Getting our best teachers into disadvantaged schools: differences in the professional and personal factors attracting more effective and less effective teachers to a school

Of the school-level factors that have an impact on student learning, one of the most powerful appears to be the effectiveness of the individual teacher. The most effective teachers are, therefore, one of the most important tools schools and systems have at their disposal to lift the achievement of socio-economically disadvantaged students and improve equity, and policy must be designed in such a way as to draw more of them to the most disadvantaged educational settings. To do this, systems and schools need to be aware of differences in the priorities more and less effective teachers hold in deciding where to teach. This study highlighted such differences in a large sample of Australian teachers. The most effective teachers placed considerably more importance on professional factors in determining whether to transfer into a school. Implications for staffing policy are discussed.