‘GOODBYE TO SCHOOL’: EXPLORING THE LIFE OF TEACHERS AFTER EARLY RETIREMENT

The trend of early retirement has increased over the last few years. Many teachers applied for early retirement after experiencing a ‘strict’ academic environment in the schools. The purpose of the present study was to grasp an in-depth understanding of the early retired teachers' life in the province of Punjab, Pakistan. The study aims to seek the answers to the questions: How did the school teachers decide to take early retirement and what were their personal and social activities after early retirement? Participants’ description of life after early retirement was explored through narrative research while interviewing fourteen teachers who took retirement at least three years before retiring and approached through snowball sampling. The results were presented thematically (business to live happily, health and home, and joy and freedom). Most participants started or expanded their business, lived a happy life, paid attention to health and enjoyed freedom after early retirement. The research will help understand teachers' lives after taking early retirement through their life experiences and their activities. The study has implications for the school department on how they can better the teachers' social and personal lives during the service to enjoy life and feel happy while working in schools.