Challenges and benefits of employing retired teachers to teach based on their lived experience

Introduction: In a world whose population is rapidly aging, elderly people play an important role in performing voluntary activities transferring their knowledge and experience. The aim of the current research was to study the challenges and benefits of employing retired teachers to teach based on their lived experiences. Method: The current research was conducted with a qualitative approach and phenomenological method. The target group of the research was the retired teachers who were teaching in the academic year of 2023-2024 in Yazd, and 11 of them were selected as a sample using the criterion-based purposeful sampling method. The research tool was a semi-structured in-depth interview and the interviews continued until the theoretical saturation stage. The data were analyzed using the Colaizzi method. The study ensured the reliability of its findings through triangulation, member validation, expert evaluation, cooperative research, and continuous researcher reflection. Findings: In total, six main themes and 38 sub-themes were identified. Three main themes related to merits are: merits related to a retired person (including 6 sub-themes), skills related to teaching and classroom management (including 9 sub-themes), and communication and interpersonal skills (including 11 sub-themes). The three main themes of challenges are: individual and interpersonal challenges (with 5 sub-themes), organizational and administrative challenges (with 4 sub-themes), and social challenges (with 3 sub-themes). Discussion: Based on the findings, retired teachers, with their experiences and skills, can improve the quality of education, but individual and organizational challenges require special attention. Therefore, creating appropriate support systems to better utilize their capacities is essential.