Teacher retention has emerged as a persistent global challenge, contributing to workforce instability, higher costs, and diminished instructional quality across education systems. While this issue has been widely documented internationally, it is also particularly salient in high-performing education systems, such as Finland. Despite the country’s formidable reputation in teacher education, studies indicate that approximately 40–50% of Finnish teachers report intentions to leave the profession at some point in their careers (Pyhältö et al., 2015). This paradox highlights the urgent need to move beyond structural explanations of attrition and to focus on individual and developmental factors that may predict teachers’ long-term engagement with the profession.

One construct that has attracted growing attention in international research is teacher resilience. Teacher resilience is a dynamic process shaped by the interplay of individual resources and contextual conditions, enabling teachers to adapt to, recover from, and grow through professional challenges (Metsäpelto et al., 2022). Research consistently shows that resilient teachers are more likely to remain committed to the profession, cope effectively with stress, and sustain motivation over time (Tait, 2008). Importantly, resilience is not a fixed trait but a developmental capacity that can be fostered during teacher education, making it a critical focus for research and policy across European and international contexts. Intricately linked to resilience is teachers’ professional identity, which is widely conceptualized as an evolving and multidimensional construct shaped through continuous interpretation of individual experiences and professional contexts (Metsäpelto et al., 2022). Teacher education plays a significant role in initiating this identity formation process, yet professional identity continues to develop throughout teachers’ careers. Hanna et al. (2019) identify six core domains of teacher identity (self-image, motivation, commitment, self-efficacy, task perception, and job satisfaction), although the relative importance and interrelationships among these domains remain underexplored (Canrinus et al., 2012).

This study focuses on two empirically and theoretically central domains of professional identity: motivation for a teaching career and commitment to the profession. Motivation has been strongly linked to teacher engagement, well-being, and retention across diverse educational systems (Collie, 2023). Understanding how motivation develops longitudinally during teacher education is, therefore, essential for strengthening sustainable career commitment. Commitment to teaching is another key predictor of persistence and professional well-being (Klassen & Chiu, 2011). Although motivation and commitment are theoretically interconnected, empirical research directly examining their combined and longitudinal effects, particularly in relation to resilience and dropout intentions, remains limited (Canrinus et al., 2012). Identifying the individual-level factors that support stable commitment is thus critical for addressing teacher attrition across educational levels and national contexts.

Given these relational facts, this study aims to quantitatively examine whether teacher education in Finland facilitates the development of professional identity among preservice teachers.

In alignment with these objectives, this longitudinal study will investigate the following research questions:

1. What are the associations among preservice teachers’ motivation for their studies, commitment, resilience, and intentions to leave the profession?
2. Do preservice teachers' professional identity, as empirically examined here through motivation and commitment, and resilience change over their teacher education years?
3. Is there a sustained effect of preservice teachers' professional identity development, as empirically examined here through motivation and commitment, on their resilience and their intentions to drop out?

This study will quantitatively investigate whether teacher education in Finland supports preservice teachers' professional development and retention. It will use national data from the KASVU project on the 2022 and 2025 preservice teacher cohorts. The key variables in this study are motivation for studies (Gaspard et al., 2017), commitment to the profession (Professional Engagement Scale; Watt & Richardson, 2007), resilience (Brief Resilience Scale; Smith et al., 2008), and intentions to drop out (Vasalampi et al., 2018). Associations among these variables will be examined using structural equation modeling in Mplus version 8.8 (Muthén & Muthén, 1998-2017).

Amid growing concerns about teachers’ professional resilience and rising attrition, this study will offer timely insights into the developmental processes that sustain teaching careers. In the Finnish context, it will examine the interrelations among preservice teachers’ professional identity, motivation, commitment, intentions to leave the profession, and resilience, moving beyond deficit-oriented explanations of teacher attrition and foregrounding the role of teacher education in shaping long-term professional engagement. Its longitudinal, quantitative design will reveal developmental patterns and lasting effects often missed in cross-sectional studies, providing robust empirical evidence for international discussions on teacher resilience and retention. It will offer a valuable example of how professional identity development can be supported in Finnish teacher education, which is known for its quality. These evidence-based findings will guide preservice and newly qualified teachers in their early careers, as well as teacher educators and school leaders responsible for creating supportive learning and working environments. Future research may build on this to compare how different teacher education systems cultivate resilient and dedicated teachers across varied educational settings.

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