Understanding the factors leading Early Career Teachers of Physics to leave the teaching profession

Thank you for your interest in this research study. I’m currently recruiting former physics teachers to be part of study looking at the reasons why physics teachers leave teaching. We are all aware of the challenges with recruiting and retaining physics teachers, and so this study hopes to identify some of the causes of why physics teachers leave the profession. The findings of this study will be published and disseminated.

I am a former physics teacher and so I am deeply invested in the issues around physics teacher retention. I hope that if you have left physics teaching in the last few years or are about to do so, that you will consider being part of this study. It is only through understanding why teachers leave that we can hope to influence policy.

Those of you who become part of this study will be generously compensated for your time thanks to a research grant supporting this work from The Ogden Trust.

 

What does the study involve?

The study will involve participation in two activities, an online questionnaire taking about 20 minutes, and an interview via MS Teams which will take around one hour and which will be recorded. The questionnaire will collect some background information about your reasons for leaving teaching, your last school (school characteristics only), and your experience of teaching and training. Ahead of the interview you will be supplied with the outline questions for the interview; these will be designed to explore your reasons for leaving teaching and will reflect general themes but may also pursue questions arising from information given in the questionnaire.

Please be assured that all your answers are completely confidential, your data (questionnaire, interview recording and transcription) will be coded such that only I will be able to identify you. In any future report or publication you will be anonymised.

Take your time to read the questions in the questionnaire and I would ask you to answer as truthfully as possible.

The data collected during this study will be used purely for this research project and publication in academic journals. It will be impossible to identify anyone from the data. Should you wish to withdraw from the study at any point you will be able to do so.  Should you leave the survey before getting to the end, these data will not be used.

Your participation compensation will be paid in early 2024, and on the completion of both the questionnaire and the interview.

 

Can I participate?

The key participation criteria will be:

• You are a former physics teacher and have left teaching for reasons other than retirement
• You taught in a state school in England

Priority will be given to those who fulfil some or all the following criteria:

•  You have left teaching since the beginning of 2021
•  You were still in the first five years of teaching (after qualification) at the time they left   teaching
•  You taught in a school in an area of higher socio-economic deprivation (this will be based on the Index of Multiple Deprivations of your  last school – this can be determined using https://www.fscbiodiversity.uk/imd/or with tools on  https://data.cdrc.ac.uk/dataset/index-multiple-deprivation-imd)

How do I sign up?

If you are interested in taking part in this study please email me at mark.whalley@chester.ac.uk

Please copy and paste the numbered questions below, adding Yes or No at the end of questions 1 to 5, and the index of multiple deprivation for your last school after question 6 (see the links above – it is quick and easy to do).

1. I confirm that I have left teaching and that I was a physics teacher     YES/NO
2. I taught in a state school in England    YES/NO
3. I left teaching since January 2021    YES/NO
4. I left teaching for reasons other than retirement    YES/NO
5. I was still in my first five years of teaching after qualification (following initial teacher training)     YES/NO
6. The IMD of my last school is

  

How will I know if I have been selected?

Towards the end of August 2023 I will review all statements of interest and select those that align most closely with the criteria above. I will contact everyone who has expressed an interest by the end of August.

The awkward bit...

I will need to determine that you are a former physics teacher, who has left within the last two years, given that I need to protect the integrity of the research and that you will be receiving a "thank you" for your participation. Please find some form of proof to show me you are who you say you are, and you did what you say you did! Sorry about this.

What happens if I am successful and participate in the study?

·       The first thing I will do is send you a Participant Information Sheet and a consent form. I will need you to sign and return the consent form before we can proceed.

·       You will then receive a link to an online questionnaire which takes about 20 minutes to complete.

·       Once you have completed the questionnaire I will contact to arrange a convenient data and time to conduct the interview. Before we meet I will provide you with an outline of the questions I will be asking.

·       The interview will take place on Teams and it will be recorded. The recording will be transcribed so that I can analyse our conversation.

·      You will be reimbursed in early 2024, this is once all of the data have been collected. Closer to the time I will contact you to explain how the payment will be made.

 

Thank you again for your interest in this research.

 

My background

I am currently a Senior Lecturer in Education at the University of Chester. Before moving to Chester I worked at the Institute of Physics for 5 years, and before that had a long career in teaching and school leadership.

 

Thanks to The Ogden Trust for their support with this study.