Effects of Job Motives, Teacher Knowledge and School Context on Beginning Teachers’ Commitment to Stay in the Profession: A Longitudinal Study in Germany, Taiwan and the United States.

Abstract

This three-year longitudinal study examines which teacher and school characteristics contribute to teachers’ commitment to stay in the profession. 3,000 beginning teachers from Germany, Taiwan and the USA were assessed at the end of teacher education and three years later. Multiple-group path analyses revealed that at the end of teacher education, job motives, mathematics content knowledge and teachers’ sense of preparedness significantly predicted their commitment. The relational patterns varied between countries. Similarly, the development of teachers’ commitment was significantly but with varying strengths across countries affected by job satisfaction, the perceived job burden and school quality. Policy makers need to be careful with generalizing results from one country to another. This is an accepted manuscript of a chapter from the book International Handbook of Teacher Quality and Policy. © 2017 Routledge