Browsing by Author "Rehunen, Pihla"

Recent studies have shown that thoughts of leaving the teaching profession have increased among the Finnish teachers. The aim of this study is to examine the reasons that have attributed to the decision to leave the profession and compare these with the reasons highlighted by former teachers as to why they left the profession to identify any connections. This study also aims to examine if there is a connection between the thoughts the participants had had about their future as a teacher when studying and the reasons affecting to the decision to leave. The theoretical framework introduces previous research on teacher wellbeing, the factors that influence teachers’ work engagement and on the reasons that have been found to explain the teacher retention worldwide. This study was conducted with qualitative methods. The data was collected through interviews and analyzed using thematic analysis. Eight primary school teachers or special education teachers who had left or had made the decision to leave the teaching profession attended the interview. According to the results of this study, multiple push and pull factors affected the participants’ decision to leave. Most prominent factors that pushed the participants out of the profession were lack of resources, work conditions and reduced perception of autonomy, but the attraction of a new job or new challenges also affected to the decision to leave. Participants mentioned that they would have hoped for better resources, better work conditions and terms of employment, better opportunities to advance in their career and possibilities to improve their professional relationships through collaboration with their colleagues. When studying, participants had had different thoughts on their future as a teacher and there seems to be a connection between them and the factors that affected to their decision to leave the profession.