| Summary: | Abstract
This study employs both written and spoken narratives to unearth the
factors underpinning the decision made by five outstanding teachers to
leave the profession. Despite teacher recruitment numbers increasing
turnover rates remain high, provoking calls for further research into the
retention of the most successful teachers.
This research asks whether the success and experience of the participants,
including their promotions to managerial roles, negatively impacted upon
their efficacy and commitment. It also considers the role played by their
political and institutional leaders in their retention.
In listening to and analysing the participants' stories, a series of tensions
are arrived at regarding the factors found to have affected their decision
to resign. The most significant of which is the emphasis placed on
performativity by their political and institutional leaders. This dominant
agenda conflicted with the intrinsic motivations of the participants, their
ideology and their desire for professional autonomy in their managerial
roles, as well as in their classrooms.
The study concludes therefore that performance based policy, the support
given to this agenda by their school leaders, as well as the effect of the
participants' own career development had the greatest impact on their
decision to leave the profession, despite their success and experience
within it.
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