Teacher Attrition: Why Do Teachers Leave?

Date

2023-9-15

Author

Gökten Bayrak, Özge

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The purpose of this study was to examine how leavers (teachers who have left the profession voluntarily before retirement, after working in a school for at least a year), in-service teachers, and school administrators perceive the reasons of teacher attrition, to investigate when teachers leave the profession and what their next career paths are. The participants of the study were 27 leavers, 15 in-service teachers and 10 school administrators who were accessed through snowball sampling and maximum variation sampling strategies. The study adopted a phenomenological research design. The data were collected from participants using semi-structed interviews and analyzed through content analysis method. The results of the study revealed the following themes in relation to reasons of teacher attrition: a) pre-service education, b) work life experiences, and c) career dissatisfaction and alternative opportunities. The results indicated that majority of teachers leave the profession in the first three years of teaching and the attrition rate decreases as teachers’ teaching experience increases. Finally, the study showed that leavers may continue their careers in a sector that may or may not be related to education, or they may not work at all. The results indicated that while some leavers have no regrets for leaving teaching, the others feel longing for teaching and consider returning to the profession if the working conditions get better.

Subject Keywords

Teacher attrition, Reasons of Teacher Attrition, Period / Time of Teacher Attrition, Phenomenology, Öğretmenlerin Mesleği Bırakması, Öğretmenlerin Mesleği Bırakma Sebepleri, Öğretmenlerin Mesleği Bırakma Periyotları / Dönemleri, Olgubilim.

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/105261

Collections

Graduate School of Social Sciences, Thesis