Teachers' Experiences That Challenge Their Decision to Continue: What Teachers Really Need

Increasing global teacher attrition rates and the difficulty of filling teacher positions in Australian schools have led to rising concerns about teacher supply and demand. While attrition factors and rates have been known for over thirty years, little has changed or improved. This raises the question, 'how and why do some teachers continue while others leave?' A postqualitative ethnographic study into the experiences that have challenged teachers' decision to continue highlights the complexity of the issues underlying teacher attrition with known attrition factors, in particular workplace and time, being compounded by unspoken and silenced challenges that contribute to teachers leaving. Reducing attrition rates requires a closer examination of teachers' workplace experiences, openness and acceptance of their realities, and acknowledgment of the complex issues underlying attrition. In turn, there is a need to better support and equip preservice and early career teachers for the realities of teaching to ensure career sustainability.