Public sector reforms in Ghana the impact of compensation reforms on teacher attrition

Abstract

Successive governments in Ghana have pursued numerous public sector compensation reform programmes with the object of attracting and retaining a high calibre of trained professionals capable of rendering quality service in the public sector. In spite of the laudable goal, teachers in the country’s public service continue to search for greener economic pastures and as and when they find the opportunity elsewhere, they quit the profession, thus raising attrition of teachers. The study was set to examine the extent to which compensation influences teacher attrition and assess the impact of the phenomenon. Guided by a combination of snowballing and purposive sampling strategies, twenty retired graduate teachers and thirty former teachers who have quit the service and taken up new appointments outside the teaching profession were selected from the Ashanti and Central regions of Ghana to constitute the first group of respondents. Focus group discussions were employed to elicit their responses. Systematic sampling technique was also used to draw one hundred and fifty teachers in active service from public senior high schools in the two regions to participate in a survey in which questionnaire was administered to elicit their responses on the factors that influence their attrition intentions. Findings of the study indicate that factors including pay, external opportunity, organizational commitment, training and tenure influence the attrition intentions of teachers. The study established that graduate professional teachers with diploma in education are those who had high attrition intentions. Based on the findings, the study advocates that the compensation of teachers should be improved by not only enhancing the basic pay, but also to introduce some other allowances to make the profession attractive. It further advocates the introduction of facilities which are non-existent in the teaching service but which are enjoyed by personnel in other sectors of the public service such as subsidized housing scheme and leave allowance to stem the tide of attrition of teachers. Again, community subsidy, timely and adequate supply of educational resources and organization of frequent seminars and contacts will also go a long way to reduce the incidence of attrition in the teaching