Identity, agency, parenthood, and balance: Examining influential factors on former practitioners’ decisions to leave P12 education

Abstract

Underpinned by theories of professional socialization, teacher identity, and post-structural feminism, this narrative study investigated the experiences of five former practitioners who worked in rural, suburban, and urban P12 school contexts across the United States. Four former teachers and one former counselor participated in a series of four individual interviews over the course of one year to describe influential factors on their decisions to leave the field. Findings revealed conflicts with the practitioners’ professional identities, limitations in their professional agency, conflicts between their identities as parents and professionals, and enduring competition related to work-life balance. Their stories provide insight into the lived experiences of practitioners who decided to leave within five years of entering the education field, as well as shed light on persistent and emergent issues related to gender inequity and the influence of COVID-19 on the educational landscape, respectively.