Teacher Attributes of Turnover on Learning Achievement in Biology in Public Secondary Schools in Garissa County, Kenya

Makokha Terry David
Department of Curriculum, Instruction and Educational Media
Moi University, School of Education
Email: makokhaterri@gmail.com

Abstract: The performance and survival of schools is largely dependent on teachers. The inadequacy of staffing schools with qualified and experienced teachers is however a major cause for lack of sufficient learning achievement in some schools today. The staffing problem is majorly attributed to teacher shortages occasioned by high teacher turnover. Conducted in Garissa County, this study sought to investigate the teacher turnover factors on learning achievement in Biology. The study was guided by Becker’s Human Capital Theory of Occupational Choice and Gagné’s Theory of Five Conditions of Learning. The study’s philosophical paradigm was borrowed from the Pragmatic Worldview and embraced a convergent mixed-methods design. The target population was 2691 form three students and 95 teachers of Biology from 40 public secondary schools in GarissaCounty. Stratified random sampling was used in selecting 27 schools from which a sample of 387 respondents comprising 336 students and 51 teachers of Biology was selected. The samples were obtained using simple random and purposive sampling for students and teachers respectively. The research instruments used for data collection were teacher questionnaire and document analysis guide whose analysis was performed using both descriptive and inferential statistics for quantitative data and thematic analysis for qualitative data. The paper established that teacher attributes of turnover had p-value less than the level of significance indicating positive significant correlation with the learning achievement in Biology. Qualitative data findings further revealed that teacher attributes of turnover influenced chronic absenteeism, massive transfer requests and duty desertions. The study concluded that teachers’ attributes influenced low learning achievement in Biology in public secondary schools in study area. The study recommended the Teachers’ Service Commission to come up with robust mentorship programs for the newly employed teachers, provision of attractive remuneration and manage teacher transfer crises.