The literature review focuses on the main factors that affect teacher turnover as reported by various researchers.
An Overview of Teacher Turnover
It is very much important to find out the reasons why there is high turnover of teachers, rather than pay attention to the issues of shortage of teachers. (Gonzalez, Brown & Slate, 2008). If the reasons behind the shortage of teachers are not known it will be very difficult to avoid such problems.
Data from the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education (MoBSE) of the Gambia showed that in the year 2015 a total of 625 teachers left the teaching field in the private senior secondary schools alone and in total there were 2323 that left the private schools from the lower basic to senior secondary schools MoBSE (2015)
According to Ingersoll and Merriel (2010) there is higher turnover in the teaching profession than other professions. This according to them is because it has a different structured induction than other professions. A survey results from Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) in the United States revealed that in the academic year of 1990-91 a total number of 190,000 teachers entered the teaching field but that then 174,000 left the classroom just within 12 months (Ingersoll, 1999). This is a serious issue that schools, government and private organizations have to deal with.
Guin (2004) observed that schools that have serious teacher turnover issues have problems with planning and enforcing the syllabus, as well as with creating a better working environment for teachers, Guin further observed that most of the time it is less privileged schools and students that suffer most. According to Colgan (2004) there was an increase of teachers in the 1990s but then even more teachers were leaving the teaching profession, which he said created a non-level playing field. Oster (2007) reported that a high percentage of newly hired teachers mostly leave the classroom during the first year of teaching. She said she doesn’t know if teachers are not well prepared before they enter the teaching profession adding that preparing the new teachers by the school administrators at the beginning of the school year is very crucial. Unfortunately, administrators usually don’t have enough time to do so thus leading to early classroom exit, concluded Oster.
Still shedding light on teacher turnover, Alan and Pamela (2003) in their study at
the Centre for Education and Employment Research of the University of Buckingham (CEER) revealed that turnover rate stood at 14.1% and 7.9% in primary and secondary schools and that 38.8% were moving to other schools with 13.5% of teachers retiring from the profession while 5% quit their jobs.
In recent years, the number of private schools in the Gambia has significantly increased, and with the phasing out of the primary school leaving certificate examination, students have an uninterrupted education to grade nine, meaning they will not repeat any class even if they have not done well in their school exams. The education system reform in the Gambia in the past years have led to the increase of primary completion rates from 39% in 1992 to 66% in 2011. Currently it is estimated that the population of the Gambia students is almost more than 350,000. (Senghore, 2014).
According to Ndow (2014), the president of the republic of the Gambia as of September 2014 declared free education from grades 1 to 12. This means parents who could not afford to send their children to school will now have the opportunity to do so and this calls for more teachers in the system. Retaining and motivating these professionals will be of great importance for the administration and the ministry of education as a whole.
According to Kamara (2002), the president of the Gambia teachers˜ union reported high turnover of teachers in the Gambia due to low salaries, allowances among other things. In a study conducted by Education International (2007) on six African countries namely, Gambia, Lesotho. Zambia, Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya it was reported that Gambia ranks second in terms of low salaries just behind Tanzania, the report also pointed out that despite the low salaries, teachers in Gambia and Zambia receives housing and hardship allowances which other countries don’t enjoy.
In observing World Teachers Day, the Secretary General of the Gambia Teachers Union (GTU) Antoinette Corr-Jack, said that teacher shortage is a worldwide problem, which she said needs the support of all stake holders, communities and policy makers in order for the millennium development goal of achieving primary education in 2015 is to be achieved. (Cessay, 2013).
The following have been identified has the main factors responsible for teacher turnover according to the literature review.
Work Motivation
According to Claes and Heyman (2008) work motivation is a construct that has been studied and has been found to be an accurate predictor. Many studies have shown that lack of motivation is a leading cause of high turnover of teachers especially in Africa.
According to Bennel, (2004) in some countries teachers’ pay large bribes to get hired. This he said affects the teachers˜ motivation. He also observed that working for longer hours, large classes and constantly changing the curricula are factors that de-motivate teachers.
In a study conducted by Alam and Farid (2011) on the factors affecting teacher motivation, the findings revealed that economic status, choice of choosing teaching as a career, students attitude and examination workload were the main factors that hindered the motivation level of teachers in Rawalpind, Pakistan. The authors observed that other factors such as classroom environment, incentives and self-confidence were also factors that teachers claimed to have affected their motivation level.
Salary
For the past 30 years or more many developing countries, especially in African witnessed a sharp decline in salary beginning in the 1970s (Lambert 2004). Lambert observed that the decrease in salaries will likely affect the quality of education being delivered by the affected teachers. Most of the time teachers will look for other ways of earning a second income just to meet their financial needs. Gonzalez, Brown, and Slate (2008) conducted a study in Texas on public school teacher turnover focusing on the main reasons why teachers left the profession, The researchers discovered that out of the 8 teachers interviewed 7 of them complained that low salary was the main reason why they left the teaching profession, with some of them complaining that they work for longer hours with low pay. In a study conducted on teacher turnover in pre-tertiary education in Ghana, Congress, (2009) revealed that 98% of teachers interviewed stated that they were dissatisfied with their salaries, which many of them described as not enough to take care of their basic needs.
Most researchers who wrote on education reform in the United States recommended that salary increase is a solution to improving the retention of teachers in the education system (Murnane & Olsen 1990). The salary stagnation has affected the retention of teachers both in the public and private schools in the Gambia. As a results, many teachers left the academic professions (Kamara 2002). Most teachers who left the teaching profession ends up in the banking industry and other private sector employment and others have even left the country in search of greener pastures in Europe, America, Asia and elsewhere. In a study conducted by Hanushek, Kain and Rivkin (2004) on why public schools lose teachers, the results shows that lack of better pay among others things does have an impact on teacher turnover. Santiago (2001) reported that teachers˜ salaries are falling compared to other professions, adding that teachers in other words are been told to work hard for less pay describing it as unfair. In general if teachers are given better pay coupled with other incentives such as transport and housing allowances they are likely to stay in the teaching profession and their chances of quitting will become very slim. Murnane and Olsen (1990) acknowledged that salary does play an important part in retaining teachers in the profession. In a research they conducted on the influence of salaries and “opportunity costs” on teacher’s career choice, the results revealed that teachers are likely to stay in the teaching field as long as they are given adequate pay otherwise they will leave. Still shedding light on salary issues, Glewwe, llias, and Kremer (2003) in their study in Kenya on teacher incentives discovered that the education sector suffers from 20%
absenteeism of teachers and 26% of the time teachers in Uganda are found to be absent from their schools. Incentives will no doubt help teacher pay more attention on their profession rather than venture to other source of income. Lavy (2003) made similar findings when he conducted a study on paying for performance and on the effect of teachers˜ financial outcomes on students. In Israel it was discovered that a program that was designed to award individual teachers with cash for improving their students˜ performance has worked well. Since the introduction of the program there was an increase in the matriculation exam rate in the high school from 42% to 45.3%. Lavy added that rewarding the school average performance has also resulted in an impressive performance in the test marks as well as the involvement in the exams in preparation for the university.
Lack of better payment has forced some teachers in the Gambia to look for secondary source of income, through one- on -one private teaching. Some of them organize private classes in their own homes just to make ends meet, others teach in more than one school and others teach double shift
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In Africa parents most of the time supplements the teachers˜ salary. This happens as a results of school administrations organizing extra classes which they ask parents to pay for, and this is also due to low teacher salaries payment (Bennel 2004). .
Lack of Administrative Support
The issue of teacher turnover cannot be fully comprehended without putting the administration in to the spot light (Ingersoll, 1999). Understanding the administration is very significant because they are the force behind the recruitment, and hiring of the teachers. In private schools the most influential people are the principal and the vice-principal because of the key positions they occupy at the administrative cadre. According to Dian (2003), recently released results from the National Center for Education Statistics ( NCES) disclosed that lack of administrative support was the main reason why teachers left the teaching field. The teaches pointed out that the administrations were not competent and cooperative, they also pointed out that they were left out when it comes to decision making and sometimes been threatened that they would be laid off thus making them to have no choice but to leave. Gonzalez et al (2008) revealed that lack of administrative support was one of the serious issues that led some of the teachers to quit the teaching profession. According to them the respondents cited corruption and unfair treatment of the staff. Others cited professional misconduct such as the administration scolding the teacher in front of the students, parents and other teachers.
Administration support has high correlation with the retention of employees (Claes & Heymans, 2008) . Appreciating and recognizing their effort is very crucial in helping the organization achieve its goals as employees will in return show a high level of commitment. Oster (2007) observed that administrative lack of support will have serious effect on teacher turnover, this is because the administrators themselves are not qualified enough and therefore will not endeavor
to search for qualified teachers. Odland and Ruzicka (2009) made similar findings.
Lack of administrative support has led to some teachers leaving the teaching profession or moving to other schools for example when a teacher has a problem with a student, especially when it comes to dealing with problem students (indiscipline), usually some school administrators will side with the students in fear that some of the parents of the affected student might withdraw their child from the school or worse still take legal action against the school. When the teacher has low level of control and influence over their class the chances of that teacher leaving the profession is very high. School administration support is very important in mitigating teacher turnover. Empowering the teacher will certainly have greater and positive outcome in the academic performance of the students. In a study conducted by Dee, Henkin and Singleton (2006) on organizational commitment of teachers in urban schools examining the effects of team structures, the results of his findings suggest that the recognition and involvement of teachers in the management of the school is very crucial in mitigating teacher turnover. Taking decisions by the school administrations without the involvement of teachers could be very detrimental in achieving the organization’s goals, because it is common sense that when an employee is sideline and not given the necessary support that he or she deserves, that employee will show little or no commitment in achieving the goals of the organization. In the other hand if a supervisor treats her employees impartially and give them the necessary support, he/she can reduce the turnover rate of the employees and increase employee’s productivity. In a longitudinal study conducted by Boyd, Grossman, Lankford, Loeb and Wyckoff (2011) it was discovered through district administration documents that administration does have a significant relations to teacher decision to quit the teaching profession. Teachers were asked what could be the most important reason for them to leave their job, 40% of them indicated lack of administrative support as the most significant factor, the researcher further reveled that former teachers have indicated that they weren’t given much support from their previous school administrators compared to their present jobs (non-teaching jobs) where they received more recognition and support.
In their quest to explore attrition and retention rates in Virginia, Certo and Jill (2002) observed that administrative lack of support, parents interference in the running of the school and lack of voice in the way the school is run as well as having no control over their classes were the main reasons why teachers moved to other schools or is some cases, left the teaching profession.
Work Load
Teacher work load is becoming a great concern especially for developing countries. In most parts of the developed countries such as England and Wales teachers were introduced to Information Communication and Technology (ICT) in a one year project initiatives as means of reducing the work load of teachers as well as maximize their productive capacity (Selwood & pilkiington 2005).
In the Gambia teachers face enormous challenge in dealing with work load, most especially in lower basic schools where teachers teach all subjects instead of specializing in their subject of interest. Another issue is the number of students that a teacher attends to in some schools. According to anecdotal evidence it is at a ratio of 1:40 in the Gambia. In Nigerian according to Adelabu (2005) the official ratio of pupil to teacher is 1:40 in some states such as River state it˜s 1:50, Kaduna 1:44 and Taraba 1:51.
Wushishi, Fooi, Basin and Baki (2004) in their research on the effect of teacher attrition in Niger state Nigeria, revealed that teacher turnover affects the serving teachers because the teachers have to step in to fill the gap until a replacement is found, this they said gives the serving teachers a heavy load to carry such a work load leads to turnover, Wushishi et al (2008) added that the problem is most common in Mathematics, English and Science subject this they said is because the number of teachers who specialized in this area is very limited.
However the teaching workload does not only affect teachers in the developing countries but in the developed countries as well. As one German teacher puts it, there is a very low rate of teacher turnover in Germany but if it ever happens the main reason would be workload (Guardian, 2015).
Gonzalez et al (2008) in their studies on teachers who left the profession in Texas revealed that indiscipline and lack of self-control were some of the issues that former teacher raised as been problems they had to deal with besides the teaching, thus making the workload much more heavy and complicated. As result they had to leave the teaching profession because they could not carry the load.
Lack of Promotion
Promotion is a form of recognition for an employee’s contribution and efforts at his workplace. This is a way of motivating employees. To understand this phenomenon better Lyness and Judiesch (2001) conducted a study of 26, 359 financial managers on the relationships of promotion, and leaves of absences to voluntary retirement. The results revealed that promoted managers are likely to stay on the job than those who are not promoted, in other words those not promoted are likely to quit their job. In essence promoting employees will serve as an incentive to keep them on the job. This is a way of acknowledging their efforts and they will in turn stick around and stay on the job because they will feel that their efforts are been recognized by the administration. A longitudinal study also confirmed that promotion does affect turnover in an organization. The results went further to state that irrespective of the organization promotion or past promotion indeed has an effect in employee decision to quit (Saporta & farjoun, 2003). Promotion most of the time is based on merit and teachers has to work to achieve that. However, anecdotal evidence suggest that biased promotion does happen in some institutions leaving those who deserved to be promoted dissatisfied and disgruntled and at the end they end up leaving the profession.
Dependency
As the world population continues to age mostly in the developed countries, there is a growing concern about the human capital of these countries.
The World Bank defines dependency ratio as young people who are less than 15 years or above, or above 64 years depending on the working age population.
According to Gavrilov and Heuveline (2003), the elderly population in the United States was 4.1% and the in the year 2000 it leaped to 12.6% , however by 2030, the aging population is estimated to jump to 20%. What this means is that the dependency rate is going to increase on both the state and family members.
The African increasing youthful population which is facing unemployment crises has made matters worse thus putting more pressure on the employed. Too much pressure will no doubt cause the employed to look for other options. Among such options could be to travel overseas to look for greener pastures so that they can support their families.
In the Gambia the dependency ration has been significantly high from 2010 to 2012 but slightly slowed down in 2013 ( World bank, 2015).
According to the International Labor Organization (ILO) (2015). There is a significant increase in the poverty rate for households which are headed by informal, temporal or part- time worker with Mexico topping the list followed by the Philippines.
Student Behavior
Students˜ attitudes towards their education and teachers have always been characterized by lack of respect as well as lack of dedication to their academic work.
Students˜ attitudes towards their education and teachers have always been characterized by lack of respect as well as lack of dedication to their academic work.