Teachers' turnover and intention to leave in public Secondary schools of east hararge zone, oromia national Regional state

Abstract

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the status of teachers’ turnover and intention to leave, factors that cause teachers’ turnover, the relationship between demographic data and causes of teachers’ turnover,the possible solutions turnover and intention to leave in public secondary schools of East Hararghe Zone, Oromia National Regional State. To conduct this study,a descriptive survey design method was employed. The data for the study were collected from 347 currently working teachers of 15 sample public schools in the zone. In addition 15 principals of the sample schools were included in the study for interview purpose. The respondents were included in the study by employing purpesive sampling to include the principals, and simple random sampling technique was used to select currently working teachers. Questionnaire were prepared using 5-Linkert scale and used to gather information on causes of teachers’ turnover and the possible solutions, and interview was also employed to complement the information obtained through Questionnaire. The results of both quantitative and qualitative data analysis showed that inadequate salary, poor working condition, administrative problems, student character and disciplinary problems, low social recognition given to teachers by the society, and un actively participete on continuous professional development were the major factors that aggravate the turnover of teachers and intentions to leave in government secondary schools. Moreover, the data analysis result suggests that improvements in teachers’ salary, administrative support, improving working environment of the school, facilitating professional development of teachers and improving the disciplinary problems of students contribute to lower rate of turnover and ultimately enhance the performance of the school. Accordingly, based on the findings of this study it was concluded that age and work experience of teachers play significant role in turnover and intentions to leave in public secondary schools in the study area. In view of this, important recommendations were made to mitigate the problems.