Abstract:
Successive governments in Ghana have pursued numerous public sector
compensation reform programmes with the object of attracting and retaining a high
calibre of trained professionals capable of rendering quality service in the public
sector. In spite of the laudable goal, teachers in the country’s public service continue
to search for greener economic pastures and as and when they find the opportunity
elsewhere, they quit the profession, thus raising attrition of teachers. The study was
set to examine the extent to which compensation influences teacher attrition and
assess the impact of the phenomenon. Guided by a combination of snowballing and
purposive sampling strategies, twenty retired graduate teachers and thirty former
teachers who have quit the service and taken up new appointments outside the
teaching profession were selected from the Ashanti and Central regions of Ghana to
constitute the first group of respondents. Focus group discussions were employed to
elicit their responses. Systematic sampling technique was also used to draw one
hundred and fifty teachers in active service from public senior high schools in the two
regions to participate in a survey in which questionnaire was administered to elicit
their responses on the factors that influence their attrition intentions. Findings of the
study indicate that factors including pay, external opportunity, organizational
commitment, training and tenure influence the attrition intentions of teachers. The
study established that graduate professional teachers with diploma in education are
those who had high attrition intentions. Based on the findings, the study advocates
that the compensation of teachers should be improved by not only enhancing the basic
pay, but also to introduce some other allowances to make the profession attractive. It
further advocates the introduction of facilities which are non-existent in the teaching
service but which are enjoyed by personnel in other sectors of the public service such
as subsidized housing scheme and leave allowance to stem the tide of attrition of
teachers. Again, community subsidy, timely and adequate supply of educational
resources and organization of frequent seminars and contacts will also go a long way
to reduce the incidence of attrition in the teaching
Description:
A Thesis in the DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL STUDIES EDUCATION,
University of Education of FACULTY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES submitted to
School of Graduate Studies, University of Education, Winneba in partial
fulfilment of the requirements for the Doctor of Philo sophy (Social Studies)
Degree.
