Primary School Teacher Retention in England: Neoliberal Influences on Experienced Teachers’ Professional Identities in a Dynamic Educational Climate

Douglas, Nathan William (2025) Primary School Teacher Retention in England: Neoliberal Influences on Experienced Teachers’ Professional Identities in a Dynamic Educational Climate. Doctoral thesis, Birmingham City University.

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Abstract

With more than one-in-ten teachers leaving the profession by the end of their first year of teaching, rising to over 40% after ten years (Maisuria, Roberts, Long and Danechi, 2023), primary teacher retention in England is highly problematic. My study responded to a dearth of research in the primary teacher retention context by addressing the motivational drivers of long-term teachers and the need to further explore how to retain teachers in the profession.

Therefore, my thesis examined the perceptions of nine experienced primary school teachers. ‘Experienced’, in the context of this study, refers to teachers who have worked for six or more consecutive years, full-time, in English primary schools. My study explored the teachers’ beliefs about neoliberal accountability measures, such as high stakes testing, their teacher professional identity (TPI), and their reasons for remaining in teaching. From the researcher’s position as an ‘inbetweener researcher’, which harnessed the benefits of both ‘insider’ and ‘outsider’ stances, this study generated qualitative data, via online semi-structured interviews and reflective journals. Data were analysed using Reflexive Thematic Analysis (Braun and Clarke, 2022). Dialogical Self Theory (DST) was applied as this study’s theoretical framework to the concept of teacher professional identity, as a way in which to explore the nine teachers’ daily experiences in schools.

Findings strongly suggest that many neoliberal values and principles were active and present forces in the participants’ schools. To illuminate the multiple intricacies of neoliberal policies and practices, this study is the first of its kind to re-think neoliberalism in the English primary school context through the lens of DST, to account for its strong relationship with these teachers and their professional identities. Positioning neoliberalism through the DST framework demonstrated how the teachers in this study have developed selfless TPIs; ones that are adaptable, flexible, reflective in nature and driven by the teachers’ sense of purpose, and motivations for teaching. Teachers in this study can manage any TPI conflict that they experience, remaining in the profession as they achieve a sense of harmony and balance within and across their multiple identities, which was more substantial than any negative feelings from TPI dissonance. Therefore, their TPIs were found to be a retentive force for the teachers of this study.

Recommendations are made for TPI to prominently feature in schools’ and national policy, and schools actively collaborate with teachers to develop and sustain a TPI conducive to primary school teacher retention. Teachers’ professional identities in this study evolved across their careers, making it essential for TPI to be embedded in the education policy context. This should be achieved through the centralisation of TPI knowledge and understanding from the onset of a teacher’s career. For trainee teachers, this integration should be done via their teacher training providers and the Initial Teacher Training Early Career Framework (ITTECF); schools must then build on this during the first two years of teachers qualifying as an Early Careers Teacher (ECT) by means of the Early Career Framework (ECF). Beyond the ECT phase, mentors must play a pivotal role in nurturing and reinforcing strong TPIs to ensure long-term professional growth and retention.

Item Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Dates:	Date Event 12 June 2025 Accepted
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Primary school, Teacher, Retention, Neoliberal, Neoliberalism, Identity, Accountability, Dialogical self theory
Subjects:	CAH04 - psychology > CAH04-01 - psychology > CAH04-01-01 - psychology (non-specific) CAH15 - social sciences > CAH15-01 - sociology, social policy and anthropology > CAH15-01-03 - social policy CAH15 - social sciences > CAH15-01 - sociology, social policy and anthropology > CAH15-01-06 - cultural studies CAH15 - social sciences > CAH15-03 - politics > CAH15-03-01 - politics CAH22 - education and teaching > CAH22-01 - education and teaching > CAH22-01-02 - teacher training
Divisions:	Doctoral Research College > Doctoral Theses Collection Faculty of Health, Education and Life Sciences > College of Education and Social Work
Depositing User:	Louise Muldowney
Date Deposited:	19 Jun 2025 12:21
Last Modified:	19 Jun 2025 12:21
URI:	https://www.open-access.bcu.ac.uk/id/eprint/16437

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