PERSON-ENVIRONMENT FIT AND TURNOVER INTENTIONS OF SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL TEACHERS IN GHANA

The government of Ghana spends a considerable amount of the national budget on training and recruiting teachers every year, but reports indicate that about 10,000 teachers leave the classroom annually for various reasons. Retention of qualified teachers has therefore become a challenge in schools to...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inInternational journal of education and psychology in the community Vol. 9; no. 1/2; pp. 149 - 172
Main Authors Nyarko-Sampson, Eric, Amponsah, Mark Owusu, Asamani, Lebbaeus
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Oradea International Journal of Education & Psychology in the Community 01.07.2019
Subjects
Career Development
Career development planning
Career Planning
Careers
Classrooms
Educational Environment
Employee turnover
Employment
Learning
Retention
Secondary School Teachers
Secondary schools
Teachers
Teaching
Ghana
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Summary:The government of Ghana spends a considerable amount of the national budget on training and recruiting teachers every year, but reports indicate that about 10,000 teachers leave the classroom annually for various reasons. Retention of qualified teachers has therefore become a challenge in schools to ensure quality teaching and learning. The current study investigated the extent to which teachers' personenvironment fit predicts their turnover intentions through their career commitment. The study employed the cross-sectional survey design with a sample of 919, comprising 705 males and 214 females. This consisted of243 teachers in the rural setting, 282 in the peri-urban and 394 in the urban setting. The Partial Least Square-Structural Equation Modelling was used for the analysis. The results indicated that career commitment had a strong negative relationship with turnover intentions. Also, the person-job fit and person-organisation fit dimensions of the person-environment fit measure significantly predicted career commitment and turnover intentions such that higher scores on these person-fit dimensions could lead to higher commitment, and reduced intention to leave the teaching service. The findings were discussed and practical implications and recommendations were made. Among others, the authors recommend that the selection process for recruiting teachers should consider using job screening psychological tests to hire individuals who fit the teaching profession and the academic environment.
ISSN:2069-4695