Influence of Board of Management Members’ Motivational Practices on Teachers’ Retention in Public Secondary Schools in Athi River Sub County,Kenya

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of Board of management motivational practices on teacher’s retention in public secondary schools in Athi River Sub County Athi, Kenya. The study objectives were; to determine the influence of monetary incentives, non-monetary incentives, influence of work schedule flexibility and the influence of career development prospects on teachers’ retention. The study employed a correlation research design. A correlation study determines whether or not two variables have a relationship or influence each other. This means to study whether an increase or decrease in one variable corresponds to an increase or decrease in the other variable. Correlation design was suitable for this study because it enabled the researcher to determine the influence of Board of Management motivational practices on teachers’ retention in public secondary schools. The target population for the study was 13 public secondary schools in Athi River Sub County. The study, therefore, targeted a population of 260 teachers and 221 BOM members given that each school has an average of 17 BOM. The main instruments for the study were questionnaires that were administered to teachers and Board of Management. Panel of experts in the education field were used to ascertain instrument validity. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software version 20.0 was used to carry data analysis. The study produced descriptive statistics in form of cross tabulation tables to obtain correlation between variables. The findings revealed that teachers in Athi river secondary schools are not well motivated thus there is high staff turnover. Results findings showed that teachers are not given monitory incentives for extra work they do, low provision of nonmonetary incentives, inflexible working schedule and little room for career development make teachers unmotivated which lead to low rate of teachers’ retention. Results further showed that, provision of monetary incentives (r=79.08, p=0.000), non-monetary incentives (r=73.7, p=0.000), flexible working hours (r=87.58, p=0.000) and room for career development (r=86.67, p=0.000) influenced teachers’ retention and were statistically significant supported by chi square and p values indicated. The study recommends that BOM should be trained on management skills in order for them to understand the benefits of employee’s motivational practices, this will help to minimize high rate of staff turnover in Athi River public secondary schools. The study also recommends that the BOM should tailor motivational practices that suit teachers to make them feel recognized and appreciated. These initiatives will make them remain in service. There is need for further research on other motivational practices that influence teachers’ retention other than the four identified in this research.