Teacher Turnover in the Gambia Private Senior Secondary Schools

Abstract

無中文摘要Teacher turnover is an issue that is increasing becoming a global phenomenon that has attracted the attention of researchers, policy makers and academic practitioners. It is an issue that requires much attention in other to mitigate the issues affecting teacher turnover. Every year hundreds of new teachers are handed their appointment letters and given a class to teach. However, within a few years most of them would hand over their resignation letters and then either move to another school, profession or leave the teaching profession entirely. Anecdotal evidence suggest that private schools in The Gambia offers an attractive working environment as well as an attractive salary, however teachers turnover in the private schools continue to escalate at an alarming rate, thus affecting all the players involve, precisely the school administration, students and the parents. In this research, the researcher will explore the perception of teachers on the factors that influence teacher turnover in the private senior secondary schools in the Gambia. This study will adopt a qualitative approach to explore the perceptions of teachers and principals of the factors responsible of teacher turnover, the challenges, and their perceptions about their career as well as the potential solutions to teacher turnover in Gambia private senior secondary schools. An in-depth interview will be conducted to collect the data from 20 teachers and 2 principals in the private senior schools.