Insights from teacher leavers: push and pull in career development

What is it about?

This article examines the career pathways of US teacher leavers, individuals who have voluntarily left classroom teaching prior to retirement. Based in the perspective that teachers construct their own career pathways through an ongoing negotiation between personal and professional factors, this research captures the experiences of 24 teacher leavers from geographically diverse regions of the United States. Using life history interviews, this study inquires into individuals’ experiences before, during, and after classroom teaching. Unexpectedly, none of the 24 individuals initially intended to enter teaching. Data also indicate that teachers’ career pathways are shaped by dynamics of push and pull in entering teaching, push and pull in leaving teaching, and push and pull around teachers’ passions. The trajectories of these teacher leavers, who have now moved into fields as diverse as non-classroom education, medicine, government, and caregiving, suggest important theoretical and practical implications for understanding and shaping teachers’ careers in today’s workforce.

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