The high national attrition rate among vocational education teachers (50 percent within 6 years) prompted a study to determine trade and industrial teachers' reasons for leaving and to make recommendations to increase teacher retention. Following a literature review of teachers' motivation and reasons for attrition, interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of 18 male teachers in a Midwestern state, ages 36 to 61, who had voluntarily left trade and industrial teaching after 1 to 18 years. The study showed that one participant left because of a family or personal move and none left for retirement or sabbatical. Six left to pursue other career opportunities (business ownership), three for better salary or benefits, and eight because of dissatisfaction with teaching. The interviewees voiced an overall lack of support from school administrators, problems with unmotivated students, fear of legal consequences, school politics, low salaries, and frustration with educational bureaucracy as reasons for their dissatisfaction with teaching. The researcher recommended improvements in teacher education, especially through mentoring and licensure changes, as well as community-building in schools to increase teacher retention. (Contains 29 references.) (KC)