Seeding Resilience-Building CROPs: Understanding the Impact of Connection and Relationship-Oriented Practices on Educator Intention to Leave

Abstract

According to United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF), the devastation caused by the global COVID-19 pandemic has elevated the teacher turnover crisis to one of the most harrowing issues facing our society. Stress and burnout among school professionals have reached new highs, resulting in a need to better understand the individual and contextual factors that can ameliorate stress and improve well-being and resilience. Using a relationship-based framework of resilience, this study shifts our gaze from burnout toward understanding the resilience factors associated with lower stress to inform the field’s pathway toward addressing the workforce crisis while better supporting the resilience of educators, students, families, professionals, and educational systems during the pandemic and beyond. Findings from a logistic regression model show a significant decrease in the likelihood of intention to leave as relationship-based resilience factors increased. Implications discuss the importance of opportunities that increase family–school–community support, social-emotional well-being and safety, and other strategies that build relationships, foster resilience, and improve retention of the school-based workforce.