Report: Teachers leaving the profession increased by 42% from last year

NORTH CAROLINA — More North Carolina teachers, including those in our area, are leaving the classroom in droves.

Channel 9′s Jonathan Lowe took a deeper look into the loss of thousands of teachers and what’s causing it.

Despite ominous data this week from the State Department of Public Information showing how many educators left the profession in the last year, the Department of Public Instruction says in general, several other teachers are staying in the classroom.

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Referred to as attrition, when an educator leaves teaching altogether, more than 10,000 left the profession between March 2022 and March 2023.

That’s a 42% increase from just the year before.

Third-year teacher Megan Hill admitted to Channel 9 that there have been times when she re-evaluated her future.

“I have considered leaving in the past for many personal reasons, usually mental health reasons,” Hill explained. “Things like pay: I make a lot less here in North Carolina than I did in Virginia because I got paid for my masters, and in North Carolina, I don’t.”

She said post-pandemic management of student behavior has also made the job harder.

“In regards to the trauma that students are experiencing, the ways that they’re experiencing that trauma in the classroom too,” Hill said.

That report said beginning teachers, the ones with three years of experience or less, have the highest attrition rate. That is followed by teachers who are eligible for full or nearly full retirement benefits.

“Since becoming a first-year teacher here in North Carolina, a lot of my first-year coworkers have moved, left to go to other states, or left the profession,” Hill said.

Nearly half, 48%, of those who left the profession cited personal reasons; 17% resigned due to a career change; and 13% left after retiring with full benefits.

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Whatever the reason, Hill said the impacts of high attrition fall back on those who choose to stick around. However, she said she found new motivation by redirecting her skills and talents.

“That adds a lot more to the teachers that already have a class and have to add in students that aren’t familiar with their environment,” Hill expressed. “I think that changing the subject that I teach has definitely helped with that, because I’m not in a testing grade anymore, and I am having more fun in my job.”

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