Journal of Educational Policy and Entrepreneurial Research (JEPER) www.iiste.org Vol.1, N0.2, October 2014. Pp 130-143 130 http://www.iiste.org/Journals/index.php/JEPER/index Osuji and Nweze A Review of Factors influencing Teachers’ Perceptions and Attitudes towards Retirement Dr. Catherine U. Osuji 1 . And Dr. Tina Nweze 2 1 Dept. of Educational Foundations, Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Port Harcourt, Nigeria Dept. of Educational Foundations (Guidance & Counselling) Ebonyi State University, Abakaliki, Nigeria Abstract Since retirement is regarded as an important stage in human development, changes in life requires adjustments in other to cope with the realities that accompany the change. This paper reviewed factors that influence teachers’ perception and attitudes towards retirement. It discussed concepts of retirement; reviewed extensively the theories of retirement, types of retirements, factors that influence the teachers’ perception and attitudes were reviewed as well. The paper concludes that various reforms have been carried out in the public service in form of severance retirement and pension reforms, which aim to ensure stability in the process of retirement and adequate resettlement for retired officers. But, little or no emphasis has been made on the teachers in the school system. Teachers are part of the system and therefore should not be left out and must definitely retire. Keywords: Teachers’ Perceptions, Attitudes, Retirement, Counselling, Factors Introduction Retirement has long been considered as one of the most important later life changes (Szinovacz 1980) and a transitional stage of life that can be a pleasant experience for some, yet traumatic for others (Marshall 2004). Subjectively, retirement is a self-defined notion that can mean different things to different people. For some, retirement may mean reducing the amount of work hours per week from full-time to part time status, while for others it may mean working on a voluntary basis Marshall 2004). For others like Richardson, 1999), it means ceasing from all work activity paid or unpaid. Objectively, one can define retirement simply as disengagement from business or public life. From a more traditional view, retirement from an economic perspective is a time when one is no long gainfully employed and receives pension benefits (Richardson 1999; Dchley, 1988). Ukwuayi (2002) sees retirement as withdrawal from position or service, going away, retreating, or removal from work. Weeks (1984), defines retirement as that time of life when a person is no longer working fulltime and is living on a pension or analogous service of retirement income. Uzoigwe (1999) views retirement as a person’s life after he has given up full time career employment. Asuquo (2007) sees retirement as a complex social phenomenon that signifies the detachment from customary activities in business, industry, or active services as full-time employee.