Exit Interviews: Valuable Tool or Pointless Exercise?

Let’s be honest exit interviews in international schools can sometimes feel like a box ticking exercise. A rushed chat, a generic form, and then… crickets. If that’s your approach, you might as well skip it altogether. But done right, exit interviews are a goldmine of insight into what’s working and what’s not in your school culture, leadership, and operations.

Why Bother With Exit Interviews?

People are more honest on their way out. They’ve signed their next contract, booked their flights, and aren’t afraid to share what they really think. That’s not a liability - it’s a gift. Exit interviews give you:

• Unfiltered feedback on leadership, communication, workload, and school culture.

• Clues about patterns - if multiple people mention the same issue, it’s time to dig deeper.

• Insight into your reputation - how your school is perceived externally (because yes, people talk).

• Opportunities to improve - not just for future hires, but for current staff who may be quietly struggling.

But Don’t Waste Everyone’s Time

Here’s the catch: if you’re going to collect feedback and do absolutely nothing with it, don’t bother. A half hearted exit interview where no one listens, nothing changes, and the data disappears is worse than doing nothing at all. It sends a message that staff voices do not matter.

Only commit to exit interviews if you’re prepared to look at the feedback honestly, share themes with leadership, and act on what you learn. Otherwise, it’s just an empty theatre.

Keep It Consistent

To get useful, comparable data, the process should be the same for everyone. That means:

• Ask the same set of questions—tailored to your school, but consistent across departments and roles.

• Cover core areas: leadership, workload, communication, support, and what they’re moving toward.

• Include both quantitative (scale ratings) and qualitative (open-ended) questions.

This consistency lets you spot trends over time and identify what’s really driving turnover—not just what one person was annoyed about.

Face-to-Face Is Best, But Not Essential

A short, in person interview creates space for nuance and follow up questions. People tend to open up more when they feel heard in real time. But if schedules or departures don’t allow for it, a video call or even a thoughtfully designed survey can work.

What matters most is that the process feels respectful. Give the staff member time, space, and clarity around how their feedback will be used (and how it won’t).

Final Thought: Be Ready to Hear It

Sometimes exit interviews reveal hard truths. Resist the urge to get defensive or dismissive. Feedback, even when it stings, is part of the fix for improvement. In the increasingly competitive world of international schools, growth and gaining a real edge start with truly listening to your community. Exit interviews provide a simple, honest way to gather insights from an often overlooked, but important, part of that community.

So yes, do exit interviews but only if you’re ready to learn from them. Otherwise, close the laptop and let people go in peace.