Teacher turnover is a global phenomenon which negatively influences students’ achievement (NCES, 2008). In recent decades, there have been an abundant number of studies focusing on the issue of teacher turnover, including research done in America, Australia, Singapore and Sweden (Porter, 2012; Hill, 2017; Buchanan et al., 2013; Greer & Wallace, 2017; Lindahl, 2015), which analyze the reasons behind and the effects caused by the phenomenon. Comparatively speaking, the relevant research that has been conducted in China is not comprehensive and thorough enough.
According to Lindahl (2015), the reasons can be divided into three categories, which are societal reasons, organizational reasons and individual reasons. The reasons of three categories are not totally independent of each other; instead, they are closely intertwined and can be better understood when considered together.
The Societal Reasons
The development at the societal level will influence education which in turn influences teacher turnover from different aspects. For example, in Korea, the society’s demand for preschool education as well as the government’s promotion of the young children education have grown significantly (Lee, Myers & Kim, 2009). The same trend can also be observed in China.
The Status of Children
Chinese children have gained more important position in society in the past few decades and correspondingly the teaching quality has increased to a great extent. From 1979, China started enforcing the only child policy and gradually the situation of “4-2-1 Syndrome” appears, which means in each family there are four grandparents and two parents and they give attention and love to the only child (Zhou, 2007). This situation makes some children spoiled and can cause extra psychological or physical burdens and widening responsibilities, as spoiled children are relatively difficult to teach. And besides daily teaching, teachers are expected to communicate with and report to children’s parents or grandparents more frequently. In addition, it is because each child is treasured too much, any small injury or minor accident should be avoided. According to the report of Guo and Pan (2018), kindergarten teachers’ psychological pressure also comes from the need to maintain vigilance constantly to make sure each child is safe and no injury or minor accidents occur.
The Social Status of Kindergarten Teachers
Generally speaking, teachers are highly respected, as their responsibilities are mainly nurturing the younger generation and imparting knowledge. However, this high level of respect is mostly confined to authorized teachers teaching in primary schools, middle schools and universities. By contrast, kindergarten teachers do not enjoy the high respect in the society. According to the survey conducted by Yu (2014), it is found that only about a quarter interviewees held the viewpoint that kindergarten teachers have received systematic learning and training previously. The reasons could possibly be that the various credentials required for kindergarten teachers are not familiar to the general public (Lee, Myers & Kim, 2009). The kindergarten education not being compulsory is also a possible reason that could be used to explain the relative low respect for kindergarten teachers (Lee, Myers & Kim, 2009).
The Organizational Reasons
Yu (2014) mentioned that the ratio between pay and return in the study. While kindergarten teachers’ remuneration level remained relatively low when compared with teachers at other levels, their workload and work pressure were extremely high. Ghamrawi & Jammal (2013) discussed the leadership concept and Lindahl (2015) discussed the working environment.
The Ratio between Pay and Return
One interviewee in Lindahl ’s research (2015) named Elsa shared her experience of salary increase when she changed to become a primary school teacher. Compared with primary teachers, kindergarten teachers are required to deal with more small tasks, which makes the ratio between kindergarten teachers’ pay and reward unreasonable and unfair. “For many teachers, it is the amount of work rather than its level of difficulty that is overwhelming” (Buchanan et al., 2013). As a natural consequence, kindergarten teachers normally feel frustrated and not satisfied because the efforts they devote to the work are not compensated correspondingly when compared with teachers of other levels.
Leadership
No matter for profit or charity organizations, private or government organizations, leadership is an essential factor determining the organization’s success (Ghamrawi & Jammal, 2013). Generally, it is generally believed that school leadership should be supportive of kindergarten teachers. One of the interviewees in Lindahl’s study (2015) mentioned that “The head teacher often stands between the teachers and parents and because she works in the