“Rethinking” teacher retention through examination of leadership style, training and rewards in Zambia : a mixed method empirical study.
This study ascertained the impact of leadership style, rewards, and training on teacher retention in the Copperbelt Province of Zambia It was guided by Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory and the Job Embeddedness Theory, which provided the theoretical basis for the study of teachers motivation, satisfaction or dissatisfaction, and their effect on teacher retention. Further, the Employee Retention Connections (ERC) model was used to simplify the relationship between the key variables and job retention. It used a pragmatic research philosophy and a mixed-method methodology, specifically an embedded correlational model, where qualitative data was integrated within a quantitative research design. It had 600 participants. Sampling was done using multistage sampling and snowball sampling techniques. Self-administered survey questionnaires and semistructured interview guides were used to collect quantitative and qualitative data respectively. Quantitative data was then analysed using ANOVA and multiple regression analysis. On the other hand, qualitative data was deductively coded then analysed using interpretative thematic analysis and Moustakas`s Modified Stevick-Colaizzi-Keen (SCK) method. After analysing the three independent variables – leadership style, training, and rewards – findings revealed that leadership style had the most significant relationship with teacher retention, followed by rewards and then training. The findings suggest that school administrators should not use of coercive power and should learn to value production and human resource. Study findings further suggest that school managers and newly recruited teachers should be given foundational training before being ushered in an office, in-service training should be an ongoing exercise, teachers’ salary should be increased, qualifications should match with the salary grade, and promotion should be based on merit. The following were the major recommendations to policy makers: Teachers’ salaries to be increased, teachers with master’s degrees and other higher qualifications to have a salary scale commensurate with their qualifications; In-service training to be an on-going exercise, especially in rural schools; and foundational training to be mandatory for all education administrators, in addition to newly recruited teachers, before being ushered in the office. The greatest contribution of this study was on understanding what contributes to teachers leaving the Ministry of Education schools for other organisations. It contributes to understanding how best the teachers can be retained in the government schools with a focus on leadership style, training and rewards. Further, the study gives birth to the Leadership style, Training and Rewards (LTR) Model for Teacher Retention.
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