According to 2004 figures from the Canadian Teachers’ Federation, roughly 30 per cent of Canadian teachers leave their jobs in the first five years.Depending on the source, reasons cited for the reduced number of currently available teachers in public schools include the rising number of teacher retirements due to the pandemic and a decrease in teacher training applicant interest.
Essential employee skills often needing to be upgraded include numeracy, writing, thinking skills, even oral communication. The best teachers are able to communicate complex information and ideas effectively and in a variety of different formats to a sometimes only partly motivated audience. In that sense, teachers have usually become adept at project management. Every secondary-school course is a long-term project that involves organizational skills similar to those needed for a business project. A teacher formulates the course concept, maps out the schedule, and determines how to optimize the educational experience for students.
Included in Mintzberg’s management roles are many skills and responsibilities that, over the years, I have observed to also be the chief characteristics of successful teachers.