Key determinants of teachers’ professional longevity in the education system: an integrative review

<jats:p>&lt;p style="text-align: justify;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span lang="en-US"&gt;Context and relevance.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;span lang="en-US"&gt; Demographic ageing of the population and the growing proportion of older teachers in the education system increase the importance of professional longevity as a factor of workforce sustainability in educational systems. At the same time, professional longevity of teachers is determined not only by the duration of employment but also by the preservation of the ability to perform teaching activities under changing professional requirements. Analysis of scientific research shows that this phenomenon has a multi-level nature and is associated with the interaction of individual resources, work organisation conditions, socio-cultural expectations, and institutional policies. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span lang="en-US"&gt;Objective.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;span lang="en-US"&gt; To identify the key determinants of teachers&amp;rsquo; professional longevity in the education system based on an analysis of contemporary scientific research. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span lang="en-US"&gt;Methods and materials.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;span lang="en-US"&gt; A review of scientific publications addressing the problem of teachers&amp;rsquo; professional longevity was conducted. The search for sources was carried out in the databases eLIBRARY.ru, OpenAlex, and the Google Scholar search engine. The corpus of analysis included original empirical studies, reviews, and regulatory documents published mainly between 2020 and 2025. After the initial screening (n = 1775 documents), a qualitative analysis of the publications was conducted; 42 works meeting the inclusion criteria were included in the final review. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span lang="en-US"&gt;Results.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;span lang="en-US"&gt; The systematisation of studies made it possible to identify four groups of determinants of teachers&amp;rsquo; professional longevity: individual, organisational, socio-cultural, and institutional. At the individual level, the key factors include work ability, health status, cognitive resources, motivational and meaning-related regulation, professional identity, and self-regulation capacities. The organisational level is associated with characteristics of the work environment, including the balance between demands and resources, workload distribution, administrative support, and opportunities for professional development. The socio-cultural level reflects social expectations, perceptions of age and the professional role of teachers, as well as attitudes toward lifelong learning. The institutional level includes pension policies, reforms in the education system, and active ageing strategies that shape the conditions for continuing professional activity. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span lang="en-US"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Conclusions.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span lang="en-US"&gt;Teachers&amp;rsquo; professional longevity represents a multi-level system in which the continuation of professional activity is determined by the interaction of individual resources, organisational conditions, socio-cultural environment, and institutional frameworks. Supporting professional longevity requires a comprehensive approach that includes the development of age-friendly working conditions, institutionalisation of late-career roles, prevention of professional risks, and the creation of diagnostic tools to support late-career professional engagement among teachers.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</jats:p>