Factors Triggering Iranian EFL Teachers’ Attrition Risk in Different Organizational Settings: The Case of Private Institutes vs. Public Schools

Abstract

The present paper made an extensive effort to recognize the most immediate factors (teacher characteristics, i.e. teaching experience, teacher preparation, teaching conditions, student variables, external support, and salary) which perceived to trigger EFL teacher’s attrition risk in both Iranian private language institutes and public schools. The second aim of this study was to observe whether there existed any significant difference between private English language institute teachers and public school English teachers in terms of their view points on attrition-triggering factors. In order to accomplish this, a grand total of 100 EFL teachers were conveniently sampled from both private and public schools in Fars and Sistan and Baluchestan provinces in Iran. In order to gather the required data, the researchers distributed a 5-point Likert scale questionnaire among the respondents which was adapted from Hancock and Scherff (2010). The finding from this study uncovered that the most significant predictor of teacher attrition in public schools was teaching conditions (47.6%), while the most significant predictor of teacher attrition in private institutes was teaching experience (41.4%). These findings are discussed with reference to relevant studies and the implications are mentioned.