Professional identity and late‐career transitions: A narrative study of Swedish retired special educators

Abstract This paper examines how teacher identity shapes late‐career decisions and post‐retirement trajectories among Swedish special educators within a policy context encouraging extended working lives. The term special educator refers to professionals currently designated as special educational needs coordinators (SENCOs) and special education teachers. Drawing on narrative interviews with 11 retired women (ages 64–84), the study conceptualizes identity as dynamic, relational and performed in interaction. Three themes structure the findings. First, an enduring pedagogical self (‘I know how’) sustains meaning and commitment but may hinder adaptation when reforms or digitalization conflict with core professional values. Second, an ‘us–them’ dynamic highlights how organizational change and lack of recognition can prompt exit as an identity‐protective act rather than a response to declining capacity. Third, professional identity persists beyond retirement, relocating into family, community and occasional consultancy, though its enactment depends on receptive audiences. The study reframes late‐career ‘resistance’ as value‐based refusal and introduces the concepts of identity‐protective exit and distributed teacherhood. Policy implications suggest that extending working life requires extending recognition—of expertise, professional values, and identity‐congruent work conditions.