Factors Contributing To Secondary School Teachers’ Attrition In Khomas Region, Namibia

Abstract

Ministry of Education is losing teachers to other sectors within the Namibian economy (Iyambo, 2012). Those that are leaving the teaching profession are not easily replaced because there are already not enough of the academically able students being attracted to teaching. Iyambo (2012) noted that the highest rates of attrition were among teachers with the highest academic qualification. This study aimed at investigating factors contributing to teachers ‘attrition. The purpose for this study was to find out reasons why secondary school teachers are leaving the teaching profession in Khomas region. Furthermore, the study wanted to gauge the challenges teachers faced in their teaching career in order to reduce the increasing number of teachers leaving the teaching profession.

A Convergent parallel mixed methods design study addressed the reasons for high school teachers leaving the teaching profession. The two methods, qualitative and quantitative, were given equal priority so that both played an equal role in addressing the research question. A structured close-ended questionnaire was used to gather quantitative data while the qualitative data was collected using a semi-structured interview protocol. Analysis of the qualitative and quantitative results were presented in a side-by-side summary table to identify convergence and divergence.

Findings confirm a number of factors that contribute to attrition. The list of factors include ill-disciplined learners, heavy workload of teachers, poor school leadership

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practices, too much administrative work and lack of professional development. Research results did not support low pay as a contributing factor.