‘I finally switched from the teaching course to a business one’: a serendipitous longitudinal study of a TESOL student-teacher’s resignation

Teacher attrition remains a persistent challenge, particularly among early-career educators, with language teachers facing distinct systemic barriers such as job insecurity, undervaluation, and emotional labour. While existing studies predominantly focus on in-service teachers, pre-service teacher attrition remains underexplored, limiting the development of effective interventions to support student-teachers. This study addresses this gap by examining the case of a pre-service teacher from China, who was enroled in a Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages programme at a Malaysian university and later left teacher education for business studies. Adopting a longitudinal qualitative approach, we thematically and temporally analysed 13 semi-structured interviews conducted over nearly two years. The findings reveal that the participant’s departure was driven by a mismatch between teaching realities and initial aspirations, psychological strain and burnout, inadequate skill development and support, concerns over the recognition and transferability of the degree, and the relocation of career identity. These factors were contextualised through the interplay of human, social, structural, and psychological capital constraints, alongside relational, comparative, and agentic capital influences, manifesting through contradictory, socialising, dislocating, and evolutionary routines in careership. The study has significant implications for teacher education programmes and the broader educational community in fostering teacher retention and promoting a more sustainable teaching profession.