Browsing by Author "Mwasi, Charles"

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    Teachers’ recruitment and retention in Tanzania municipal councils: the case of Secondary School Teachers in Songea Municipality
    (University of Dar es Salaam, 2012) Mwasi, Charles
    This study investigated strategies for teachers’ recruitment and retention and their effectiveness in improving the process of recruiting and retaining secondary school teachers in Songea Municipal council. The objectives of the study were to explore the strategies employed by Songea Municipal council in recruiting and retaining secondary school teachers, to identify the challenges facing the council in recruiting and retaining secondary school teachers and finally to find out factors and the rate of labor turnover among teachers employed by Songea Municipal council. The study adopted a case study design, which employed both qualitative and quantitative approaches in data collection. The study was conducted in ten secondary schools and also at Municipal Education and Municipal Director Offices. The research sample consisted of 132 respondents, including 120 teachers, 10 School heads, one Municipal Education Officer and one Municipal Director. Teachers were selected using stratified random sampling while School heads, Municipal Education Officer and Municipal Director were purposively selected. Schools were randomly selected. Data were gathered through semi-structured interviews, questionnaire and documentary review. Qualitative data was analyzed using content analysis while quantitative data was analyzed by using Statistical Packages for Social Sciences. The study revealed that the major strategies employed by Songea Municipal council in recruiting and retaining teachers include; giving teachers contracts immediately after reporting, paying subsistence allowances immediately after reporting as well as using School heads in supporting recruitment and retention. It was revealed that teachers were not satisfied with the strategies employed by Songea Municipal council in recruiting and retaining secondary school teachers. It was also found that there was lack of teachers’ houses in schools, lack of allowances for extra duties in schools, poor provision of teachers’ services, delay of payment of teachers’ salaries and low salaries and inadequate budgetary allocations in the Municipal council. The major factors for labour turnover among teachers employed by Songea Municipal council were low salaries, geographical location of a school, uniting couples after marriage, low status of the teaching profession and teacher’s work experience. The rate of labour turnover among teachers employed by Songea Municipal council increased from 2.2% in 2009 to 4.8% in 2011. This implies that the strategies employed for teachers’ recruitment and retention were not effective. Non monetary and monetary factors have influenced teachers’ turnover. The study recommends that, the government has to increase teachers’ remunerations. Also, Songea Municipal council has to pay subsistence allowances and salaries on time. Moreover, the Municipal council need to conduct orientation courses to new teachers, budget for teachers’ professional development, build enough teachers’ houses, promote teachers on time, educate teachers on how to access loans from private financial institutions and review teachers’ transfer policies.