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IJEM
24,6 Early career teachers’ quit
intentions: implications
for teacher education
478
Mohan Raju Pamu
University of Delhi, Delhi, India

Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify what job-related, individual, and
profession-related variables cause the intention to quit teaching among the early career teachers,
especially teachers of Ethiopia.
Design/methodology/approach – Quit intentions were measured adapting the scale developed by
Mueller and Lawler, and 11 profession-related and person-related job variables were measured by
author-developed and literature-derived scale items on a five-point Likert scale, along with five status
variables. Data were analyzed from a sample of 308 early career teachers belonging to secondary and
preparatory schools of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Findings – An alarming 53 per cent sample expressed high quit intention whereas only 13 per cent
teachers showed low quit intentions. Choice satisfaction (accounting 44 per cent variance), availability
of other job opportunities (23 per cent variance), perceived status (15 per cent variance), and
self-accountability (13 per cent variance) emerged as predictor variables. None of the five status
variables emerged as significant predictors. Commitment to teaching profession was not a significant
predictor, suggesting the two concepts independent of each other.
Research limitations/implications – Providing freedom of choice at entry level to teaching
profession coupled with enhancing rigour in pre-service education was suggested as major steps
required for decreasing high-level quit intentions.
Practical implications – Education policy needs to be such that for preparation of teachers of
secondary and preparatory level, pre-service teacher education students should have attained maturity
of adulthood with a minimum academic attainment of a post-undergraduate level or a post-graduate
level. This is to enable early career teachers to handle adolescence-level school students by being
equipped with better skills learned during pre-service teacher education.
Originality/value – The results are pertinent not only to Ethiopia but also to any less developed or a
developing country, where “catch them early” policy is followed for pre-service education and where
less rigorous pre-service education exists.
Keywords Teachers, Ethiopia, Job satisfaction, Employee turnover, Career development
Paper type Research paper

1. Introduction
Most organizations and governments not only strive to implement strategies for
attracting personnel but also strive to make more value of existing employees and
attempt to reduce turnover. Most of the models explaining withdrawal intentions
assume a sequence from the work environment, through affective reaction to the
International Journal of Educational job/profession, to the decision to remain, or to leave the job/profession. Early defectors
Management from the teaching profession were found to be staggering somewhere around 30 per cent
Vol. 24 No. 6, 2010
pp. 478-491 among the new entrants, and by the time their fifth year passed, another 20-30 per cent
q Emerald Group Publishing Limited defected in other countries (Mark and Anderson, 1985; Schlechty and Vance, 1983). The
0951-354X
DOI 10.1108/09513541011067665 purpose of this paper is to identify what job-related, individual, and profession-related
variables cause the intention to quit teaching, especially among the early career teachers Teachers’ quit
of Ethiopia. intentions
Occupational choice may be the result of an individual’s deliberately planned and
purposeful rationalizations or people with certain personality traits are attracted
towards particular occupations or that people chose teaching primarily because of the
extrinsic motivations or of social pressures (Holland, 1973). Others (Blau and Duncan,
1967) argue that career choice is the outcome of combined influences exerted by personal 479
aspirations and one’s character together with situational and social constraints.
Furthermore, many young people, being at the most idealistic stage in their lives, are
motivated by the desire or the ideal to serve to the community. Another group to whom
teaching appeals are those students who develop special interests and proficiency in
favorite subjects and come to regard teaching as a career which could offer the best
opportunities of fostering such interests. This aspect of career choice has great
significance in a restricted occupational environment. Farrugia (1986) and many
researchers argued that teachers’ career choice is determined by a combination of
personal and social forces, which may be both intrinsic and extrinsic to pedagogical
commitment.
Quit intentions are understood in organizational behaviour research through
variables as diverse as demographic characteristics, pecuniary conditions, and
non-pecuniary psychological and organizational conditions. Results pertaining to
demographic characteristics have shown consistent negative relationship of age and
tenure with quit intentions, whereas mixed results seem to have been shown for other
demographic characteristics.
An individual’s quit intentions can be described as a psychological response to
specific organizational conditions which fall on a continuum of organizational
withdrawal behaviours ranging from daydreaming to the thought of quitting; the
intention to search for job elsewhere; the intention to quit, the physical act of turnover
(Kraut, 1975; Mobley et al., 1978); and behaviours such as absenteeism, tardiness, and
actual turnover (Griffeth et al., 2000; Vandenberg and Nelson, 1999; Lachman and
Aranya, 1986; Baysinger and Mobley, 1983; Cotton and Tuttle, 1986; Mowday et al.,
1982). Many empirical studies confirm the important role of organizational
commitment in the process of turnover (Lin and Chen, 2004; Susskind et al., 2000;
van Breukelen et al., 2004). These studies generally indicate that an individual’s
turnover intentions are negatively related to job satisfaction and organizational
commitment. Employees who are highly committed to their organization are less likely
to leave than employees who are relatively uncommitted (Joiner et al., 2004; Near,
1989). However, the relationship between career commitment and continuance
commitment has been found to be negative and indicates an inconsistency between the
theoretical and the empirical levels. A recent meta-analysis by Lee et al. (2000) reported
a weak negative correlation between these constructs.
Withdrawal intention from the occupation develops over a longer period of time as
compared to the withdrawal intention from an organization, mainly because it is an
easier decision to leave an organization than to leave an occupation (Blau, 2000).
It should be noted that studies have concentrated on employee withdrawal intentions
for an organization, despite the acknowledged importance of distinction between
withdrawal intentions such as leaving an organization and occupation (Blau, 2000;
Blau and Boal, 1989; Cohen, 1993). Withdrawal intentions from an occupation may be
IJEM predicted from career or occupational commitment. Meyer et al. (1993) reported that
24,6 occupational commitment accounted for the variation in the intention to leave the
occupation more than organizational commitment did.
Nevertheless, human resource specialists often treat turnover intentions as the most
direct precursor of turnover behaviour. Steel and Ovalle (1984) observed that turnover
intent was correlated with actual turnover at r ¼ 0.50 across cumulative studies.
480 A more recent meta-analysis found that the magnitude of the relationship was 0.45
(Griffeth et al., 2000). Allen and Meyer (1990) argue that the intention to leave the
organization is negatively related to all the three components of organizational
commitment. Nevertheless, Kalbers and Fogarty (1995) did not find the relation
between the commitment and the intention to leave. The association between intent
and actual quitting is, of course, far from perfect – some intentions do not materialize
and some resignations are impulsive (Mobley, 1982).

1.1 Research on teachers’ quit intentions

Intrinsic and extrinsic rewards provided by the work environment are perhaps the
most frequently studied predictors of withdrawal. Studies on teachers’ actual turnover
and turnover intentions have come to different conclusions regarding the effect of these
two. There is greater importance attributed to the affiliation of teachers with the
service sector where work motivation is assumed to be more closely associated with
intrinsic rewards than extrinsic ones (Kalbers and Fogarty, 1995). Some other elements
of teachers’ work environment were also found to have an effect on their withdrawal,
such as class size, administrative and teaching loads, and availability of teaching
materials and aids (Kalbers and Fogarty, 1995). Smart (1990) found that younger
faculty and those who have lower levels of organizational and career satisfaction are
more likely to leave their institutions. Kam-cheung and Kwok-kai (1995) found that
teachers with less job satisfaction, who did not choose teaching as their first career
choice and who had frequently changed schools, had stronger intention to resign. Falch
and Strom (2005) found that teachers with high share of minority students and high
share of students with special needs tend to leave schools. Lachman and Diamant
(1987) showed that teaching load and social relations influenced turnover intentions for
male samples, whereas female sample showed that intrinsic rewards influence
turnover intentions. Among males, age was found as a significant restraint but it was
not so among females.
Consistent with previous studies, Carmeli and Gefen (2005) reported that the highest
correlation exists between career commitment and withdrawal intentions from the
occupation and inverse correlation between affective commitment and withdrawal
intentions from the organization. These findings are consistent with Lee et al. (2000)
who reported that occupational commitment was strongly correlated with occupational
turnover intention.
Research also indicates some restraining factors from withdrawal. Losing accrued
advantages may deter employees from leaving, even when their reactions to the
job/profession/organization are negative. Hence, these factors restrain the intent to
leave. Older age or tenure implies reduced opportunities for alternative employment.
Accumulation of job-specific/profession-specific work experience, eligibility for
financial and social benefits, etc. are some of the restraining factors (Dowrkin, 1980;
Price and Mueller, 1981).
 Studies of teachers’ turnover intentions have identified restraining factors, such as Teachers’ quit
greater personal investment in the job, status within the particular school or in the intentions
society, and specificity of teachers’ training. School system offers teachers relatively
limited opportunities for either hierarchical or horizontal mobility. Advancement is very
limited and so the social standing becomes a highly valued asset; formal or informal
assumptions of roles, duties, and responsibilities beyond regular teaching may restrain
the intent to stay or leave (Lachman and Diamant, 1987). Grissmer and Kirby (1987) 481
stated that the main reason for teachers leaving teaching jobs is for better promotional
avenues, improved salary, and better assignments. For Rosenholtz (1989),
dissatisfaction with the conditions of work may manifest dramatically in a decision to
defect from teaching. Most teachers derive their strongest rewards from positive and
academically successful relations with individual students and from the external
recognition they receive from colleagues, parents, and principals (McLaughlin et al.,
1985; Rosenholtz, 1989). It is not unexpected that absence of psychic rewards figures
largely into teachers’ dissatisfaction, absenteeism, and desire to leave the teaching
(Bredson et al., 1983; Kasten, 1984; Rosenholtz, 1989).
Beginning teachers are vulnerable to withdrawal intentions because of early
frustrations encountered either as a result of inadequate pre-service preparation or lack
of administrative and collegial support which seemingly discourages novices from their
careers in teaching. Previous studies have described the first years of teaching as a time
of severe disillusionment for the new teacher (Gaede, 1978). Other frustrations beginners
encounter are well founded. Generally, they are initially assigned the most difficult and
challenging classes to teach (Denscombe, 1985; Griffin et al., 1983; Sizemore et al., 1986).
It is proposed that teachers’ perceptions of their work environment lead to an affective
reaction to the job/profession, which may in turn develop their intention to leave.

2. Method of the study

2.1 Variables and their measurement
The study’s focus was on identifying the variables contributing to quit intentions. Quit
intention was considered as dependent variable and profession-related variables as
independent variables. Of the 17 independent variables included, eight were
profession-related variables, namely, perceived status, perceived challenge, perceived
advancement, interest in profession, social support, group attitudes, job satisfaction,
and commitment to the profession, and nine were job-related person variables, viz.,
external expectations, desire to improve skills, inner direction, religiosity,
self-accountability, intrinsic motivation, choice satisfaction, desire to utilize skills,
and other job opportunities.
Measurement of quit intentions. The four-item quit intention scale was adapted
from the scale developed by Mueller and Lawler (1999). The authors reported 0.70
alpha reliability.
Measurement of independent variables. The measurement of these variables was
based on adopting some available scale items and also by developing scale items by the
researcher. Each of the 17 variables was measured with different number of items. Some
items were prepared by the author and some were based on the items available in the
literature. Also, five items were included to collect the teachers’ status information such
as gender, qualification, designation, extra role, and years of experience to ensure the
confidentiality of their responses; teachers were requested to avoid writing their name.
IJEM 2.2 Translation of the questionnaire
24,6 Though the study participants were teachers of secondary and preparatory levels,
presenting items in the local language (Amharic) was thought to make teachers’ task
easy compared to presenting items in English language. Hence, keeping in view of
Merenda’s (2006) suggestions, effort was made to get the questionnaire translated by two
bilingual English language teachers teaching in preparatory schools in Addis Ababa.
482
2.3 Final study
2.3.1 Sample. In the ten sub-cities (administrative districts) in Addis Ababa city, there
are 54 schools of secondary and preparatory level. In these schools, the number of
teachers differed from school to school: government schools were found having
teachers large in numbers, and private schools differed in number of teachers
depending on the size of the school. From the ten sub-cities, pilot data were collected
from one sub-city and final data were collected from six sub-cities. Of the six sub-cities,
teachers from 38 schools participated.
Sampling procedure. Where a large number of teachers were present in a school,
around 30 per cent teachers were randomly selected, and where there were less than
15 teacher population, around 50 per cent sample teachers were randomly selected for
participation. Although 643 questionnaires were received from teachers, 17 were
discarded due to incompleteness or unacceptable response pattern resulting in 626 final
sample of the larger study. Among this sample, 308 teachers were considered as “early
career teachers” whose teaching experience ranged up to five years.
Initially, a pilot study was conducted on a sample of 76 teachers (from three schools
which were other than the final sample schools) for testing the suitability of the
measuring items and to establish reliability of the variables. After item analysis for the
discrimination index and item-total correlation for the items in each variable, the final
questionnaire was prepared. Thus, the total number of items in questionnaire was 78.
The sample teachers responded on a five-point scale with options “To a large extent” to
“To a very less extent/the least extent”.
Responses obtained from final sample were further subjected to item analysis before
the data were analyzed. After testing for item discrimination and item-total
correlations for each variable, the reliability that was found on final sample (626) and
on early career teachers’ sample (308) is presented in Table I.
2.3.2 Empirical properties of quit intention scale.
Item-total correlations. Item-total correlations of this scale on pilot sample (n ¼ 76)
were high in magnitude. They were also high in magnitude on the final sample and on
the sample of early career teachers.
Reliability. Cronbach alpha reliability on larger sample (n ¼ 626) was found to be
0.78, whereas alpha reliability on the sample of early career teachers (n ¼ 308) was
found to be 0.763. This reliability was comparable to the reliability reported by Mueller
and Lawler (1999).
Factorial validity. The data on the final sample (626) were subjected to factor
analysis by principal component analysis with varimax rotation. This resulted in
a single factor solution, with 57.19 per cent variance accounted for, indicating that all
the items were measuring a single-factor of quit intentions.
2.3.3 Empirical properties of scale items of independent variables. The scale items of
various independent variables were subjected to item analysis including item
 Teachers’ quit
a a
Variable name Items n ¼ 308 n ¼ 626 intentions
Quit intention 4 0.76 0.78
Perceived status 5 0.73 0.69
Social support 5 0.66 0.66
Group attitudes 4 0.71 0.69 483
Self-accountability 3 0.62 0.49
Desire for skill improvement 4 0.78 0.77
Religiosity 5 0.89 0.88
Intrinsic motivation 4 0.65 0.61
Choice satisfaction 2 0.69 0.71
Desire for skill utilization 2 0.69 0.65 Table I.
Other job opportunities 2 0.63 0.65 Cronbach alpha
Extra role involvement 1 – – reliabilities on beginner
Commitment to the profession 5 0.66 0.70 teachers and total sample

discrimination, item-total correlation, and reliability. The result of the item analysis
enabled to identify the best items measuring a variable and to decide on the variable’s
inclusion in the final data analysis. A number of variables were found to have
unacceptable reliability, even though the item-total correlations were high.
On the basis of obtained reliabilities, six variables that had shown unacceptable
reliability were dropped from further analysis of the data from the initial list of
17 variables. The dropped variables were perceived challenge, perceived advancement,
interest in the profession, external expectations, inner direction, and job satisfaction.
The final data analysis was done with 11 independent variables listed in Table I.

3. Results
The results are presented below by description of the sample on the background
characteristics followed by description of the sample on the study variables.
Correlation of the independent variables with quit intention is also presented followed
by analysis of predictor variables on the quit intention.
The sample of 308 early career teachers on their status information revealed no
significant differences among the respective categories on all five status variables.
The distribution of the early career teachers on their quit intentions was found to be
negatively skewed. Higher score indicated higher the intention to leave the teaching
profession. A large number of teachers were willing to “defect” from teaching profession
if there is a chance. Data also revealed that teachers’ quit intension progressively
increased as their teaching experience progressed from year 1 to year 5.
An attempt was made to categorize the quit intention into low, medium, and high
intention as the quit intention could be measured on a five-point Likert-type scale.
A score 8 and below was considered “low” intention whereas a score 16 and above was
considered “high” intention. The data revealed that of 308 early career teachers,
164 teachers (53 per cent) were considered to have high quit intentions where as only
42 teachers (13 per cent) expressed low quit intentions.
The quit intentions of early career teachers’ frequencies by status variables are
presented in Tables II-IV.
IJEM When a comparison was made between low quit intention and high quit intention
24,6 teachers in relation to their gender, of 164 high quit intention teachers 141 were males.
In other words, of 249 male teachers of this study, 141 were found to be having high
intention to leave the profession, given the chance. Of 180 teachers with graduate
qualification, 145 teachers were with high quit intention. The proportion was similar
with teachers with different years of experience.
484 The description of the study variables (both independent variables and dependent
variable) on their mean and SD is presented in Table V.
The 11 study variables that were found having an acceptable reliability were included
in the analysis, and most of the variables were found to have negative relationship with
quit intentions (Table VI), as expected from organizational research. Of these, three
variables showed non-significant correlation with quit intention.
The results of stepwise multiple regression analysis to identify significant
conditions/variables contributing to the early career teachers’ quit intentions

Female Male Total n (%)

Table II. Low intention 5 37 42 (13)

Quit intentions by gender High intention 23 141 164 (53)

Diploma Graduate Post-graduate Total n (%)

Table III.
Quit intention Low intention 6 35 1 42 (13)
by qualification High intention 15 145 4 164 (53)

1 2 3 4 5 Total n (%)
Table IV.
Quit intention by years Low intention 13 6 12 9 2 42 (13)
of service High intention 38 23 28 39 36 164 (53)

Items Mean SD

Quit intention 4 15.05 4.02

Perceived status 5 12.58 4.21
Social support 5 14.19 4.09
Group attitudes 4 11.59 3.42
Self-accountability 3 11.98 2.17
Desire for skill improvement 4 16.24 3.51
Religiosity 5 17.73 5.53
Intrinsic motivation 4 16.08 3.22
Choice satisfaction 2 5.65 2.61
Table V. Desire for skill utilization 2 7.27 1.79
Descriptive statistics Other job opportunities 2 6.29 2.54
of all study variables Commitment to profession 5 17.01 3.89
are presented in Table VII. Quit intention was treated as dependent variable; Teachers’ quit
all 11 independent variables along with five background variables were used for intentions
stepwise regression analysis.
The results indicated that four independent variables were found as significant
predictors of quit intentions in four steps. These variables were:
(1) choice satisfaction;
(2) other job opportunities;
485
(3) perceived status; and
(4) self-accountability in the same order of importance.

The multiple correlation of these four variables with quit intention was found to be 0.66,
indicating that these four significant predictors had accounted for 43 per cent of variance
in quit intention. Hence, it could be considered from the amount of multiple correlation
that the selected predictors together were very important predictors. From the results of
the stepwise regression analysis, the individual contribution of variables is evident from
Table VIII, in the form of beta values. The choice satisfaction emerged as the first
significant variable predicting quit intentions accounting for 43 per cent of the variance
(beta value) independently to quit intention. The perceived other job opportunities had
23 per cent of variance, followed by perceived status (15.3 per cent) and
self-accountability (12.9 per cent) variance that are unique to quit intention.

Variable r

Perceived status 2 0.392 *

Social support 2 0.246 *
Group attitudes 2 0.296 *
Self-accountability 2 0.071
Desire to improve skills 2 0.184 *
Religiosity 2 0.028
Intrinsic motivation 2 0.208 *
Choice satisfaction 2 0.610 *
Desire to utilize skills 0.025
Other job opportunities 2 0.503 *
Commitment to profession 2 0.299 * Table VI.
Correlation of IVs with
Notes: *Correlations significant beyond 0.01; others not significant at 0.05 level quit intentions

Step no. Variables entered R R2 Adjusted R 2 Std error of the estimate b

1 Choice satisfaction 0.610 0.372 0.370 3.18 2 0.437

2 Other job opportunities 0.638 0.407 0.403 3.103 2 0.232
3 Perceived status 0.647 0.419 0.413 3.076 2 0.153
4 Self-accountability 0.658 0.434 0.426 3.041 0.129 Table VII.
Stepwise regression
Note: Dependent variable: quit intention model summary
IJEM In other words, of the 11 independent variables and five status variables, only four of
the independent variables were found to be significant predictors. None of the status
24,6 variables were found to be significant contributors/predictors of quit intentions.
The significant predictors of quit intentions were choice satisfaction, other job
opportunities, perceived status, and self-accountability in that order. It is clear from
negative sign for unstandardized coefficients and beta coefficients that these variables
486 were predicting quit intentions but in negative direction. The self-accountability
variable was found to have a positive sign. From beta values, about 44 per cent of
variance in quit intention was independently accounted for, by choice, satisfaction.
Perception of availability of other job opportunities independently accounted for
23 per cent variance.
An interesting observation of the results was that commitment to teaching
profession did not emerge as a significant predictor of quit intention.

Discussion
The results indicate that 53 per cent of early career teachers had high quit intentions,
whereas only 13 per cent teachers indicated low quit intention. This could be considered
to be an alarming proportion within early career teachers. The early career teachers,
because of their younger age, coupled with idealism would be viewed generally to show
more stay intention. This also prevails because of their other non-commitments in their
life, such as less family responsibilities, less children responsibilities, and other
refraining factors that are usually attributable to more experienced teachers. The
another reason that could be interpreted is that though there is low “investments”
in the career, there are lack of anchoring points in the profession that could hold them.
These anchoring points could be job satisfaction, more conducive environment in the
schools, social support by the senior teachers, or lack of mentors within the professional
environment.
It could also be due to the fact that these early career teachers did not develop a sense
of identity as a teacher. Identity as a teacher would develop as a result of the pre-service
training programme and continue during the early career positive school experiences.
The high percentage of high quit intentions puts a question mark on teacher education
programme itself. It is the rigour in teacher education, the professional image/
professional values imparted during teacher education programme enable the early
career teacher to commit for teaching and stay in teaching. The author’s informal
discussion with some of the faculty members in teacher education programme reveals
that the rigour in teaching practice practicum calls for revisiting the existing ground

Unstandardized Standardized
Coefficients coefficients
Step B Std error b t Sig.

4 Constant 20.130 1.019 19.801 0.000

Choice satisfaction 2 0.671 0.087 20.437 27.710 0.000
Other job opportunities 2 0.367 0.084 20.232 24.369 0.000
Perceived status 2 0.146 0.048 20.153 23.059 0.002
Table VIII. Self-accountability 0.239 0.084 0.129 2.826 0.005
Coefficients in regression
analysis Note: Dependent variable: quit intention
realities. The author got an impression that the actual number of teaching practicum Teachers’ quit
hours in the school is very few, and over and above, this large chunk of practicum intentions
teaching practice goes as peer teaching! Moreover, according to their age and depth of
knowledge in subject matter, most of the student-teachers are less willing to face the
class. Also, the amount of time spent by the faculty member in supervising the practice
teaching is also found to be calling for improvement. Development of professional
identity cannot come on its own, but only through careful and rigorous induction 487
programme, as the research suggests.
Hence, the present study calls for a revisit to the teacher education programme in
general and practice teaching component in particular. The country’s teacher
education policy is based on “catch them early” basis. However, if age and maturity of
these undergraduate students are taken into consideration vis-à-vis the age of students
they are expected to teach, it calls for rethinking. The amount and depth of subject
matter these teachers had learned before going to teach in a classroom does not seem to
be commensurate with the responsibility of teaching. The author wonders whether a
policy of teacher education programme after completion of undergraduate programme
would be a viable option as is done in elsewhere, like in India.
Early career positive school experiences also contribute as anchoring points for
teachers to make a decision as to continue in the profession or to leave. The beginning
teachers who were provided with mentors from the same subject field and who
participated in collective induction activities (such as planning and collaboration with
other teachers) were found to be less likely to move other schools and less likely to
leave teaching profession after their first year of teaching (Smith and Ingersoll, 2004).
Adams (1996) found that as part of induction programme, when the mentors within the
school were assigned to first-year teachers resulted in lesser withdrawal intention
among the new teachers. The school authorities and senior teachers need to shoulder
the responsibility to mentoring the early career teachers and create positive and
supportive environment.
The regression analysis revealed four variables as contributors to quit intentions.
Choice satisfaction emerged as the first and most significant variable (accounting
44 per cent variance) indicating that quit intentions were contributed by lack of
satisfaction on the choice of the profession. This result is in line with the previous
research studies which found that teachers with less job satisfaction, who did not
choose teaching as their first career choice, exhibit greater intentions to quit
(Kam-cheung and Kwok-kai, 1995). Recruitment to teacher education programme in the
country seemed to be based not on the individual students’ choice and hence lack of
satisfaction, resulting in quit intentions. The impression the author gained on the
selection policy to teacher education programmes is that candidates are allotted rather
than based on their choice to the programmes. Hence, it could be inferred that large
number of students undergo the teacher education programmes not out of their choice
but out of compulsion based on an allotment procedures. This calls for educational
planners and administrators to revisit the policy of selection/allotment.
The other significant variables were perception of other job opportunities, perceived
status of the profession, and self-accountability. The early career teachers seem to be
able to see opportunities for other jobs around, and those might be more paying than
teaching. The teachers in Ethiopia could be considered a privileged people because
they were able to become a graduate (in teaching) which is possible only for a few.
IJEM And when these graduates perceive other job opportunities available around, which
24,6 might be more attractive to teaching, quit intentions are possible to arise.
This situation might need attention coupled with another significant
predictor-perceived status of the profession. The sample early career teachers
perceive the profession with low status and hence quit intentions. In earlier times,
teaching profession was viewed as a noble and high-status profession in Ethiopia, and
488 generally, teachers were held high by the society. The current generation of teachers
and the early career teachers in particular seem to perceive teaching as a low-status
profession, which could be a result of many reasons in the society. Probably, by the
raise and availability of many other professions/jobs that are given high value by the
society, teaching is relegated to a low status. This could be an interesting feature
among developing nations; as a nation transforms through development, peoples’
values keep changing, thereby resulting in attitudinal changes towards professions.
In the current decade, Ethiopia being at the beginning of “development”, changes in
perceived status of teaching profession seem to become obvious and thereby quit
intentions of early career teachers. As a major employer, the Ethiopian government
needs to act in attracting and retaining young people to the teaching profession.
And also that teacher education programmes need to raise further to higher
professional level to influence attitude of government and society at large.
Another significant result of the analysis was that commitment to teaching
profession had not been found to be a predictor of quit intention. This result supports
some of the previous researches in the field (Carmeli and Gefen, 2005; Lee et al., 2000).
Possibly, the professional situations that cause commitment are different from the
situations that cause quit intentions. This could imply that quit intentions are not
indicative of lack of commitment and vice versa. A teacher could be committed to his
profession but still may develop intension to leave due to those job-related negative
experiences and lack of other anchoring reasons.

Conclusions
Teacher quit intensions have been a concern to planners and administrators because
these quit intentions may ultimately result in actual quitting of the profession, which
could result in waste of resources incurred on training generation of teachers. It is of
concern because it could result in lack of interest or tardiness to fulfill the professional
teaching responsibilities in an effective manner, where knowledge development and
human resource developments are crucial for an underdeveloped nation. Making
teaching as an attractive career and retaining the early career teachers is a larger
responsibility of the powers that be, where choice-based admission policy and
developing “teacher identity” through rigour in teacher education programmes could
be immediate and tangible measures.

Limitations of the study

Readers of this research need to view results under the following possible three
limitations. First, early career teachers’ response to quit intentions and other
independent variables were self-reported measures. Thus, there may be a problem of
common method bias. Confirmatory factor analysis would have addressed this
problem. The second limitation is that variables were measured with translated scale
items, though some of the suggestions made by Merenda (2006) were followed.
Third, the results were obtained on a sample of early career teachers from Ethiopia and Teachers’ quit
thus would largely be applicable to Ethiopia, other least developed may find pertinent intentions
to their local situation.

References
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Allen, N.J. and Meyer, J.P. (1990), “The measurement and antecedents of affective, continuance
and normative commitment to the organization”, Journal of Occupational Psychology,
Vol. 63, pp. 1-18.
Baysinger, B.D. and Mobley, W.H. (1983), “Employee turnover: individual and organizational
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Corresponding author
Mohan Raju Pamu can be contacted at: rajupm30@gmail.com

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