Teachers' career decisions: Perspectives on choosing teaching careers, and on staying or leaving

Abstract

For early-career teachers in particular, teacher attrition and retention has been the focusof international research. We aimed to provide a more holistic view of teacher attritionand retention in an Australian educational context by including the perspectives of across-section of current and former teachers with various lengths of teaching service. Weexplored the similarities and differences in considerations about past career decisionpoints reported by the teachers in different groups. Australian teachers (N = 133) whowere staying in teaching (n = 59), or undecided about staying (n = 34), and formerteachers who had changed careers (n = 40) completed free-response questionnairesabout their decisions to choose and to stay in (or to leave) teaching careers. Thematicanalysis suggested that three overarching themes were salient across all three groups ofteachers at different decision points in the career. These overarching themes werepersonal fulfilment, practical considerations, and lack of alternatives or barriers tochange. Strategies to retain teachers should aim to foster collegial relationships, addressworkload, respond to needs for job security or flexibility, and provide new opportunitieswithin teaching.