The occupational commitment and intention to quit of practicing and pre-service teachers: Influence of self-efficacy, job stress, and teaching context

► Similar factors influence commitment of practicing and pre-service teachers. ► Pre-service teachers display higher commitment and lower stress. ► Practicing teachers were more confident than pre-service teachers in managing classroom behavior. ► Occupational commitment influences decisions to leave the profession. The purpose of the present study was to explore the occupational commitment and quitting intention of practicing and pre-service teachers. We used a cross-sectional survey design to examine the impact of teachers’ self-efficacy, job stress, and contextual factors on occupational commitment and quitting intention of 434 practicing teachers and 379 pre-service teachers. Results revealed that similar factors—self-efficacy, job stress, and teaching context—influence the occupational commitment and quitting intention of practicing and pre-service teachers. Pre-service teachers displayed higher levels of commitment and less overall stress than practicing teachers. We conclude the article with implications for theory and practice, and suggest avenues to extend this line of career stage research.