Perceptions on antecedents of teaching staff turnover and their influence on students’ academic performance of selected private secondary schools in four rural sub-counties of Luwero District, Uganda

Abstract

The study sought to investigate perceptions on antecedents of teaching staff turnover and their influence on students‟ academic performance of selected private secondary schools in four rural Sub-Counties of Luwero District, Uganda. Four research objectives guided the study which included; To investigate the relationship between remuneration and students‟ academic performance in selected private secondary schools in Luwero District; To establish how institutional structure influences students academic performance in selected private secondary schools in Luwero District; To assess the relationship between organization culture and students academic performance in selected private secondary schools in Luwero District, and; To find out how staff development influences students‟ academic performance in selected private secondary schools in Luwero District. A cross sectional survey design guided the study using both quantitative and qualitative research approaches to collect and analyse data. The population of the study was 380 respondents including Ministry of Education officials, Head teachers, teachers and students from randomly selected private secondary schools in four rural Sub Counties. Data was collected using questionnaires, interviews and document checklist. Data was analysed using Pearson correlation. The findings of the study were; lack of teacher development reduces teacher turnover to almost 100%, this means that in schools where teachers are paid well, the turnover rate is very low. Alternatively in schools where there are unfavourable remuneration especially poor wages the teacher turnover rate is very high; teacher development programmmes like better pay elsewhere, low status of the teaching profession and competitive conditions also affected teacher turnover positively; those schools with stable staff, that is low rates of teacher turnover had considerably better grades, this was attributed to the experienced and committed teachers. Conclusions of the study were; remuneration, institutional structures, institutional culture and staff development policies affected teacher turnover, many teachers joined the private secondary schools with numerous expectations which were not that this increased their dissatisfaction, lack of commitment and the end result was always resignation; teacher turnover has a positive impact on students‟ academic performance; high rate of teacher turnover negatively affects students‟ academic performance in selected private secondary schools in Luwero District (P = 0.001). The continued leaving of teachers from one school to another, and from teaching to other professions/jobs leaves the private secondary schools with no adequate staff to impart knowledge and guidance to students who later perform poorly in academics, discipline and co-curricular activities. While recommendations were; proprietors and mangers of private schools in particular should note that teacher turnover itself is not the only problem but a cause of a bigger problem that is poor academic performance; employers must change their administrative strategies to ensure teacher job satisfaction in order to control external influence; Ministry of Education and Sports should organize work shops to train and sensitize the head teachers and proprietors on the purpose of teachers as a crucial resource so that schools are able to retain their staff.