Demographic factors and turnover intentions of teachers in public secondary schools in Kenya

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the effect of demographic factors on the turnover intentions of teachers in public secondary schools in Murang’a county Kenya. The study was guided by the following specific objectives: To investigate the association between age and education and turnover intentions; to establish the association between gender and turnover intentions; to determine the association between tenure and turnover intentions and to establish the association between educational level and turnover intentions. The study was guided by the Social exchange and Organization equilibrium theories. This study was a cross-sectional study and adopted descriptive and explanatory research designs. The target population was 3752 Teachers Service Commission (TSC) teachers in 304 public secondary schools in Murang’a county Kenya. The study thus used multi-stage random to select a sample size of 400 teachers and 40 schools. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect the demographic data. Data were analyzed using cross-tabulation and Pearson Chi-square statistics. The study findings indicated that age has a significant association with turnover intentions while employee tenure, gender, and educational level have no significant association with turnover intentions.

Establishing Factors Leading to the Pre-service Education Students’ Choice of Teaching as a Career

“…On the same note, Muola and Mwania (2013), contend that academic advising tends to rank among the lowest areas of higher education satisfaction for college students. There is poor morale in the teaching profession in Kenya and the service is characterized by poor levels of commitment and high turnover (Kamwilu, 2011). This can be supported by a report from the Kenya Secondary School Heads' Association (KSSHA) which stated that a record of six hundred teachers left the classroom between March and June 2008 for lucrative jobs at a time when fifteen thousand teachers were needed (Agutu, 2010).…”

“…Others left after undertaking further studies and either took up non-teaching jobs at the ministry of education as quality assurance standards officers where remunerations are more lucrative than what TSC offers or to teach in tertiary institutions (Oyaro, 2008;Kasau, 2014). A survey by Kamwilu, (2011) noted that seventy-five teachers and seventy head teachers strongly agreed that they would not teach anymore if there was a better paying job. This study therefore sought to investigate the factors which motivate pre-service education students' choice of teaching as a career.…”

The Perceptions of the Pre-service Education Students about the Status and Socio-cultural Beliefs about the Teaching Profession

“…Others left after undertaking further studies and either took up non-teaching jobs at the ministry of education as quality assurance standards officers where remunerations are more lucrative than what TSC offers or to teach in tertiary institutions (Oyaro, 2008;Kasau, 2014). A survey by Kamwilu, (2011) noted that seventy-five teachers and seventy head teachers strongly agreed that they would not teach anymore if there was a better paying job. The study sought to establish the perceptions of pre-service education about the status and social cultural beliefs about the teaching profession.…”

Pre-service Education Students’ Commitment Level to Their Career Choice

“…Others left after undertaking further studies and either took up nonteaching jobs at the ministry of education as quality assurance standards officers where remunerations are more lucrative than what TSC offers or to teach in tertiary institutions (Oyaro, 2008;Kasau, 2014). A survey by Kamwilu, (2011) noted that seventy-five teachers and seventy head teachers strongly agreed that they would not teach anymore if there was a better paying job. This study therefore sought to investigate how these motivational factors determine the level of commitment.…”