Why do people enter and exit teaching? An evidence-based review

Schools and policymakers are often looking for ways to recruit and retain more teachers to the profession. 38% of teachers in England work in schools where the headteacher reported that a shortage of qualified teachers was hindering the quality of instruction (OECD, 2019).

This has led to a range of studies on why people choose to teach or not, and whether they stay in the profession or leave. Studies looking at how to recruit and retain more teachers have focused on diverse attributes such as financial incentives, working environments and job flexibility.

In this research paper, we bring together the results of 12 previously published job-choice survey experiments from eight countries to offer a holistic review of these attributes. The aim is to help determine what makes teaching attractive or not. The attributes that our review explores are salary, pensions, autonomy, mastery, relatedness, hours, flexibility and paid leave.

We adapted and tested an existing model of what people value about different jobs and tailored this to teaching using the evidence. The aim is for this model and recommendations to support school leaders and policymakers to address these shortages.

Findings
Our review found that:

• All attributes influence teacher recruitment and retention, whether intrinsic (internally motivated) or extrinsic (externally motivated). Existing and potential new teachers value not only the meaning and purpose of teaching (intrinsic), but also salary and working hours (extrinsic).
• Increased salary and generous pension arrangements consistently boost the likelihood of choosing teaching. Long working hours and limited flexibility make the profession less attractive.
• Teachers place more value on salary increases now than on future pension benefits. However, people were willing to trade salary for access to high-quality training. This shows the dual benefit of professional development for both teacher quality and supply.
• When marketing teaching roles or designing policy, education leaders should balance both intrinsic and extrinsic rewards. Professional development, flexible working and additional paid leave emerged as stronger motivators than previously recognised. Reforms in these areas could be as valuable as pay rises.

Read the research
Read a summary of our findings for educators.
Read the findings in full.

Cite this paper:
Sims, S., Lowes-Belk, H., & Routledge, C. (2025). Why do people enter and exit teaching? An interdisciplinary quantitative synthesis. Ambition Institute.