Examining Teacher's Early Retirement: Causes and Solutions from an International School Perspective

Teachers are the builders of a nation who play a vital role in shaping the minds and characters of young individuals.However, the local education sector has faced significant challenges due to the early retirement trend of teachers which further aggravates the teachers' shortage issue in Sarawak.Thus, this qualitative study intended to explore the perceived factors contributing to the early retirement of teachers by purposively selecting two teachers with at least 30 years of teaching experience from a well-established international school in Kuching, Sarawak Malaysia.Grounded in Maslach and Leiter's Burnout Theory and Herzberg's Two-Factor Theory, the study adopted the 2PAP framework to propose retention strategies by analysing retirement dynamics.The research data was collected through two participants via face-to-face semi-structured interviews and subsequently transcribed and analysed in ATLAS.tisoftware through a thematic approach.The research findings revealed eleven contributory factors to teachers' early retirement.Many of these factors align with Maslow's hierarchy of needs, emphasising the importance of addressing teachers' needs for self-growth, autonomy, recognition, and a supportive environment.Furthermore, this study suggested a comprehensive strategy to decrease unfavourable "push" factors and increase favourable "stay" factors for retaining teachers.This paper contributed to the literature on factors influencing early retirement decisions of teachers.It also provided a useful model for future strategies to retain this noble workforce and break the vicious cycle of teacher shortage in Sarawak.