Teacher Attrition: The Former Teachers’ Perspectives in the Bhutanese Context

Abstract

Aims: To examine why professional teachers leave teaching and what measures the stakeholders could adopt to retain them. Study Design: A qualitative research design. Place and Duration of Study: It was conducted in Bhutan, and it took one year. Methodology: Data were collected from 15 former teachers through semi-structured interviews and written responses to open-ended questionnaires. Qualitative data were analyzed using directed content analysis technique. Findings: Analyses of the data revealed four findings. They are human, social, structural, and psychological capitals. However, as structural and psychological capitals were either the cause or the result of human and social capitals, the findings were subsumed into human and social capitals. Conclusions: This study examined reasons for teacher attrition from the perspective of former teachers. Based on the analyses of the data, two measures are suggested for teacher retention. These measures are renovating or building new physical structures and revamping leadership selection procedures.