Many countries experience a high percentage of teachers who leave the profession before retirement. Most of the explanations, such as teacher burnout, adopt a pathogenic point of view which perceives attrition as a negative work outcome. In contrast, the qualitative project that this article is based on, which characterizes the career…

In a national contest of story writing in Israel, first-year teachers from all educational sectors were invited to write a story that mirrors their first year of teaching experience. The narrative analysis of the stories sheds light on the hostile and adverse sides of teaching, surfacing novices' sense of impotence in their capacity to act. The…