This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Teacher shortages are affecting school systems in countries across the world. Governments have responded with initiatives to attract graduates into teaching.
While much attention has focused on increasing supply, far less attention has been paid to why experienced teachers decide to leave, despite the high costs of turnover in recruitment, training and lost continuity. Administrative data records that a teacher left, not why, or what might have kept them in their job. Leaving is treated as a single event, when for many teachers it is closer to a slow unraveling.
Some step back gradually, stepping down from higher-level positions or moving to part-time hours before they formally resign. This is a shift that workforce statistics may count as a retention success rather than the early stage of an exit. The result is a policy conversation too often weighted toward the front door of the profession, while the back door swings largely unexamined.
My colleagues and I interviewed 63 teachers from publicly funded Scottish schools who had left teaching, or cut their hours or responsibilities, before retirement age. Of these, 36 had left altogether and 27 had reduced their hours, in most cases within the previous 18 months. On average they had around 18 years of teaching experience.
We excluded people who left for unavoidable reasons, because we wanted to understand exits that might have been avoided. Although we did not speak to teachers who stayed under similar pressures, the pattern was consistent across accounts and warrants attention. Leaving was seldom sudden.
Of the 36 who left, 25 described dissatisfaction building over months or years through rising workload, challenging student behavior and the experience of not being heard by school leaders. Separately, 25 of the 36 were "reluctant leavers": teachers who wanted to stay but could no longer carry on. Many described exhaustion, disturbed sleep and anxiety.
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