CHAPTER V. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The responses from the various research participants has evidently shown that there are various factors responsible for teacher turnover in public junior and senior schools in The Gambia. It is also evident that both group A and group B seem to have a conscientious over issues such as salary and allowances, monitoring and evaluation and policy issues.
These have major implications in teacher turnover in The Gambia.
Conclusions
1. The teachers’ salary in The Gambia is very low as compared to other employees,
especially in the private sector. The low salary serves as a demotivation factor for teachers to remain in the teaching profession. Not only the salary but the allowances they are entitled to do not reflect the present realities of The Gambian economy. The important thing about salary is not the different types of benefits an employee is entitled to, but compensation practices must be responsive to the external environment (Jackson
& Schuler, 2003, p.404). The administrators list out the various allowances given to teachers but the teachers argue that the allowances are very small when compared to the status of The Gambian economy. For example, teachers are paid a monthly allowance of only D150 for house rent but the reality is, this cannot even pay for a house in the remotest part of the country now. The situation is worst when it comes to untrained teachers in junior and senior schools. They are paid a salary of about D600, which in reality cannot even provide decent meals for the teacher in one month, not to talk of
allowance, yet still they have to go on postings to as far Fatoto (Farthest town in The Gambia).
The low salary and allowances for teachers has serious implications and plays a role in their decision to either stay in the profession or to quit. Low salary means that teachers’ inability to provide basic needs of life for themselves and their families, as such they won’t hesitate to look for better paid jobs.
2. Salary and allowances for teachers are not the only issues in teacher turnover.
There are very important and pressing issues in teacher turnover in public Junior and senior schools in The Gambia apart from the salary and management problems. The respondents unanimously agreed that the living conditions of teachers definitely are a contributing factor to teacher turnover. Most teachers on posting in rural areas find it very hard to adapt to these communities due to poor housing and lack of basic amenities such as electricity, clean water and poor telephone services. Teachers complain of living in thatched houses and have to walk on foot for a mile or more to have access to telephone services. One of them even complained of lack of pipe borne water supply in the town he is teaching for “nearly a year now”.
Poor living conditions for teachers can have consequences in not only their health but also in their ability to teach effectively and efficiently. Proper housing and clean drinking water are therefore necessities in teachers’ comfort and subsequent love for their job.
3. Career development also surfaced as a factor in teacher turnover. In this era of technology and globalization, it is imperative that teachers are trained to meet the demanding needs of ever changing learning environment. Training provides employees
with the knowledge and skills to perform more effectively. This allows them to meet current job requirements or prepares them to meet the inevitable changes that occur in their jobs (Blanchard & Thacker, 2007, p.4). The major form of training exposed to teachers in The Gambia is short term workshops mostly organized by the school management. This is not sufficient to solve the growing need for constant training for teachers needed in the fast growing era of technology. This training should not only be for local teachers but should also include foreign teachers as stipulated in the Commonwealth Teacher Recruitment Protocol, 2004.
4. The teachers’ ability to have a say in the running of the school has surfaced as an
important issue in teacher turnover. Managers of institutions are now faced with more challenges than before. We are no longer in the era when schools are governed by principals giving orders and teachers executing those orders. Managing human resources is a herculean task for school principals. It involves both selection and utilization of employees to best achieve the goals and strategies of the organization, as well as the goals and needs of employees (Desimone et al, p.7). All respondents in group A reiterated the importance of information flow in school management. Though most of them seem satisfied with the management system in their respective schools, some of them complaint of the autocratic nature of their school management. Giving teachers the opportunity to raise their concerns in school administration, do not only serve as a way of involving them but also serve as a motivation for them to stay.
The schools’ principals’ inability to hold regular meetings to share information with their teachers is a cause for concern. This is because all the teachers interviewed echoed the importance of regular meetings in schools as the best way to she information. One of the teachers mentioned that there should be a “bridge between the school and the community”. This should be the role of the Parent-teacher Associations in schools. As one teacher mentioned that he had to stay an extra year because of the support he had from the community, this is clear testimony of the importance of community support in teachers’ decision to stay in the teaching profession. The PTA plays a pivotal role in supporting teachers to stay in their respective schools and contribute their best to the education of the students. The decentralization of management of the department of state for education also plays a significant role in the boosting the management of education in The Gambia.
One of the regional Directors lamented that they are able to initiate and implement programs at regional level due to the decentralization of the education system. He also went further to say that there is now a closer collaboration between the communities and the schools. Despite these positive impacts of decentralization, there is still room for improvement. Much is desired in the area of salary and allowance payments. Teachers claim that it is practically impossible to access transport refund because of the centralized nature of the finance section at DoSE. Teachers can only claim for allowances in Banjul.
If a teacher travels from Basse to Banjul, just to claim for a D200 refund, he /she has to spend D300 just to return to Basse. This is the reason why most teachers prefer not to demand for transport refund.
5. Inadequate supply of teaching/learning materials in schools is also a factor in
teachers’ decision to quit. All the teachers interviewed felt that there are limited resources for teachers to use in facilitating learning in schools. One of the former foreign teachers said that he is sometimes very frustrated in class because majority of his students do not have the required text book in class. This he said hindered his ability to teach effectively.
One of former teachers now in The US said that she was long time warned of the limited resources in schools whiles she was a student at The Gambia College. She was told to improvise teaching/learning resources in school. A former Gambian teacher now residing in the UK said ‘I always see how my fellow teachers struggle to teach without the proper learning resources in class”.
6. Lack of a proper monitoring and evaluation system in the education system has
also contributed to teachers going to look for fairer systems elsewhere. The only monitoring division of DOSE called the Directorate of Quality Assurances seems to be more directed towards quality issues than teacher welfare. This should be handled by the Directorate of Human Resources. Close collaboration with these two directorates would have enhanced both quality of education and teacher welfare. Both teachers and the SMT have a convergent view on the kind of monitoring and evaluation system done in schools.
The SMT confirmed that teacher evaluation only started for a year and ended due to problems encountered. The question that is yet to be answered is; if teachers are not evaluated then what criteria is DOSE using to promote teachers? The teachers have a common voice on the use of longevity as a criterion for promotion of teachers. They all
believe that it is not fair. Some of them feel that a teacher might spend long years in the profession but that does not mean his performance is of high standard.
For teachers to perform well and to stay longer in the profession there is the need to view the criteria for promotion as fair. Greenberg identified five procedural factors which contribute to the perceived fairness of the evaluation process. One of these factors is that standards are applied consistently (Williams, 1998, P.182). As much as teachers do not perceive the criteria for promotion as fair, they will always feel cheated and will not hesitate to look for other jobs that will fulfill their expectations of fairness.
7. Signing a contract is one thing and adhering to the provisions of the contract is
another thing. Teachers given the opportunity to go on study leave with salary or without salary is a boost to their career prospects. It is a common believe in The Gambia that getting governments study leave and signing a bond is just a formality and that teachers will always go Scot-free even if they do not honor the contract they signed prior to their studies. The laxity in implementation of bonds for teachers on study leave is a contributing factor to teacher turnover in schools. Upon receiving further education, it is not uncommon to see teachers return to work for the private sector without being urged to either refund the government the cost of their studies or come back to work for the government as stipulated in the contracts they signed prior to their studies.
8. The foreign teachers’ use of The Gambia education system as a gateway to America or Europe is also a factor in foreign teacher turnover in public schools. A former foreign teacher in The Gambia confessed that the main reason why most of the foreign
teachers come to The Gambia is to get visas to either Europe or to America. This is serious not only because they leave in large numbers but because they leave at any time of the academic year when they secure a visa to move on. This has a serious impact on the students who might not be able to get a teacher replacement as soon as possible. It is more serious when the students concerns are either in Grade 9 or grade 12. One of the Principals said ‘I have to be a geography teacher for the past two terms because my foreign teacher left in the middle of the academic year”.
9. The existence of the General Orders as a policy document to safe guard the interest
of civil servants is not enough to address the dynamic issues in teacher management in The Gambia. Most of the issues raised in the General Orders are not applicable to teachers. Not withstanding, the General Orders is very old and do not reflect the current realities of The Gambian economy. The only aspect of the GO that covers both teachers and the rest of the civil service is section iii, subsection 05305. This is in reference to the payment of provincial allowance of 12% and 15% to civil servants in “Zone 1 and Zone 2” respectively. The Gambia is a signatory to the Commonwealth Teacher Recruitment Protocol adopted by the Ministers of education at Stoke Rochford Hall Conference Centre in UK on September 1st, 2004. Most of the issues addressed in the protocol are not being carried out by DOSE. This can be contributing factor to the continuous dwindling of foreign teachers in The Gambia. Section 3, 4 and 5, clearly spell out the rights and responsibilities of the recruiting countries, the source country and the recruited teachers.
10. Student discipline is not a cause for concern for teachers but, the SMT seem to be
worried by the growing indiscipline and violence in schools. Responses from the teachers have shown that student indiscipline is not a factor they will consider in making a decision to leave the teaching profession. They all reiterated the fact that though they are not satisfied with certain aspects of the running of their respective schools, they still do not view student discipline as an issue in teacher turnover.
Recommendations
1. Teachers salaries should be increased so that they are at per with their counterparts
in other professions. If increasing the teachers’ salary to be at the same level with other professions is not possible, it should at least be increased to meet with the rising cost of living in The Gambia. The teacher benefits should also be reviewed to make way for a more realistic system. It is not enough to say that teachers are paid allowances of various kinds, but these allowances should be accepted as fair and based on current realities.
2. Teachers should be given chance to have a say in the running of the schools. They
should not be there to execute orders from the school principals but should also be given the chance to say their views. There should be room for a democratic system of governance in school management. More participation of communities in schools should be established so as to gain the continuous support of the community in the running of the school. The establishment of PTAs should be encouraged. The PTAs should be used to
help new teachers, especially foreign teachers to integrate and to settle quickly into the society.
3. If teachers are to remain in rural areas, then much effort should be put in place in
providing a good housing and clean drinking water for them. The government of The Gambia should also put more resources in expanding the telephone service to cover rural areas. It will be very difficult for example, a teacher born and brought up the Capital Banjul to be posted to region 6 without access to telephone and electricity. The family is a source of comfort for most people; therefore teachers’ inability to communicate with their families while on posting can be a major factor responsible for them quitting the profession. More projects should be initiated to provide housing for teachers especially those in remote parts of the country. Efforts should also be made in providing alternative way of getting clean water for teachers.
4. Improvisation of teaching materials is becoming practically impossible in this new
era of technology. Teaching and learning is made much easier through the use of computers. Most of the diagrams that where used before in classrooms can easily be replaced with more lively teaching aids by using computers. DoSE should try to move away gradually from the use of traditional teaching aids to more modern ones through the provision of computers to schools. This will go a long way in cutting cost on the provision of aids such as card boards, chalks, flip charts etc.
5. More and longer training programs should be initiated by schools in collaboration
with DoSE and other partners to develop the skills of teachers. Organizing termly workshops is not the solution to developing teachers’ career. More scholarships should be provided for teachers to pursue further studies. Government should do everything possible to upgrade the status of untrained teachers by providing them with special programs so that they can boost their performance. All untrained teachers who are willing to stay in the profession should be identified and given priority for further training.
6. If teachers are to remain in the professions, then the Directorate of Human
Resources in collaboration with the Directorate of Quality Assurance (responsible for ensuring quality education through constant monitoring and evaluation of schools) should put in place a proper monitoring and evaluation system which they can use to justify the promotion of teachers. Longevity is no longer seen as a fair tool in promoting employees.
As long as promotions are not seen to be fairly done by teachers, they will continue to leave in their large numbers for other professions. If is not enough to monitor and evaluate teachers by DoSE but teachers should have a clear idea of the criteria for evaluation or if possible they should be involved in the designing of the indicators for evaluation. In this way they will surely accept the indicator and will see it as fair. The out come of evaluations should therefore be part of the criteria for promoting teachers.
7. A mechanism should be put in place to make sure that all teachers who sign
contracts to go on study leave honor the bonds they sign or face the consequences. If a teacher decides not to honor a bond, then his or her guarantors should be made to pay
back the cost of training. If this is fully implemented, then teachers on study leave will try their best to come back and serve the conditions of their bonds before pursuing another career.
8. All the clauses in the Commonwealth Teacher Recruitment Protocol should be
implemented. This will prevent the influx of foreign teachers whose main aim is to use The Gambia as a gateway to Europe or America. Any foreign teacher applying for teaching should produce a certificate from source country. This will not be possible if the particular teacher is leaving his or her country without being released by that country’s ministry of Education ( CTRP. Sec.3.5, P. 9). The implementation of the protocol will also mean that foreign teachers will be entitled to other benefits as local teachers apart from their salaries and can also benefit from further training to develop their careers.
9. The General Orders should be revised so that it will reflect the current realities of
The Gambian economy. It should be made available to all teachers. All other policies that are relevant to teachers should be documented and made available to both teachers and school principals. Legislations should be put in place to protect teachers against sexual harassment, especially female teachers.
10. More sensitization should be carried out to encourage Gambians to join the teaching profession. This can be done by The Department of State for Education in collaboration with their partners in education. In June 2005, Fawegam conducted a nation
carried out. Both the print and electronic media can be used to carry out massive campaign for more Gambian teachers in public schools.
11. There should be closer collaboration between the directorates of Human
Resources and that of Quality Assurance. The high performance of teachers will depend of how well their problems are being addressed. If the Quality Assurance Directorate is to make sure that the educational standards are kept high, then the Directorate of Human Resources have to make sure that teacher welfare is given a top priority in their agenda.
Recommendations for future research
1. Compensation and benefits has always been an issue in teachers’ choice to leave
the profession. Due to the low sampling size of the study, it was impossible to look at the relationship between compensation and benefits and teacher turnover. As such further research could be conducted to determine the relation ship between teacher turnover and compensation and benefits.
2. Due to distance and the researcher’s inability to travel to all the regions in The
Gambia to collect a larger sample size, demographic factors could not be examined as major issues in teacher turnover in The Gambia. There is a possibility that one’s choice to leave or to stay in a school might be influenced by demographic factors such as age and
gender. Therefore a possible area of research could be, to examine the role of gender and age in teacher turnover in public schools in The Gambia.
3. The study could not cover private and public junior schools in The Gambia due to
limited time and resources. This made it impossible to compare the rate of teacher turnover in public and private junior and senior schools in The Gambia. A further study could be conducted to compare the rate of teacher turnover in public and private schools in The Gambia.
4. The study could not ascertain the impact of teacher turnover on both students and
school administrators. As this deals with behavioral and structural changes, it would require more time and resources to study. Research could be conducted to determine the impact of frequent change of teachers due to turnover on both students and school administrators.
