Managing Generation Y Teachers: Strategies for School Leaders
This paper examines Generation Y (Millennial) employees in the educational workplace, drawing primarily on Behrstock and Clifford's (2009) policy brief on leading Gen Y teachers. It reviews generational research on Millennials' workplace attitudes—including their appetite for feedback, technology, flexibility, and meaningful work—and contrasts their values with those of prior generations. The paper identifies key leadership strategies school administrators can employ to retain talented Gen Y educators, including involving them in vision-setting, providing continuous feedback, and offering technology-integrated professional development. It also raises the research question of whether intra-generational differences exist within Gen Y with respect to job-related values.
- Introduction and Overview: Overview of Behrstock and Clifford's Gen Y policy brief
- Different Perspectives on Work: Gen Y workplace attitudes compared with prior generations
- Research Question: Intra-generational differences in Gen Y job values
- Strategies for Supporting Generation Y Educators: Leadership strategies to retain and develop Gen Y teachers
- Conclusion: Urgency of supporting Gen Y educators in schools
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What makes this paper effective
- Grounds its argument in a specific, cited policy brief (Behrstock & Clifford, 2009), giving the analysis a concrete empirical anchor rather than relying solely on generalization.
- Moves logically from defining Gen Y workplace traits to practical, evidence-based strategies that school leaders can implement, keeping the paper applied and actionable.
- Identifies independent and dependent variables for the underlying study, demonstrating awareness of research design even within a brief analytical format.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper effectively synthesizes multiple sources across disciplines—organizational behavior, sociology, and education policy—to build a coherent argument. By borrowing workforce research from the private sector and applying it to the educational context, the author demonstrates cross-disciplinary reasoning, a valuable skill in applied policy writing.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens with an annotated overview of its primary source and study design. It then characterizes Gen Y workplace attitudes before posing a focused research question. A strategies section translates the literature into actionable school leadership recommendations. The conclusion stresses urgency around Gen Y teacher retention and the responsibility of school administrators. This five-part structure suits a literature-informed policy analysis at the undergraduate level.
Introduction and Overview
Behrstock and Clifford's (2009) policy brief and study report aims to aid district, state, and school-level administrators in developing a better understanding of Generation Y (the Millennial generation) in order to better support and manage teachers. The goal is to improve the teaching and learning process for present and future student generations. Drawing on studies from the educational field and beyond, the report explains how school-level leaders can ensure that the teaching profession benefits from Millennial teachers' talents. It begins with a review of workforce and sociological research on Gen Y/Millennials, followed by a literature review of strategies used to retain emerging Generation Y talent in the private sector. This is followed by a recent analysis of practices for new-teacher support and retention. Finally, it provides strategies that efficient school leaders may implement to support all of their teachers, particularly those belonging to Gen Y (Behrstock & Clifford, 2009).
The study's purpose was to quantify generation-based preferences for leadership behavior. Leadership behavior preferences linked to generational themes constituted the dependent variable, with five themes: (a) Flexibility, (b) Fulfillment, (c) Work Environment, (d) Technology, and (e) Monetary Benefits. Education, generation, and ethnicity were treated as independent variables (Rodriguez, Green, & Ree, 2003).
References
Behrstock, E., & Clifford, M. (2009). Leading Gen Y teachers: Emerging strategies for school leaders. TQ Research & Policy. Retrieved August 24, 2013, from http://secc.sedl.org/orc/resources/February2009Brief.pdf
Dunne, L. (2011). The generation game. Retrieved May 13, 2016, from https://www.mlc.com.au/resources/MLC/My%20Licensee/pdf/working_with_gen_y.pdf
Eisner, S. P. (2005). Managing generation Y. SAM Advanced Management Journal, 70(4), 4.
Rodriguez, R. O., Green, M. T., & Ree, M. J. (2003). Leading generation X: Do the old rules apply? Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 9(4), 67. Retrieved from
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