Why Teachers Leave Teaching: The Case of Private Schools in Turkey

The purpose of this study is to uncover the reasons behind private school teachers leaving the profession. The research design was determined as a phenomenological method. For this purpose, we conducted interviews using a semi-structured questionnaire consisting of questions with 9 teachers who have either left the profession or intend to leave. We decided on nine participants for the study via the snowball sampling method. The data was obtained through face-to-face interviews and were analyzed using content analysis. As a result of the analysis, we revealed four main themes “profession-specific experiences”, “experiences in private educational institutions”, “opportunities”, and “recommendations”. At the end of the study, we concluded that the most significant reasons for teachers working in private educational institutions to leave the profession were the transformation of the profession, workload, and low salaries. We recommend improving the working conditions in private schools to prevent teachers from leaving the profession.