THE INFLUENCE OF DEMOGRAPHIC FACTORS ON TEACHERS RECRUITMENT AND RETAINING

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background to the study: Teachers are the prime movers of education. They are required to acquire and possess professional and intellectual skills and competences necessary for effective service delivery. This is facilitated through training and retraining to enhance capacity building for optimum productivity in terms of job performance and students’ academic achievement and overall personality development. Beside manpower development which keep teachers abreast with current trends in global best practices in teaching and learning, their psychological and emotional compatibility with their work environment is equally a priority. This is because a teacher whose personality trait does not match his occupational or career environment cannot delivery optimally in the teaching profession. recruitment and retentions as defined by Holland (1997) referred to an individuals’ natural inclination towards certain occupations that fits his or her personality type, compatibility between an individual’s personality uniqueness and his work environment. There are many parameters that are brought to bear on teachers’ job performance. Such parameters include among others, motivation, job satisfaction, availability of teaching facilities, students’ attitudes towards their studies as well as school administrative factors. However, the issue of teachers’ recruitment and retention as it hinges on their productivity has not been given much emphasis in recent years.

The model frequently used in recruitment and retention research is Holland’s theory of occupational personalities and work environments (Holland, 1997). In this model, Holland organized interests into six types: realistic (R), investigative (I), artistic (A), social (S), enterprising (E) and conventional (C). Individuals with realistic interests are generally focused on working with things rather than people. Investigative interest tends to go along with enjoyment of science. Individuals with artistic interest tend to gravitate towards creative expressions and patterns. Social interests are focused on helping people through areas such as education, social work, religious work and counselling. Enterprising individuals enjoy business leadership and management positions, and individuals with conventional interest prefer highly structured environments. Just as Holland’s model use interests to describe people, the theory also used six types of interests to depict specific environments. For example, individuals with social interests are likely to be found in a social environment in which their social needs are met and their interests are fostered.

Holland’s theory contends that every individual resembles one of six basic personality types and as a result, manifest some of the behavioural traits associated with that type. Holland also defined six environments and declared that each environmental type can be assessed by surveying the occupants of that environment. The theory is built on six basic occupation:

1. In our culture, most people are one of six personality types: realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising and conventional. Some refer to these as Holland’s codes or RIASEC;

2. People of the same personality type working together create a work environment that fits their type. For example, when artistic persons are together on a job, they create a work environment that rewards creative thinking and behaviour – an artistic environment;

3. There are six basic types of work environments: realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising and conventional. Work include doing things to achieve a purpose like paid and unpaid jobs, volunteering, sports or hobbies;

4. People search for environments where they can use their skills and abilities and express their values and attitudes. For example, investigative types search for investigative environment. Artistic people look for artistic environments and so forth;

5. People who choose to work in an environment similar to their personality type are more likely to be successful and satisfied if they choose a job, for example, that has an artistic environment, like choosing to be an actor or actress in a film show – an environment dominated by artistic type of people where creative abilities and expressions are highly valued; and

6. How you act and feel at work depends to a large extent on your workplace or environment. If you are working with people who have a personality type like yours, you will be able to do many things they can do and you will feel most comfortable with them.

The first interest congruence research began with Strong’s development of occupational scales for the strong recruitment and retention bank (SOIB), (Strong, 1927). Although Strong never used the term congruence when describing occupational scales, these empirical keys were created to assess an individual’s interest-fit with members of an occupation. Early research (Strong, 1943) showed a relation between scores on the occupational scales and job satisfaction. Kuder (1966) also developed empirical scales that are expected to be related to job satisfaction.

Holland’s theory of occupational environments was first published in 1959 and has proved to be relatively robust despite rigorous criticisms and subjection to empirical testing. The theory has been revised and updated many times to the latest (1997) version.

Application of Holland’s theory of recruitment and retentions involve assessing individuals in terms of two or three prominent personality types and then matching the respective types with the environmental aspects of potential careers. The theory predicts that the higher the degree of congruence between individual and occupational characteristics, the better the potential for positive career – related outcomes including satisfaction, persistence and achievement. The table below is a description of Holland’s personality types.

Three theories that have been advanced by the researcher to explain the problem of staff retention include the hierarchy of needs theory advanced by Abraham Maslow (1959), the two-factor theory or motivation-hygiene theory advanced by Frederick Herzberg (1966) and equity theory advanced by Adams Smith (1965). According to the Hierarchy of needs theory, low staff retention can be reflected when the individual fails to satisfy one‟s needs hence leaves the organization.Fredrick Herzberg (in Bartol & Martin 1993) also observed that there are factors in the work environment that caused satisfaction and dissatisfaction among the workers. Building on the work of Maslow, Fredrick Herzberg identified two elements: motivators and hygiene factors and concluded that there are motivator factors associated with the content of the job, which seemed to make individuals feel satisfied with their jobs. These were labeled motivators, yet factors that seemed to make individuals feel dissatisfied were associated with the job context and these he labeled hygiene‟s factors. Hertzerg further argues that hygiene factors are necessary to keep workers from feeling dissatisfied but only motivators can lead workers to feel satisfied and motivated. Therefore, managers should provide hygiene factors to reduce sources of worker dissatisfaction and be sure to include motivators because they are the factors that can motivate workers and lead ultimately to job satisfaction, job stability and job retention.Equity theory suggests that employees perception of a working situation in terms of how fairly they are treated compared with others influence their levels of motivation. Motivation is a consequence of perceived inequity thus perceived inequity considered in terms of inputs like education, compared to output in terms of rewards (monetary and non-monetary) may cause an individual to leave an organization. Retention is about how an organization manages its workforce, or more specifically its relationship with its workforce (Mckeown, 2005). Hornby (1993) defines retention as an action of holding something in position or containing it hence employee retention may be explained as a state or a condition of attracting and enabling people to work and stay with their organizations. Musaazi (1982) explains retention as the ability of the school system to keep its staff in their jobs and make them want to stay. Retention is conceptualized in terms of teachers staying and teachers leaving. There are many factors that may influence employee retention or teacher retention, which may include a good working environment, attractive remuneration, good relationship practices, prospects for employee development and promotion, teamwork, organizational culture and many more.

Musaazi (1982) emphasizes that to encourage or persuade staff to remain in the school, the school authorities should establish clear staff policy, clear channels of communication with teachers, encourage teacher-participation in the decision making process, provide facilities and equipment needed by teachers, and attend to the personal and social needs of teachers as well as assign reasonable duties and teaching load to teachers. However, for purposes of this research the three factors for consideration will be remuneration, conditions of working environment, general school management. Remuneration will mean rewards given to individuals for the work. It comprises both of monetary rewards and non-monetary fixed and variable pay and employee benefits (Armstrong 1996) measured in terms of salary, allowances, and fringe benefit. Conditions of working environment will refer circumstances that surround the employed teachers at work place.

Three demographic variables – gender, levels of educational, teaching experience will be used to assess their relative influences on teachers’ recruitment and retention in government secondary schools in Akwa-Ibom state Nigeria. This study seeks to ascertain the influence of these variables on the recruitment and retention of teachers within the the state. No empirical work known to the researchers has investigated the influence of these demographic variables as they bear on teachers’ recruitment and retention.

​​​​​​​Statement of the problem

There has been increasing concern over the last five decades regarding the falling standard of education in Nigeria. Many factors have been deduced regarding this perennial situation. However, the teacher as a key player in the teaching-learning process is mostly implicated for this anomaly. Beside other teacher variables such as qualification, teaching experience, motivation and job satisfaction, their recruitment and retention is also very crucial. Perhaps teachers are not meeting up with public expectation in their job performance as a result of inappropriate recruitment and retention. Interest in the job may significantly influence the way and manner a teacher views his or her job. This psychological reality may have short or long term effect on the teachers’ job performance in his/her daily work schedule. It could be the basis of perceived satisfaction or dissatisfaction which may ultimately affect his or her productivity (Ikeotuonye, Maisamari & Badu, 2003). This notion needs to be investigated. If the pattern or nature of a teacher interest in the job is not in harmony with individual personality, it may reflect a low level of enthusiasm with the job. As a consequence, productivity in terms of service delivery rendered by the teacher may fall below acceptable level. The recurring decimal of students’ woeful performance in internal and external examinations especially at the secondary school level is a concern to all stakeholders in the education industry. Moreover, recruitment and retention may not operate in isolation. The extent to which demographic variables bear on teachers’ recruitment and retention needs to be investigated. Hence, the main thrust of this study is to examine the influence of demographic variables on teachers’ recruitment and retention in public or government secondary schools in Akwa-Ibom Nigeria

​​​​​​​Objectives of the study

The main objective of this study is to investigate the The Influence Of Demographic Factors On Teachers Recruitment And Retention. specifically, the study aims to:

1. Determine the impact of gender on teacher's recruitment and retention in Akwa Ibom State

2. Examine the impact of levels of education on teacher's recruitment and retention in Akwa Ibom State

3. Determine the impact of teaching experience on teacher's recruitment and retention in Akwa Ibom State

Significance of the study

The significance of the study lies in the hope that findings may be of benefit to: Ministry of Education. The Ministry may use the study to understand the determine the demographic factors affecting recruitment and retention of teachers in Akwa-Ibom and as result focus attention on management of staff and their stability or retention in a teaching profession.

Head teachers and board of governors, parents‟ teachers association, members, district education officers, district inspectors of schools will realize the effects of poor remuneration on teacher retention to improve maintain, develop and retain such manpower.

Private secondary school proprietors will be able to plan systematically for staff retention. Other stakeholders of education (parents, students, teachers, support staff, donors, will use the study as a checkpoint to act as a safeguard against any future happenings of the same nature.

Ministry of Education and Sports will be able to recruit and retain teachers by improving the remuneration, conditions of working environment and providing competent manpower in management of schools. Contribute to the existing body of knowledge and will stimulate other research in areas of staff retention in government secondary schools.

​​​​​​​Research hypothesis

The following null hypotheses were raised for the study:

1. There is no significant difference between gender and teachers recruitment and retention in Akwa Ibom State.

2. There is no significant difference between levels of educational and teachers recruitment and retention in Akwa Ibom State.

3. There is no significant difference between teaching experience and teachers‟ recruitment and retention in Akwa Ibom State.

Scope/limitation of the study

This study which will focus on the influence of demographic factors on teachers recruitment and retention. Geographically, the study will be carried out in government secondary schools in Uyo, Akwa-ibom state, south south Nigeria.