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Retention of secondary school teachers: what motivates them to stay? A narrative ethnographic study of five teachers' lived experiences of ongoing commitment to their profession
Felton, Lauren
Felton, Lauren
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2024-02
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Thesis
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Abstract
This thesis uses narrative methodology to explore the ongoing career journeys of five secondary schoolteachers in England, presented from my perspective as a former schoolteacher. I aimed to understand how and why they remained committed to their profession by gaining insight into their professional motivation and their means of reconciling known demotivators associated with teacher attrition. I developed flexible mixed methods to capture a snapshot of their individual professional experiences. During the Covid pandemic of 2020, the year self-isolation and social distancing entered our lexicon, I conducted semi-structured interviews which were used to create thematic networks, and transposed the hand-transcribed accounts to third person narratives which participants had the opportunity to comment on. The methodology aimed to construct a three-dimensional research space (Clandinin, 2006), incorporating participants’ interaction with others, the continuity of their experience, and the situation(s) they inhabited. I draw on the work of Stronach et al. (2002) to show that the three components of motivation collectively referred to as Self-Determination Theory (SDT) (Ryan & Deci, 2000b) occur within divided, pluralistic, conflicted professional identities. The findings show how the first component of SDT, competence, becomes interwoven with the principles and language of performativity; how the second, relatedness, is complicated by competing allegiances which undermine teacher security; and that the third, autonomy, is always limited. I elicit a sense of fulfilment as an additional feature of motivation and identify acceptance as a further contributor to teachers’ ongoing commitment. I conclude that whilst teacher motivation is shifting and individualised, as are the conflicted professional identities underpinning reasons to teach, both motivation and identity are always a response to the circumstances and system of which they are products. The study shows that motivated teachers are generally able to maintain a positive outlook despite the tensions they must navigate, as long as they perceive an omnipresent possibility to alter their path.
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Felton, L. (2024). Retention of secondary school teachers: what motivates them to stay? A narrative ethnographic study of five teachers' lived experiences of ongoing commitment to their profession [Unpublished doctoral thesis]. University of Chester.
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University of Chester
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Thesis or dissertation
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en