Research internationally about teachers’ work, lives and effectiveness has tended to focus on
challenges of recruitment and retention, particularly in relation to early career teachers
(Plauborg, 2022; Shields & Mullen, 2020). Whilst the iniital motivation to teach explains why
teachers choose to teach in the first place (Han & Yin, 2016; Lu & Geng, 2022; Moodie &
Feryok, 2015), and there is a significant level of attrition in the early career phase, the reasons
do not necessarily survive the tests of practice, or result in their mid- and long-term
commitment to remaining in the profession whilst teaching to their best and well (Onyefulu
et al., 2023; UNESCO, 2023).

Building on a literature review of teacher retention internationally between 2000 and 2023 The project aimed to conduct a country and culture specific case study of teachers in English primary and secondary schools to find to what extent teacher retention, with special focus on retention of commitment, and the reasons for this, mirrored the international findings. The paper reports the findings of a two-year mixed methods research project with primary and secondary school teachers in schools serving a range of socioeconomically advantaged and disadvantaged communities across one region of England.

The research questions were
1. Why do teachers in primary and secondary schools stay, despite deteriorating resource
conditions and increases in the complexity of personal, emotional and academic
demands?
2. How, why and to what extent does retention vary between sectors, between schools
serving different communities, and between teachers in different career phases?
3. What part do in-school structures and cultures, teachers’ ‘call to teach’ (intrinsic
motivation - vocation, grit), career phase, and subjective wellbeing play in teacher
retention?
4. What are the perceived associations between retention and the willingness and
capacity of teachers to teach to their best and well?

Whilst recruitment and retention, especially of early career teachers, is a recurring issue, in
the ‘post-pandemic’ years this has become exacerbated as problems of student attendance
and engagement in school-based education have increased (Liu & Loeb, 2021; Taylor &
Parsons, 2011). In many Western countries, there is also increasing ‘casualisation’ of the
teaching workforce, causing disruption of the continuity of teacher-student relationships and
those designated as having special educational needs, both particularly important for students
from disadvantaged communities (Mercieca, 2017). Together, these deteriorating conditions
of service are claimed to have eroded key elements of teacher professionalism and many
teachers’ motivation, sapping reserves of resilience, reducing teachers’ sense of agency,
professional identity, minimizing their time and energy to care for the personal, social and
emotional needs of their students as a core part of their work, and their intention to remain
in the profession.

Very little research has been conducted in response to the claim that the physical retention of
teachers is a necessary but insufficient means of improving and sustaining the quality of
teachers. Where research has focused on teacher retention, it has tended to focus on teachers’ motivations as individuals (Deci & Ryan, 1985; Ingersoll et al., 2019; UNESCO, 2016), without examining the interplay of the multiple influences which are embedded in the  structural, cultural and emotional  contexts in which they work, without close attention being paid to relationships between teacher retention(intention to stay), their willingness and ability to teach to their best and well over the course of their careers, their emotional health and wellbeing, and the outcomes for their student. Moreover, whilst teaching and leadership standards have been developed in many countries
as a proxy for judgements of quality, (Robertson-Kra et al, 2018), it is difficult to identify the extent of their effect on, for
example, teachers’ sense of efficacy, professional identity, resilience, and perceived
effectiveness, and the influence of school-based factors - leadership, culture and colleagues,
and relationships with students, their families and the communities from which they are
drawn.

The research was conducted in three stages - a rapid literature review of peer reviewed publications on teacher retention, followed by a survey sent to all teachers in a random sample of 100 schools serving both advantaged and disadvantaged communities across the Midlands region of England, and in-depth semi-structured interviews with a purposive sample of 72 teachers - 24 early career teachers (3-7 years), 24 mid-career teachers (8-23 years), 24 long serving teachers (23+ years), from 12 primary (x3 teachers) and 6 secondary schools (x6 teachers). The data were analysed by employing a phenomenological approach, where the focus is on exploring inductively the participants’ reported experiences of their reasons for continuing in the profession in challenging times, rather than testing a strictly predefined conceptual framework. Instead of relying on pre-determined processes of categorizing and quantifying Data (Denscombe, 2017), interview transcripts were analysed through an inductive thematic analysis procedure (Braun & Clarke, 2006; King, 2004) and the qualitative data analysis software NVivo 14 PLUS. The themes were integrated to provide an overall overview of the research outcomes.The research findings place teacher reten

The research presents a counter narrative to that which focuses primarily upon teacher attrition (Madigan & Kim,2021; Player et al., 2017; UNESCO, 2023). It seeks to contribute to knowledge about teacher’s ‘quality’ retention by: i) investigating why teachers in primary and secondary schools stay, despite deteriorating resource conditions, workload, the policy press, and increases in the complexity of personal, emotional and academic demands; ii)whether reasons for retention vary between sectors, schools serving different communities, and teachers in different career phases; iii)the part played in this by in-school structures and cultures, teachers’ vocation, commitment, identities, resilience, and subjective wellbeing; and iv) associations between retention and perceived effectiveness. The results revealed that: i) the successful retention oft eachers of quality was reflected in the depth of their sustained commitment, stability of professional identities, self-efficacy, authentic sense of agency and capacity for resilience, and ability to adapt to change within a values-led, ethical framework; ii) that these were mediated by collegiality of in-school relationships, and the level, depth and quality of school leadership support.The results of this two year study (2023-2025) will inform policymakers and school principals internationally.

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