Lived experiences of retired teachers in Effutu municipality.

Abstract

Retirement is inevitable. Regardless of the overabundance of studies conducted on retirement, little can be said of qualitative investigations on lived experiences of retired teachers after long years in active service. This study aimed at understanding the psychosocial challenges that characterise the retired teachers’ lives after the active service in the Effutu Municipality in the Central Region. Thus, this study seeks to take a critical study of the psychosocial challenges as well as to explore and describe how these experiences undermine the lives of retired teachers. Using phenomenological research design with qualitative data grounded in the interpretivist paradigm, the study focused on retired teachers who live at Effutu Municipality. Interview guide was the main data collection tool from a sample of 15 participants who have retired within the five years interval at the time of the study. The findings revealed that retirement benefits given to the teachers were mainly social security and tier two benefits. These benefits according to the retirees, were meagre to manage as they lived their retirement. As a result of this, teachers lived with anger, stress, self-denial, and disbelief as psychosocial challenges. To improve upon the situation, retires proposed that there should be counselling sessions for all retirees even as they lived through their retirement years, retirees ought to plan their retirement well whiles in active service, and retirees need to consider their retirement as an important and work hard towards retirement. Based on the findings, the study recommended a number of intervention strategies that could be put in place to reduce the psychosocial challenges. Among these are the cultivation of savings habit during active service, taking up other work to support monthly income and financial planning.