Teacher Attrition: Voices of the Disaffected

This study investigated why Queensland teachers have chosen to leave the profession. The Australian Institute of Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) annually conducts the Australian Teacher Workforce Data Survey (ATWD) (AITSL, 2022b) to understand teacher insights and experiences of the profession. Notably, the ATWD survey (AITSL, 2022b) is the experiences of teachers still working in the profession and their anticipated reasons for leaving in the future. Therefore, to gain more knowledge of the true reasons for teacher attrition, this study has specifically focused on teachers who have left the profession. The literature review used Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems theory (Bronfenbrenner, 1979) as the overarching theoretical framework to underpin this study as a way to examine the multiple external influences on a teacher arising within their microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem, and chronosystem. The Professional Capital Framework (PCF) (Hargreaves & Fullan, 2012) provided a foundation for analysing factors which impacted teachers within the school environment. The PCF (Hargreaves & Fullan, 2012) posits three dimensions which influence teacher practice in schools, human capital, social capital and decisional capital. These three dimensions were combined within the systems of the Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems theory and used as a lens to identify the existing constraints, enablers and gaps in teacher attrition and retention. This research took both a phenomenological approach (Diaz, 2023; Alhazmi & Kaufmann, 2022; Patton, 2015) and an interpretivist approach (Ryan, 2018) to understand the lived experiences of 14 teachers predominantly in Queensland who have left the profession. The semi-structured interviews either face to face or on Zoom were conducted from September to November 2025 and explored how teacher longevity can be impacted. The qualitative data 3 as de-identified transcripts were analysed using the software NVivo. The data was then analysed using a thematic approach (Braun & Clarke, 2006) and an iterative approach (Kekeya, 2016) which identified emerging key patterns and themes. The findings have outlined the reasons teachers stay in the profession were for student learning, their relationships with students, economic security and a positive school culture. The main reasons contributing to the participants decision to leave were unrealistic expectations, teacher voice, student behaviour, leadership, and a low school culture. This study has provided insights into understanding the experiences of Queensland teachers who have left the profession in the last five years. The findings outline concerns for a teacher’s high workload, an unsustainable work life balance, the prevalence of daily verbal and physical violence, and the disrespect of teachers by other stakeholders. Recommendation from this study, include the importance of a positive school culture to support student learning and behaviour. Further changes are required to reduce a teacher’s workload to ensure a balanced work life balance. Presently, due to these findings there are concerns for teacher safety and their general wellbeing.