Exploring teacher retention in Denmark as an entangled phenomenon: how and why retention rates vary within and across municipalities

Drawing on agential realism and critical cultural geography, this article sets out to explore teacher retention in Denmark as an entangled phenomenon with a particular focus on how and why retention rates vary within and across municipalities and on gaining insights into temporal, spatial, social and political entanglements. With register data from Statistics Denmark showing that teacher retention rates not only vary across but also within municipal borders, as well as fluctuating over time, we explore three cases in the form of three municipalities selected to maximise inter-case variation: Municipality X is located in a metropolitan area with a relatively high retention rate and below-average variation among schools within the municipality; Municipality Y is located in a provincial town with a medium retention rate and variation among schools within the municipality close to the national average; and Municipality Z, which includes both urban and rural areas, with a relatively low retention rate and above-average variation among the municipality’s schools. The study points to spacetime-specific agencies that enact significant variations in teacher retention both across and within municipalities.