Exploring Teacher mass resignation and early retirement from public schools

Abstract

The reasons influencing teachers to resign or take early retirements are said to be vast and intertwined. This paper investigates the reasons for mass teacher resignations and early retirements in South Africa. Three circuits were purposively selected. This paper found that the majority of teachers who resigned or opted for early retirements were motivated by pressure of work due to increased workload, low teacher salaries, lack of security and safety and indebtedness of teachers and lack of incentives which demoralise teachers. Based on these findings, it is recommended that the employer should improve conditions of service.