Challenges of Retaining Teachers in Private Secondary Schools in Wakiso District, Uganda

Abstract

Retention of teachers in schools is key in the achievement of the sustainable development goals (SDGs). The current paper investigated the challenges of retaining teachers in private secondary schools in Wakiso District, Uganda. The study adopted the cross-sectional survey method of the descriptive design and mix of quantitative and qualitative approaches. The target population was 1824 respondents comprising of all the teachers and head teachers from rural and urban schools in Wakiso district. A sample size of 317 respondents consisting of 267 teachers, and 50 Headteachers was used in the study. The study revealed that upcoming private schools had a higher rate of teachers who were leaving the school than the well-established private schools which could be because of the less stressful experiences they undergo compared to their colleagues in upcoming private schools. It also emerged that various reasons made teachers not to remain in their schools. It was concluded that the findings accruing from this study intends to provide new deposit of knowledge on challenges affecting retention of teachers in private secondary schools. The study might also stimulate interest to other researchers to do further research on the field of employee retention and turnover in both educational and non-educational sectors. The study intends to benefit the school proprietors and administrators to make informed decisions on matters regarding retention of teachers. The study recommended that proprietors of private secondary schools should find appropriate measures that can be used to address challenges of retaining their teachers like increasing teachers ‘salaries by considering their workload, motivating teachers by using fringe benefits to motivate, be committed and improving the working environment.

Key words: Challenges, Teachers, Retention, Private schools

DOI: 10.7176/JEP/14-9-11

Publication date:March 31^st 2023