Understanding the dynamics of teacher dropout

A steady rise in teacher attrition

Over the past two decades, in France and in most OECD countries, the media and scientific research have highlighted a steady and worrying increase in the phenomenon of teachers dropping out of the profession, particularly among younger people. However, these analyses often confuse "teacher dropout" with "abandonment of the profession". One of the main contributions of this research is to clarify these two distinct but related situations. 

Leaving teaching is not a decision taken lightly, or overnight, but a deliberate and gradual process that takes place over time. Dropping out represents the intention to leave, where teachers remain in post but experience a situation of retention-resignation, what is called passive or silent abandonment. Abandonment, on the other hand, is the definitive departure from the education system, and may be the culmination, or final action, of the teachers' dropout phase.

What drives people to leave? What motivates people to stay?

To demonstrate this, scientists have explored the dropout phenomenon by studying teachers' social representations of the causes that drive them to leave teaching and the factors that motivate them to stay. This dual analysis provides us with crucial information on the elements that encourage the intention to leave and those that protect teachers against this growing phenomenon. It also enables us to go beyond the negative media perspective to provide a more nuanced understanding of this phenomenon. Understanding these dynamics through social representations offers valuable insights for developing environments conducive to teacher retention and well-being, thus facilitating intervention and prevention strategies targeting the key elements linked to their experience between retention and resignation to the profession.

Teachers' relationship with their students is decisive

This exploratory study reveals that teachers' relationship with their students is decisive for their motivation to continue their careers. As long as they feel useful to their students, manage their classes well and maintain good relations with them, their motivation remains strong. On the other hand, when these relationships deteriorate, teachers consider leaving the profession. Support from parents also plays an important role. Many teachers express their intention to leave when they lose this link with pupils and parents, and receive no support from their hierarchy in the face of these difficulties - the phrase used by many teachers here is: spare the parents and pupils in spite of the teachers, even if the teacher is the victim. They also criticize an initial training program that prepares them for an idealized vision of teaching, without equipping them to handle complex situations of this kind.

Leaving or staying in the profession: an internal battle

This work suggests that the teacher dropout phase, characterized by a teacher's decision to leave or stay in the profession, is often made at the cost of an internal battle. Between the satisfaction of sharing their passion for teaching and the stress of facing endless challenges, teachers in the drop-out phase are put to the test of endurance in this phase of silent abandonment. Confronting the financial dilemma - leaving for more lucrative prospects or staying for stability - is omnipresent.

But it is also a struggle to preserve their teaching vocation in the face of a society that discredits them, a school life that psychologically exhausts them, and political reforms that disorientate them. Teachers feel like soldiers without borders, bombarded by new administrative and pedagogical demands, with no human or material resources to meet them. Teachers express dissatisfaction with the work overload that encroaches on their private lives, while acknowledging the benefits of flexible working hours and long vacations. The drop-out phase is a real double-edged sword, where motivating factors and drop-out factors merge. And yet, they continue to struggle to preserve their professional identity, oscillating between valuing their profession and devaluing it. In this way, they go through phases where retention and resignation intermingle with abandonment.