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STAFF TURNOVER AND SCHOOL EFFECTIVENESS IN PRIVATE SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN EDUCATION

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background to the Study

Turnover is a phenomenon that can be considered from different perspectives, depending on the subject in question. Among teachers, turnover refers to the rate of departure among staff engaged in schools for a given time frame or period. To obtain the total dimension of the problem, consideration was given to the identification of the stock of teachers through government departments, principals of schools and teachers themselves. This was compared with the actual cases of withdrawals in percentage terms, having taken care of re-entry to derive net turnover rates.

Staff or labour turnover is the voluntary or involuntary termination of an individual’s employment with a given schools or organization. Staff turnover is the rotation of workers around the labour market, between Schools, Jobs and Occupations and between the states of employment and unemployment (Abassi&Hollman, 2000). Each time a position is voluntary or involuntary created, a new employee might be replaced, this replacement cycle is known as turnover (Woods, 1995). Staff turnover is a much studied phenomenon (Lam, Foong& Moo, 1995); (Shaw, John, Jerkins & Nina 1998); (Booth &Hamer, 2007).

The issue of staff turnover poses a very serious problem with critical effect on both the Individual and Government, no matter the angle from which the problem is considered. Thus, to the individual teacher, turnover involves some definite loss of earnings which would have accrued if the individual were otherwise engaged.

This is particularly of consequence in the Nigerian context since such loss of earnings carries along with it a chain of adverse externalities, such as inability to live up to the expectations of the extended family. Closely related to this is lack of adequate health care as a result of lack of employment since former employers cannot be liable for this in a situation where government provision is grossly inadequate.

From the government perspective, staff turnover is even a problem of greater dimension. Notwithstanding whether the teacher involved enjoyed government sponsorship for his training or not, departure results in a net financial loss to government. This is the case for public funds would have been wasted for the provision of materials, equipment, facilities such as buildings for the education and training of the individual, who on the completion of his schooling, resigns for some other jobs for one reason or the other. Although one cannot gloss over the ultimate contribution of such individual to the overall development of a nation's economy, the fact is evident that a service for which the individual was trained is robbed to pay another without any bargain whatsoever.

Staff turnover or brain drain as it is being referred to in tertiary institutions is one of the major challenges facing education in Nigeria today especially private secondary schools.Staff turnover intentions seem to be very prevalent in private secondary schools, and this might be due to some physical or social influences. The physical of salary among others social influences on the other hand are the shared cognition by friends or organizational members that influence people’s decision on job movement (Albeson, 1993). The social influence makes hopping from one job to another an acceptable behaviour (Naresh, Pawan& Chong 2003). Thus if an individual has not changed his/her job for a long time, he/she feels an increasing pressure to do so because of social influence. In some countries in Asia, it has been observed that staff turnover intentions is giving sleepless nights to human resources managers and employees have developed bad attitude due to labour shortage.(Naresh, Pawan& Chong, 2003).

It is now well established that teacher effectiveness is central to good pupil progress in school. Recent studies have shown quantitatively very significant effect sizes for being taught by effective as opposed to ineffective teachers. The flip side of attracting teachers to disadvantaged schools is modelling the separation rate of teachers from those same schools. As quitting and accepting jobs are essentially different sides of the same decision, bar transaction costs, studying teacher quits will help understand the matching of teachers to schools. In this work I will analyses teacher turnover across schools, compute the distribution of job tenure in each school, both the fraction of teachers who have been at the school for ten years or more, and the fraction only just hired. Specifically addressing the view that teacher turnover is a particular problem for disadvantaged urban schools.

Substantial improvements in educational standards are only likely to come from improvements in general teacher effectiveness, and reductions in educational inequality from different allocations of teachers to schools. Such a policy is hampered by a lack of understanding of the teacher labour market, in turn made difficult by lack of data. It is argued that greater turnover coupled with the lower effectiveness of novice teachers might explain part of the substantial test score difference between schools in deprived and more affluent neighbourhoods.

There is also evidence that turnover per se can be harmful to student progress (Ronfeldt et al, 2011).The remaining association is largely accounted for by teacher characteristics, with the poorer schools hiring much younger teachers on average.

Over the past two decades there has been substantial empirical research focused on determining which kinds of teachers are more prone to leave teaching and why(e.g., Bobbitt et al., 1994; Chapman & Green, 1986; Chapman & Hutcheson, 1982;Grissmer & Kirby, 1987, 1992, 1997; Hafner& Owings, 1991; Haggstrom et al., 1988;Heyns, 1988; Marso&Pigge, 1991; Miech& Elder, 1996; Murnane, 1981, 1987; Murnaneet al., 1991; Murnane, Singer, & Willett, 1988; Rumberger 1987; Schlecty& Vance, 1981, 1983; Weiss & Boyd, 1990). This research shows teacher turnover is strongly correlated with the individual characteristics of teachers. Among the most important findings has been that teacher turnover is strongly affected by academic field. Although the data have been inconsistent at times, special education, mathematics, and science are typically found to be the fields of highest turnover (Boe, Bobbitt, & Cook, 1997; Grissmer& Kirby, 1992; Murnane et al., 1991; Rumberger, 1987).

Another important finding has been that teachers’ decisions whether to stay or leave the teaching profession are highly influenced by their age. The relationship between teachers’ age (or experience, in some analyses) and their turnover has been found to follow a U-shaped curve. Although there is some disagreement as to why this is the case, researchers have consistently found that younger teachers have very high rates of departure. Subsequently, as those remaining “settle in,” turnover rates decline through the mid-career period and, finally, rise again in the retirement years (e.g., Bobbitt et al., 1994; Boe et al., 1998; Grissmer& Kirby, 1987, 1992, 1997; Hafner& Owings, 1991; Murnane, Singer, & Willett, 1988). Moreover, because the distribution of age in the teaching force is skewed upward—older teachers significantly out number younger teachers—many analysts have concluded that retirement due to a rapidly “graying” teaching workforce is the most significant factor behind teacher turnover, teacher shortages, and school staffing problems (e.g., Grissmer& Kirby, 1997).

Statement of the Problem

Over the years, researchers had notice with keen interest that the staff turnovers in private schools determine the school effectiveness. These in turn results to frequent change and migration of teachers from one private school to another within a term.

There is a disagreement about whether or not the turnover rate in teaching is high in relation to other professions (see for example, Ingersoll, 2001; Ingersoll, 2003; Henke, Zahn, & Carroll, 2001; Harris & Adams, 2007). Regardless of whether or not turnover is high in relation to other professions, there are a number of reasons to support the argument that the nature of turnover in most schools is detrimental to school quality. For one, there is clear evidence that teachers with strong academic backgrounds are most inclined to leave the profession (Manski, 1987; Murnane, Singer, Willett, 1991; Monk, 1994; Podgursky, 2004; Henke, 2001; Lankford, Loeb, and Wyckoff, 2002). Guarino, Santibanez, and Daley (2006) reviewed the empirical literature on teacher retention and concluded: “The preponderance of evidence suggests that teachers with higher measured ability have a higher probability of leaving...” (p. 186).

A second reason is that attrition is highest among teachers that are new to the profession. Past research found teachers make important gains in effectiveness in their first three years and smaller gains over the next few years (McCaffrey, Koretz, Lockwood, and Hamilton, 2003;Hanushek, Kain, &Rivkin, 2005). Given that almost 50% of teachers leave the profession within their first five years (Ingersoll & Smith, 2003), many teachers are leaving the classroom before they have developed into optimally effective practitioners. Moreover, exiting new teachers are often replaced by similarly inexperienced teachers and consequently students in schools with high turnover may rarely be exposed to experienced teachers.

Third, turnover affects many of the organizational conditions important to effective schooling, such as instructional cohesion and staff trust. Effective schools hold shared beliefs in similar instructional goals and practices (Fuller &Izu, 1986; Bryk& Driscoll, 1988). Schools with high turnover are challenged to develop a shared commitment towards the same goals, pedagogy, and curriculum. The constant churning of teaching staff makes it difficult to collaborate, develop standard norms of practice, and maintain progress towards common goals. This can lead to fragmented instructional programs and professional development plans that must be adapted each year to meet the needs of a teaching staff in constant flux (Guin, 2004). High turnover also makes it difficult for teachers to build relational trust, which is critical towards productive collaboration in schools (Bryk& Schneider, 2002; Guin, 2004). In addition to the costs of turnover to school quality, there are also important pecuniary costs associated with teacher attrition and mobility. These costs include money spent to exit the teacher from the school, recruit and hire a new teacher and/or fill the vacancy with a substitute until a new teacher can be hired, and train the new teacher. In some districts, costs include signing bonuses and school material stipends granted to new teachers.

Purpose of the Study

The purpose of this study is;

1.      To determine how staff turnover regardless of whether or not is high in relation to other professions, there are a number of reasons to support the argument that the nature of turnover in most schools is detrimental to school effectiveness.

2.      To find out why many staff are leaving the classroom before they have developed into optimally effective practitioners. Moreover, exiting new teachers are often replaced by similarly inexperienced teachers and consequently students in schools with high turnover may rarely be exposed to experienced teachers.

3.      To ascertain that staff turnover affects many of the organizational conditions important to effective schooling, such as instructional cohesion and staff trust.

4.      To discover the costs of turnover to school quality, there are also important pecuniary costs associated with teacher attrition and mobility.

Research Questions

For the purpose of this investigative study on staff turnover and school effectiveness, the following research questions have been formulated and would be investigated:

1.      Will job comparative and satisfaction be a determinant to staff turnover and effectiveness in private secondary schools?

2.      Will job migration reduce staff turnover and effectiveness optimally in private secondary schools?

3.      Will organizational conditions affect staff turnover and effectiveness in private secondary schools?

4.      Will financial constrains affect staff turnover and effectiveness in private secondary schools?

Research Hypotheses

The following hypotheses in this study will be tested;

1.      Job comparative and satisfaction will not significantly be a determinant to staff turnover and effectiveness in private secondary schools.

2.      Job migration will not significant reduce staff turnover and effectiveness optimally in private secondary schools.

3.      Organizational conditions will not significantly affect staff turnover and effectiveness in private secondary schools.

4.      Financial constrains will not significantly affect staff turnover and effectiveness in private secondary schools.

Significance of the Study

The purpose of this study is to Investigate Staff Turnover and School Effectiveness in Private Secondary School in Educational District II of Lagos State. This study will be of great benefit to:

1.      School administrators who are willing to establish private schools in Lagos state to know the importance of school effectiveness through staff turnout.

2.      The staff that student optimum academics performance should be their priority when considering leaving one job to the other.

3.      The recommendations that will be put forward at the end of the study may be a point of reference to teachers, proprietors and school administrators.

Delimitations

This study was delimited to staff of selected private secondary schools in Lagos State Educational Districts II. Twelve (12) private  schools were randomly selected from these region and five (5) respondents for each, to make sixty (60) respondents.

Limitations

The study will be limited to five (5) staff from each school due to some constrains of time and other investigation difficulties such as distance, finance and mobility. The result that will emanate from this study will be limited to Lagos State private secondary schools due to the sample population involved.

Definition of common terms

Turnover: Turnover is defined as both attrition from the profession and mobility                  between schools.

Effectiveness: Adequate to accomplish a purpose; producing the intended or expected result.

Organization: A group of persons organized for some underwork.

Financial: Pertaining to monetary receipts and expenditures; pertaining or relating to money matters.

Job Satisfaction: The extent to which a person's hopes, desires, and expectations about the employment he is engaged in are fulfilled.

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