Author: Staecy Thomas
Thomas, Staecy, 2025 Teacher Attrition and Retention: Views of Australian Early Career Teachers, Flinders University, College of Education, Psychology and Social Work
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The topic of teacher attrition is a longstanding problem affecting the educational system of many countries. Even today, there is a growing concern about teachers leaving the profession. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought several changes to the Australian education landscape. Schools are not only losing quality teachers, but this also has implications for students, teacher educators, educational leaders and policy makers. Studies indicate that among those who leave, it was seen that attrition is more common among teachers who join the profession within the first five years. These teachers are referred to as early career teachers (ECTs). Some factors that push new teachers away from the profession are workload, a lack of confidence, inadequacy of teacher education programs, a lack of support from the management and classroom factors such as dealing with behavioural problems. In addition, literature show that these factors can lead to high stress levels, which may result in burnout among teachers. This study adopted a qualitative approach with the aim to explore the views of exit ECTs about the challenges they faced in schools, and how these factors might have influenced their decisions to leave the profession. The participants were recruited on social media using purposive sampling. A semi-structured interview schedule designed by the researcher was used as the data collection method. It is expected that the findings from the study will have significant implications including acting as a guide for school leaders in creating a supportive working environment for ECTs, who are still building their professional identity and finding their way into the workplace. The limitations and future recommendations are also outlined.
Keywords: Teacher attrition, teacher retention, early career teachers, teaching
Subject: Education thesis
Thesis type: Masters
Completed: 2025
School: College of Education, Psychology and Social Work
Supervisor: Dr Peter Walker