Should I stay or should I go? Physical education teachers' career intentions

2014

Purpose: This study investigated Finnish physical education (PE) teachers’ intentions to leave the profession and the reasons behind them. Method: A large sample (N ¼ 808) of PE teachers who graduated between 1980 and 2008 (432 women, 376 men) answered a modified job satisfaction and teacher follow-up questionnaire that elicited career perceptions, intentions, and current work duties. Results: In this sample, 26% of the respondents were contemplating leaving their jobs as PE teachers and an additional 13% were actually in the process of transferring from PE teaching but planned to remain in school teaching. To determine the reasons for considering leaving the PE teaching profession, princip…