Research has shown that attrition amongst teachers is high at the beginning and the end of the career (Borman & Dowling, 2008). Most attention in attrition research goes to beginning or young teachers. Considering (1) the coming retirement of the baby boom generation,  (2) legislators aiming to motivate their workforce to work longer, and (3) expected increasing teacher shortages in several countries it is important to gain insight into the causes of attrition amongst senior teachers (OECD, 2005, 2011, 2012).

Burnout has been identified as an important determinant of teacher attrition (Leung & Lee, 2006; Martin, Sass, & Schmitt, 2012; Skaalvik & Skaalvik, 2011). In this paper we investigate the relationship between the core dimensions of the Maslach burnout scale adapted to teachers (Horn & Schaufeli, 1998), job satisfaction and school context variables amongst senior teachers. We also assess how burnout relates to the planned (early) retirement age of senior teachers. We expect that teachers suffering from burnout plan to retire early. This results in a survival of the happiest effect where those teachers that remain teaching show lower levels of burnout and higher levels of job satisfaction.

Seven school context variables were measured: relationships with colleagues, parents, students and superiors, discipline problems, teaching related workload and non-teaching related workload. In most research a general construct of workload or time pressure is used but we argue that it is important to make a distinction between teaching related workload and non-teaching related workload (administration, meetings). It is possible and even likely that teachers, trained to teach, react differently to their workload which is related directly to teaching and to the workload many of them perceive as generated by the tendency to evaluate and the rising demands of parents and policy makers. According to several authors this rise in administrative burdens is an international trend resulting in a major decline in job satisfaction since these administrative burdens are perceived as a detractor from the “core business” of teaching students (Dinham & Scott, 1998; Scott, Stone, & Dinham, 2001).  Implications for future research are discussed. 

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