Motivational factors influencing teacher retention in private primary schools in Murang’a Diocese

Abstract

Human resources play a key role for the success of any organization. Within the school context, teachers greatly contribute to achievement of the school’s objectives. Schools should therefore strive to recruit and retain good teachers by putting in place mechanisms that ensure such retention especially at an era where staff turnover is posing a challenge to many organizations. The purpose of this study was to examine the motivational factors influencing teacher retention in private primary schools in the Catholic Diocese of Murang’a. Specifically, the study sought to assess the influence of compensation, work environment, recruitment procedures and school leadership characteristics on teacher retention in private schools of Murang’a Diocese. The study was premised on Hierarchy of needs theory advanced by Abraham Maslow and Equity theory advanced by John Stacey Adams. The study used descriptive survey design approach. The target population of the study was 270 teachers from 20 schools from where a sample of 108 was drawn. Specifically, 106 teachers participated in this study. Questionnaires were used to collect quantitative data. Pilot test was conducted on 10% of the respondents to ensure validity and reliability of the instruments. Statistical Programme for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21 was used to get descriptive and inferential statistics. The study established that compensation, working environment and leadership characteristics have great influence on teacher retention. The study noted that most teachers were not offered salaries that were commensurate with the amount and quality of work, many head teachers are not supportive, and teachers generally feel unsupported and unappreciated by the school management. The study recommends that the private primary schools should strive to improve compensations, provide a more conducive working environment, promote team work among teachers, ensure teachers have a reasonable workload and have job security.