Causes of Teacher Turnover and Their Influence on Students Kcse Performance in Private Secondary Schools in Westlands Sub-county-nairobi, Kenya

Abstract

High quality education in learning institutions heavily relies on retention of qualified teachers. Thus, due to the importance of teacher’s turnover issue, the research purposed to find out the extent causes of turnover of teachers influence performance in academics at KCSE Westlands Sub-county, Nairobi-Kenya. The specific objectives were: to examine how much teacher remuneration, teacher working conditions, institutional organizational culture and teachers’ characteristics influence performance of students in academics in private secondary schools in Westlands sub-county. A descriptive design was applied. The research targeted 271 teachers. Twenty seven teachers were selected by random sampling from five private secondary schools. The research used questionnaire to collect data. All collected information was subjected to analysis on SPSS. There was a 93% questionnaire return rate. Demographically, it was revealed that age whereby 40% of teachers were below 30 years and majority (56%) of teachers working in these schools was aged 31-50 could contribute to teachers’ turnover. The three other causes of teachers turnover were less likely to elicit turnover in isolation: remuneration in which 60% of responding teachers received a fair salary with none receiving very poor salary; among the respondents 56% of them showed that they had been assigned a satisfying workload; an impressive opinion on how teachers felt about the institution they were working for. It was concluded that a combination of improved remuneration, satisfying workload and a good regard teachers felt about their current institutions could increase teacher retention for the benefit of school reputation and could work positively in improving student performance in national exams.