An assessment of school administrators' reasons for leaving their administrative position, their experiences of returning to teaching, and their intention to return to administrative positions

Educational administrators are responsible for the planning, controlling and supervision processes that are followed to fulfil the aims of the education and training services provided in schools. But, while fulfilling these responsibilities, administrators experience many problems. While educational administrators can easily tolerate some of these problems, some other problems leave deeper effects and may lead them to quit their jobs by negatively affecting the job satisfaction of school administrators. Research shows that school administrators' turnover intention and behaviour is an important variable that can decrease organisational effectiveness and productivity. The research aims to examine the factors that cause school administrators to leave their administrative positions and return to teaching and to make analyses about their experiences in this process. Phenomenological case study, one of the qualitative research designs, was used in the study. The study group of the research consists of 23 teachers working in Kütahya province who resigned from their positions as school administrators and returned to teaching. The data of the study were collected through semi-structured interview technique and the findings were presented by analysing the data through content analysis. As a result of the research, four themes related to the reasons for the resignation of school administrators appeared. These themes are; professional reasons, problems with senior management, environmental reasons and individual reasons. Professional reasons come first in the reasons for turnover. The most frequently reported reasons were high workload, inadequate working conditions, high responsibility and risk, and not having time for family. In the theme of post-administrative teaching experiences, two main categories were identified: positive experiences and negative experiences. The majority of participants who had left their administrative positions reported that they adapted quickly to teaching and that their administrative experience had contributed positively to their teaching practice. It was also reported that many teachers who voluntarily resigned from their administrative roles were determined not to return to school administration, while some stated they would consider it under certain conditions. It was revealed that support mechanisms provided to school administrators need to be strengthened. Furthermore, balancing the workload and offering appropriate opportunities for administration development were identified as important needs. In addition, it was emphasized that the assignment procedures for educational administrators should be re-evaluated, and that school administration should be regarded not as an additional duty but as a professional occupation. Accordingly, it was concluded that regulations regarding the professional rights and benefits of school administrators should be implemented.