Effect of recruitment and selection practises on retention of teachers in international primary schools in Nairobi county

Abstract

Recruitment and selection are essential tools in assisting the human resource managers and the entire company to hire the right people and retain them. Whereas a myriad of studies on teacher retention majorly focus only on other HR factors like general employee compensation benefits, the relationship between HR practices and employee retention in organisations, minor focus has been shed on the effect of recruitment and selection on retention of teachers especially in the international primary schools. Occasioned by the aforementioned gap in local literature, the present study sets out to evaluate the Effect of Recruitment and Selection Practices on Retention of teachers in International Primary Schools in Nairobi County. This study took the descriptive research design. The population in this study is all of the 50 listed international primary schools in Nairobi County. A sample size of 128 respondents in various positions across the top and middle work levels was sampled proportionately from the institutions. The study used primary data which was largely quantitative, collected by use of questionnaires. Both descriptive and inferential statistics was in data analysis. Descriptive analysis involved the use of frequencies in their absolute and relative forms (percentage) whereas inferential statistics showed the nature and magnitude of relationships established between the independent and dependent variables using regression analysis to make inferences from the data collected to more generalized conditions. Mean and standard deviations were also be used as measures of central tendencies and dispersion respectively. Both Pearson Correlation and regression analysis were performed in inferential statistics Findings on the effect of recruitment on retention it was concluded that recruitment channels meaningfully influence retention in international primary schools in Nairobi County, key among them of which include; personal connections, institution websites, Press media (e.g. newspapers or magazines) and public agencies. The outcomes further reveal that Selection Practices significantly influence retention of teachers in international primary schools in Nairobi County, majorly through such channels as interviews, IQ tests, personality tests and work sample tests and job knowledge tests. The study also concludes that to a large extent, aspects of employee retention influence teacher retention in international primary schools in Nairobi County key aspects of which include; good system of establishing productive communications between employees and senior management, existence of a corporate code of the institution and provision of employment benefits.