Dr. Nate Seggerman

Where have all the teachers gone? This is the question that school districts nationwide have been asking in recent years as the country faces a continued shortage of highly qualified K-12 educators. To date, much of the research has focused on the reasons why teachers are leaving the profession and why prospective teachers elect for other vocations altogether. Increased public scrutiny, criticism of public education from politicians, demanding working conditions, lack of financial and/or professional support, and burnout are all common culprits. Yet there remains a core population of, admittedly aging, veteran teachers who have persevered, thus begging the question: “Why did you stay?” This study examines the stories of veteran, rural Nebraska secondary school teachers gathered through semi-structured interviews to answer this question. Analysis of their interview transcripts generated common themes around what teachers themselves attribute to the reason why they stayed when so many others did not. The results offer perspective to current educational administrators, school boards, teacher preparatory schools, and even politicians on what conditions to cultivate to help more teachers answer the question “Should I stay or should I go?” with the former option instead of the latter.