ABSTRACT
This objective of this
study was to examine the influence of teacher attrition rate on the quality of secondary
school Education in Nkanu East Local Government Area of Enugu State. Four (4)
specific purposes and four (4) corresponding research questions were raised to
guide the study. The population of the study consisted of one thousand one hundred and sixty-five
(1,165) teachers in Nkanu East Local Government Area. With the total sample size of 297was determined by the use of
yaro yamen formula used to calculate sample size. (1964), were used for the study. A self-made
questionnaire was used for data collection. The draft copies of the
questionnaire were face and content validated by three experts from the
departments of Social Science Education, one in Measurement and Evaluation in
Godfrey Okoye University, Enugu. The test-retest reliability method was
adopted. The correlation coefficient obtained using the Cronbach Alpha method
of estimating reliability was 0.62. This indicated that the instrument was of a
high level of reliability. Data were analyzed using mean (
statistics and standard deviation. Analysis
showed that teacher
poor conditions of service, late or non-payment of Salaries and allowances,
lack of incentive, non involvement of teachers in decision making over matters
concerning them to mention but a few are the main causes of attrition. The researcher recommended that Teachers
could leave temporarily in order to improve their capacity. Such teachers go
for further studies to take courses in education and return as soon as they
complete their studies. Females’ teachers in the childbearing age could leave
their jobs to have children only to return when they are through with baby
making. Others still leave to join their husbands after marriages.
CHAPTER
ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background to the Study
Education in Nigeria
is more of a public enterprise that has witnessed government complete and
dynamic intervention and active participation (Federal Republic of Nigeria,
2014). It is the view of the formulated education policy in Nigeria to use
education as a vehicle in achieving national development. Education being an
instrument of change, in Nigeria education policy has been a product of
evolution through series of historical developments. The National Policy on
Education in Nigeria was launched in 1977. The orientation of the policy is
geared towards self-realization, individual and national efficiency, national
unity etc. aimed at achieving social, cultural, economic, political, scientific
and technological development. In 1985, the objectives of the policy were
broadened to include free primary education among others. As noted by Anyanwu,
(1999), this policy has been reviewed from time to time.
Until 1984, the structure of Nigeria education system was 6 years
of primary schools, 5 to 7 years of post primary schools (Secondary, Teacher
Training College and sixth form) and 4 to 6 yrs of tertiary education (College
of education, polytechnics, College of Technology and University education).
From 1985, the structure that emanated can be classified thus, pre-primary or
kindergarten education (2 to 3 yrs), for the children of ages 3 to5 years the
primary school which is of 6 years period for children of ages 6 to 11 yrs, the
post primary education which is of 6 years duration but divided into two halves
(3 years of Junior Secondary School and 3 years of Senior Secondary School) and
the 4 to 6 of tertiary education level. This is called the 6-3-3-4 system of
Education, (Anyanwu, 1999). Since the inception of the Obasanjo led
administration in 1999, a Universal Basic Education Scheme was launched in
1999. The specific targets of the scheme are, total eradication of illiteracy
by the year 2010 and increase in adult literacy rate from 57% to 70% by 2003
(FRN, 2010).
All over the world, educational system is confronted with
different challenges. The challenges confronting the developed countries differ
from the ones confronting the developing countries. However, for these
challenges, there are expectedly coping strategies in order to minimize the
possible effects. Coping strategies are measures tried out to ensure the
situation is improved upon. Coping strategies are the methods employed by
individuals, groups, organisations, institutions or establishments with the
intent of managing situations; even though it bothers on heads, leaders,
managers or administrators’ situation, crisis or contingency management skills.
Considering teacher shortage, coping strategies involves the school administrators’
ability to apply suitable methods to control the problems in the school.
According to Subair (2011), coping strategies in schools is any measure
undertaken by school administrators to ensure adequate service delivery in the
face of any challenge such as teacher attrition, interpersonal and intergroup
relations, disciplinary problems, school – community crisis and the likes. He
stressed further that the central task of institutional management is to
recognize the present conditions, inadequacy that point to the desirability of
change and taking appropriate actions even when such moves are not the best. It
involves taking such policy measures that will direct future development
towards more desirable ends. For the fact that teachers could be very mobile,
there is always a constant need for school head to adopt measures that will
make their schools stand out among other equals, he remarked.
With the current awareness on the
importance of education for national development, the sector is greatly
expanding and is growing from strength to strength, thereby becoming one of the
greatest social services for almost every nation in the world (Salahu &
Aminu 2010). The rapid growth in education can be seen practically in the huge
resources invested in the sector, the ever-multiplying schools, the student’s
enrolment and the increasing number of staff. This development has added to the
complex nature of educational organizations in general and the school system in
particular which requires effective and committed teaching staff who will
handle the situation. Developing nations of Africa were not left behind on
teacher attrition. In Ghana, about 33,185 teachers abandoned their teaching
position to seek for other jobs (Business News 2013). The rate of attrition is
minimal in the south western part of Nigeria with about 10% of teachers living
their profession to other jobs within the first five years of entering into
teaching (Okundayo 2010). This project is similar to that of Arikewuyo, (2009)
who affirmed that, teacher attrition is less in the South and Western part of
Nigeria which fall within the range of 10-15%. But the rate of attrition is
high in the northern part of Nigeria probably because the low level of
education and the job opportunities compared to the Southern part of the
country. Adamu (2010) described the level of attrition to about 20% in some
parts of the Northern Nigeria. This assertion was supported by Fati, (2010) who
reported that, over 10% of teachers leave teaching profession to better jobs
within their first three years.
Teacher attrition has always been a problem
in the education
system the world over. Azuka, (2013) defined teacher attrition
as “teachers leaving the classroom to take up other professional
responsibilities, inside or outside of education, or to spend more time with
their families”.
Teachers are always leaving the profession for one reason or
the other, especially in the public schools. Thus, recruiting and retaining
teachers for the Universal Basic Education (UBE) poses a challenge for educational
planners. It is therefore pertinent to identify the causes of teacher attrition in
secondary schools in Nigeria and proffer possible solutions to stemming the tide.
Buckley, (2014) propose that there are three factors that affect teacher
attrition. These are, teacher, school and community factors. Teacher factors
include wage, idealism and teacher preparation courses; school factors are
working conditions, organizational factors, lack of resources and
accountability while community factors have to do with government policy,
budgeting policy, public, stereotypical thought about hours and mandate that
has legislated for quality teachers only. Smith, (2012) holds that apart from
Poland, all Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development (OECD)
countries face the problem of staffing as a result of retirement and resignation.
This paper therefore examines the theoretical explanations why teacher
attrition occur, various reasons why people leave the teaching profession and
suggestions as to how to stop teacher attrition in order to ensure the success
of the UBE in a developing economy like Nigeria.
According to Obanya, (2008). Human capital is the benefit a
person receives from a career. Human capital can be generic or specific. It is
generic when it can be transferred to other job situations while specific human
capital is that which is acquired to do a specific job. Thus, the more generic
human capital people acquire, the more the possibility of their leaving for
other jobs because they can transfer the acquired skills to other job
situations. The higher the specific human capital a person acquires, the less
the possibility of leaving the job. Teachers who acquire generic human capital
are more likely to leave teaching for other jobs while those who acquire high
level of specific human capital tend to stay in the teaching profession since
their skill is only specific to teaching.
In support of Grissmer and Kirby,
Billingsley and Cross (2013) report that certain aspects of the school
environment make teachers to leave their jobs. Lack of administrative support,
lack of collegial and parental support and insufficient involvement in decision
making may make teachers to leave their jobs. Gonzalez (2005) also found in his
studies that many disposition and work environment elements combined to
influence teacher attrition. The dispositional factors that were most common
among teachers who left teaching were youth, being female high scores on
teacher exam(s), mid to upper social economic status (SES), little experience,
low level of commitment to teaching and ineffective strategies. The
environmental factor that make teachers to leave their jobs were high school
teaching assignment, large class size or caseload or both, unsupportive
administrator, excessive paper work, ambiguous or conflicting role demands, few
job rewards and lack of decision making opportunities.
Kirby and Grissmer (2013) are of the
opinion that individuals make a systematic assessment of the net monetary and
non-monetary benefits from different occupations. People will definitely go for
jobs that give them the highest monetary benefit, and teaching maybe their least
option. Stinebricker (2012) found that large amount of teacher attrition was
directly related to changes in a teacher’s family situation in which childbirth
was a major cause rather than the commonly portrayed scenario in which a
teacher is lured away from teaching by the attractiveness of a non-teaching
job. Most women will stay on the job if they have access to house helps. Based on the controversies, the
research therefore intends to investigate the influence of teacher attrition rate on the quality secondary
school Education.
Statement of the
Problem
Teacher
attrition has always been a problem in the education system the world over.
This is because there have never been enough teachers to meet the demands of
the ever increasing number of students and pupils especially in Nigeria.
Teachers are always leaving the profession for one reason or the other, especially
in the public schools. Thus, recruiting and retaining teachers for the
Universal Basic Education (UBE) poses a challenge for educational planners.
The
problems facing these studies are; Poor conditions of service, irregular payment of teachers
salaries and allowances, incessant strike action by teachers to press for one
demand or the other. These problems lead to high rate of teacher attrition. The
problem of teacher retention and attrition is centered on teacher remuneration.
In addition to the economic problem of teachers
centre mainly around conditions of service and salary structures, disparity in
pay, late arrival of salary, non or late payment by allowances. For the success
of the Universal Basic Education, there must be formidable high quality human
resources. And also identified inadequate number of qualified teachers,
irregular payment of teachers salaries and teachers dissatisfaction with their
conditions of service as the obstacle to effective implementation of the
Universal Basic Education in Nigeria.
Purpose of the Study
The general objective of this study is
to examine the influence of teacher attrition rate on
the quality secondary school Education in Nkanu East Local Government Area of
Enugu State. The specific
objectives of this study are to:
1.
find
out the factors
that causes attrition in secondary school in Nkanu East Local Government Area.
2.
determine the extent in
which school
environment make teachers to leave their jobs in Nkanu East Local
Government Area.
3.
examine the low
level of commitment in teaching make teachers to leave their jobs in Nkanu East Local
Government Area.
4.
to findout the teacher attrition rate in order to
ensure the success of the UBE is developed in Nkanu East Local
Government Area.
Significance of the Study
This
study will help both government and private schools boards to understand the
impact of motivation of teachers on student’s academic performance in secondary
schools.
This
study will be useful in providing adequate evidence for policy makers in their
bid to formulate policies that would encourage teachers to work effectively in
their workplaces. This would improve teaching and learning in secondary
schools.
It
would also enable teachers to restructure students` education to make them more
effective in and improving efficiency of their academic performance. It would
be a source of information on how teachers can engage in productive means to
ensure the meaningful performance in academics.
This study would also serve as a tool to
clarify issues as to whether teachers` motivation have any influence on
teachers’ efficiency and effectiveness, and to make recommendations on how
school systems can ameliorate the situation.
The findings may be used by academicians and
other researchers for further research on how to improve teachers’ motivation
Scope of the Study
The
scope of this study borders on the influence of teacher
attrition rate on the quality secondary school Education. The investigation will be carried out
in public secondary schools in Nkanu East Local Government Area of Enugu State.
Research Questions
This study seeks to find answer to the
following research’s question:
1.
What
are the
factors that causes attrition in secondary school in Nkanu East Local
Government Area?
2.
To what extent does school environment make teachers to
leave their jobs in
Nkanu East Local Government Area?
3.
To what extent does low level of commitment in teaching make
teachers to leave their jobs in
Nkanu
East Local Government Area?
4.
What are the teacher attrition rate in order to
ensure the success of the UBE is developed in Nkanu East Local
Government Area?
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