity.Cultural awareness and diversity can help with recruiting and retaining teachers by adding to the school’s culture in a positive way; through the embracing and appreciation of differences (Phillips, 2014).As a result of this study, instructive systems, corporations and/or organizations seeking to improve recruitment and retention may find this research beneficial when seeking to cultivate a vital human need, belonging.
Citation Information
Chandler-Smith, Keicha, "You Belong: A Focus on Cultural Awareness, Inclusivity, and Diversity in Schools to Improve Recruitment and Retention" (2020). Education Projects. 3.
https://digitalcommons.gardner-webb.edu/education_projects/3