Attrition and profile of mid-career teachers in Western Australian public schools

Janine E Wyatt
Department of Education Western Australia, Australia
Michael O'Neill
The University of Notre Dame Australia, Australia

This quantitative study focuses on Australian mid-career teachers' (MCTs) attrition and profiles those who stayed, left, or returned. The population included 6108 MCTs employed with the Department of Education Western Australia from 2004 to 2014. Findings showed more MCTs stayed, than left, or returned. MCTs who stayed were predominantly male, senior teachers, early childhood and primary teachers, teaching science, working full-time, permanently employed, and in metropolitan locations. These findings were aligned with Mason and Poyatos Matas's (2015) four-capital model which was then expanded to a five-capital model to include career capital and more themes were added under human capital, positive psychological capital, and structural capital. This five-capital model provides a comprehensive depiction of the multitude of factors that interact with one another surrounding MCT attrition. It will assist policymakers and school leaders to create policies and develop strategies to support MCTs and encourage them to stay in the teaching profession.
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Authors: Janine E. Wyatt (corresponding author) is a principal consultant in the Department of Education, Western Australia. Her research interests include teacher workforce supply and demand with a focus on attrition and retention of early career teachers and mid-career teachers. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1519-3899 Email: janinewyatt57@gmail.com Michael O'Neill is a Professor of Education at The University of Notre Dame Australia's Fremantle campus. His research interests include teacher education, educational leadership, curriculum studies and positive psychology. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7021-9812 Email: michael.oneill@nd.edu.au Please cite as: Wyatt, J. E. & O'Neill, M. (2025). Attrition and profile of mid-career teachers in Western Australian public schools. Issues in Educational Research, 35(2), 861-880. http://www.iier.org.au/iier35/wyatt.pdf