ERIC Number: EJ720568
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2005
Pages: 13
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0098-9495
EISSN: N/A
Can Pensions Help Attract Teachers?
Kimball, Steven M.; Heneman, Herbert G.,III; Kellor, Eileen M.
Journal of Education Finance, v30 n4 p399-411 Spr 2005
Every year there is a substantial flow of people into teaching roles as entrants or as movers from one school to another. Each such move involves attraction of the person to the job. Data for 1999-2000 reveal several important findings about teacher staffing. In 1999-2000, out of a teaching workforce of about 3.45 million, there were about 535,000 new hires (about 15% of the workforce). Of these hires, about 232,000 were entrants and 303,000 were movers. Analysis shows that the primary reasons behind the high hiring rate are not enrollment increases or retirement but preretirement losses of current teachers. Collectively, therefore, schools are confronted with an enormous attraction and recruitment challenge each year, much of it driven by retention problems. Teacher pensions are one financial incentive that might aid in teacher attraction and retention. To explore this possibility, the authors briefly review characteristics of teachers' pensions and present several proposals to change pensions in ways that might increase teacher attraction and mobility. Using key concepts from employee motivation theory, this article discusses important behavioral requirements for pensions to have their desired effect. These behavioral requirements are used to frame a review of the scant evidence on whether pensions attract teachers, drawing also on research using nonteacher samples to provide evidence relevant in the teacher context. Key research questions awaiting investigation and factors that make pensions ineffective in teacher attraction are also discussed. (Contains 1 table and 48 footnotes.)
Descriptors: Teacher Recruitment, Faculty Mobility, Retirement Benefits, Personnel Policy, Change Strategies, Incentives, Motivation Techniques, Theories
University of Illinois Press, 1325 South Oak Street, Champaign, IL 61820-6903. Tel: 217-333-0950.
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
Audience: Teachers
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A