The intention to leave the profession among teachers: the role of occupational stressors

ABSTRACT The intention to leave the profession is an important predictor of professional abandonment, with negative repercussions on the quality of teaching, school performance and community in general. The objective of the study was to identify the predictive power of occupational stressors for the tendency to drop out in teachers. A total of 376 municipal school teachers from a city in the metropolitan region of Porto Alegre participated in the study. As instruments of evaluation, a questionnaire of sociodemographic and labor data, a scale of evaluation of abandonment tendency and a questionnaire of occupational stressors were used. The results, obtained through the linear regression analysis, pointed out as predictors of professional abandonment the stressors multiplicity of roles to play, to reconcile work and leisure and the relationship with students. The study suggests possible interventions as preventive as well as indicates possibilities of new studies.