attrition rate of private highschool teachers

CHAPTER 1
THE PROBLEM AND ITS SCOPE

1.1 INTRODUCTION
The role of formal education in the development processes is well recognized all over the world. Education is a key contributor to social development and constitutes the bedrock for sustainable economic development. According to Oduro (2000), knowledge and technology are increasingly becoming the basis of competitive advantage in the world.
There is a growing consensus among researchers and educators that the single most important factor in determining student performance is the quality of his or her teachers. Even as high school dropout and graduation rates are a persistent issue of concern in the education arena, teacher attrition rates are similarly troubling. Teacher attrition is another term used for teacher turnover, which are variations in teacher status from year to year. Attrition refers to the gradual natural reduction in staff and employees in the workplace without firing of personnel as when workers die, resign or retire. (Dictionary.reference.com)
Teacher turnover or attrition rates differ dramatically across countries – not surprising, given country’s widely varying economic and social conditions. (Chapman; 2001) Teacher attrition has been a critical concern for the field of education for many years. This in-and-out filtering of educators creates discontinuity and costs school a large amount of money in the recruitment and training of new teachers every year.
Teacher attrition or turnover may include teachers leaving the profession or teachers who change schools. Others leave because they change profession, or they migrate because of family commitment, while others seek better working conditions either within or outside the place. Some teachers leave because they have done many years of teaching and have reached the age of retirement. (Corbell; 2009) Teacher’s attrition or turnover has become increasingly important to consider. Over the years it has been a growing concern about the number of teachers who leave the classroom in the high school department of private schools. It reduces the quantity of teachers as well as the quality of teachers especially if the most able teachers are the most likely to leave.(Boyd et al; 2008;Harris; 2005) Teacher’s turnover rates lead to disruption of a program’s continuity and planning, decreased student learning and student achievement when there is a shortage of qualified teachers to fill vacant positions. It can have significant effects on school and school systems through decreases in teacher quality, student achievement and school stability as well as through the hassle of significant recruitment and replacement costs. An immoderate amount of their capital- both human and financial, is consumed by the constant process of hiring and replacing beginning teachers who leave before they have mastered the ability to create a successful learning culture for their students. A consistently teacher attrition is one of the critical issues currently faced not only by other countries but also here in the Philippines. This issue has also been experienced by the High School Private schools in the province of Surallah. Over the years it has been the growing concern about the number of teachers who leave the classroom in the High School department of the Private Schools of Surallah which has lead to disruption of the continuity of its programs and planning. At the same time, it decreased the student’s learning and student’s achievement because there is a shortage of qualified High school teachers.

1.3 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
The main purpose of this study is to determine the significant factors that contribute to the attrition rate of private high school teachers. Results of the study will serve as basis for the formulation of solutions for the owners of the Private High School; specifically the study answered the following questions.
1. What is the profile of Surallah Private High School teachers as to: 1.1 Age; 1.2 Gender; 1.3 Professional qualification, 1.4 current residence
2. What are the factors that most likely contribute to the attrition rate of private high school teachers in Surallah, South Cotabato.
3. What is the level of job satisfaction among the Private High School Teachers considering the following factors: 3.1 salaries 3.2 benefits 3.3 rewards/ awards received 3.4 work place location 3.5 management style of administration 3.6 government support for private high school teachers
4. Based from the results of the study, what strategies can be formulated to manage the teacher’s attrition rate?

1.4 RESPONDENTS OF THE STUDY The researcher has identified four (4) Private Secondary Schools in the municipality of Surallah, South Cotabato. A letter of request was given to the Principals / Administrators of the Private High Schools asking their consent in conducting a survey and an interview. The researcher will have an interview with their HR Officer or the Principal/ Adminstrator about the historical data of the attrition rates in their respective school from the School Year 2009-2010 up to the present. The study also has targeted twenty (20) High school teachers as the respondents wherein questionnaires will be distributed to the Private high school teachers for them to answer.
TABLE 1
Number of respondents per school
N=20
Name of Schools
Number of respondents
A
7
B
7
C
6

1.5 DATA GATHERING PROCEDURE All data that has been gathered were from the questionnaires distributed to the Private High School teachers and the interviews with the School Principals / Administrators. They High school teachers were asked to answer the questionnaires being distributed to them. An interview with the Principal/ Administrators of each schools was conducted to determine the attrition rates from the School Year 2009-2010 up to the present. These will be considered as the primary data. The collected data from various books, articles, magazines and other related materials are measured as secondary data used for the research study.
1.6 DESCRIPTION OF INSTRUMENT USED The instrument used by the researcher in conducting the study in order to acquire the data necessary in determining the factors that contribute to the attrition rate is a closed form survey questionnaire. The first part of the questionnaire includes the profiling of the private high school teachers as to age, gender, current residency and professional qualification. Respondents have to put a check ( / ) mark in the corresponding profile that describes them. The second part focused on the factors that most likely contribute to the attrition rate of the private high school teachers in Surallah. Teachers have to rank the factors enumerated according to their perception. The third part of the questionnaire aimed to know what are the levels of their satisfaction as to their present jobs as private high school teachers considering the following factors like: rewards, salary, benefits, work place condition, management style of administration and government support for private high school teachers.

Table 2
Satisfaction Rating Scale

Rate Level of Importance

Numerical Measurement

Description

1

Not Satisfied

1.0 - 1.80
The teacher has 0-20% satisfaction to the indicator.

2

Less Satisfied

1.81- 2.60
The teacher 21- 40% satisfaction to the indicator.

3

Moderately Satisfied

2.61 – 3.40

The teacher has 41 -60% satisfaction to the indicator.

4

Highly Satisfied

3.41 – 4.20

The teacher has 61 – 80% satisfaction to the indicator.

5

Extremely Satisfied

4.21 – 5.00

The teacher has 81 - 100% satisfaction to the indicator.

1.7 STATISTICAL TREATMENT The data will be presented in the form of tables for easy grouping or interpretation. The researcher employed ranks and weighted mean to determine the responses of the respondents. To interpret the data the frequency percentages were completed to determine the responses of the respondents.

CHAPTER 2
PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA
This chapter of the study presents analyzes and interprets the data that have been gathered. This chapter will point out the analysis that is needed in order for the reader to understand more clearly the study.
Table 3
Teachers leaving every end of School Year

School
SY 2008-2009
SY 2009-2010
SY 2010-2011
A
1
1
4
B
1
1
1
C
5
6
6

Table 3 presents the number of private high school teachers who leave their school every end of the school year. These data was obtained from the interview to the administrators of the school. As the table shows, School B has the lowest number of teachers who leave their school on the following School Years. School C has the highest number of teachers who leave on the school year 2008-2009 , SY 2009-2010 and SY 2010-2011 respectively.

Surallah Private High School Teacher Profile

Table 4
Gender Profile of Respondents
N= 20
Gender
Number of Respondents
Percentage
Male
2
10 %
Female
18 90 %

Table 4 presents the gender profile of Surallah Private High School Teachers. The table shows that out of 20 respondents only 2 or 10% of the respondents are male and 18 or 90% are female. This shows that there are more female high school teachers who taught in Surallah Private High schools than male teachers.

Table 5 presents the age profile of the private high school teachers in Surallah, South Cotabato. It shows that out of the 20 respondents, 65% or there are 13 of which are on the bracket of 20-25 years old. The 20% comprises the bracket of 26 – 30 years old. The 5% is from the age bracket of 31 – 35 years old and at the same time there is only one teacher who belongs on the age bracket of 41 – 45. There is only 1 or 5% who belong to the 61 and above bracket. This indicates that the High school teachers on the private high school are still young.

Table 5
Age Bracket of Respondents
N= 20

Age Bracket
Number of Respondents
Percentage %
20- 25
13
65%
26-30
4
20%
31-35
1
5%
36-40
0
0
41-45
1
5%
46-50
0
0
51-55
0
0
56-60
0
0
61 and above
1
5%

Table 6 shows us the Educational qualifications of the Private High School Teachers of Surallah. The 20 respondents are 100 % graduates of Bachelor in Secondary Education. This shows that all of the respondents are qualified to be teachers on the Secondary Level and according to my interview; they are all Licensure Examination for Teachers Board Passers. The table also shows that only 20% of them have master’s unit. This indicates that they are willing to enhance their education by taking up master’s degree. The table shows that out of the 20 respondents none of them has taken a Master’s Degree or even Doctoral Degree.
Table 6
Educational Qualifications of Respondents
N= 20

Educational Qualification
Number of Respondents
Percentage %
Bachelor’s degree
20
100%
W/ Master’s unit
4
20%
Master’s Degree
0
0
Doctoral Degree
0
0
Special trainings attended
0
0

Table 7 presents the respondents’ residency. Majority of the private high school teachers were residents of Surallah which composes 9 teachers or 45% of the respondents. Teachers from the nearby city which is Koronadal City are 15% of the respondents, and also 3 teachers or 15% are from Banga, the nearest municipality in Surallah. The farthest residence of the teacher is General Santos City which represents only 5% of the total respondents. There are teachers who came as far as General Santos and Polomolok and even from Koronadal City, this shows that there are teachers from other places who are willing to serve the students in provinces.
Table 7
Residency of Respondents
N= 20

Residence of respondents
Number of respondents
Percentage %
Koronadal City
3
15%
Surallah
9
45%
Gen. Santos City
1
5%
Banga
3
15%
Norala
1
5%
Sto. Nino
1
5%
Polomolok
1
5%

Table 8 presents the ranking of the different contributing factors of attrition rate. The result of the survey says that Low salaries are the highest contributing factor of the attrition of teachers in private high school teachers. The work place condition ranks second on the reason why teachers leave the private high school institutions of Surallah. Migration to other places- locally ranks third place, followed by job dissatisfaction which ranks fourth. They considered management style of administration ranks fifth as they have perceived it.

Table 8
Contributing factors to attrition rate
N=20

Factors of attrition rate
Rank
Job dissatisfaction
4
Low Salaries
1
Retirement
8
Migration to other places-abroad
7
Migration to other places- local
3
Work place condition
2
Distance of residence to school
6
Management style of administration 5

The sixth contributing factor of the attrition rate is the migration to other places in the local or within the Philippines. Retirement ranks as the last or the least contributing factor of the attrition rate on the private high school teachers of Surallah. Low salaries was considered as the first contributing factor among the eight factors listed which entails that all of the private high school in Surallah do not have salaries as high as the public high school teachers are receiving as it was explained during the interview. Retirement was considered as the least factor that contributes to the attrition rate in the private high schools because not all of them are on the age of retirement yet.
Table 9 shows that private high school teachers in Surallah are highly satisfied with the rewards they are receiving from the school they are employed with the weighted mean of 3.7. This table also shows that they are highly satisfied on how the administrators manage the school with the weighted mean of 3. 5. As a result of the survey, it was known that teachers of private high schools in Surallah are moderately satisfied with their salaries which resulted to a weighted mean of 3.4. This was followed by the work place condition with a weighted mean of 3.0.
The factor that obtained the lowest weight mean is the government support for private high school teachers which is only 2.6.
Table 9
Level of Job satisfaction
N= 20

Factors
Weighted Mean
Description
Salaries
3.4
Moderately Satisfied
Benefits
2.9
Moderately satisfied
Rewards
3.7
Highly satisfied
Work Place condition
3.0
Moderately satisfied
Mngt style of administration
3.5
Highly satisfied
Government support for private high school teachers
2.6
Less satisfied

CHAPTER 3
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

SUMMARY
The Study was conducted to determine the significant factors that contribute to the attrition rate of private high school teachers. The primary source of the research was the questionnaires that have been answered by the respondents. As a result of the study the researcher was able to have the following:
1. The gender profile of the respondents is mostly female which constitutes 90% of the 20 respondents and the 10% are only males. This just shows that there are more female teachers than the male on the private high schools in Surallah. In this data, we can also say that females surpass the population of males in the teaching profession.
2. The age profile of the private high school teachers in Surallah, South Cotabato shows that out of the 20 respondents, 65% of which are on the bracket of 20-25 years old. The 20% comprises the bracket of 26 – 30 years old. The 5% is from the age bracket of 31 – 35 years old and at the same time there is only one teacher who was on the age bracket of 41 – 45. There is only 1 or 5% who belong to the 61 and above bracket. This indicates that the High school teachers on the private high school are still young. Almost all of them are fresh graduates from their baccalaureate degree.
3. The Educational qualifications of the Private High School Teachers of Surallah were baccalaureate degree holders. They are graduates of Bachelor in Secondary Education. The teachers are all LET passers as I have known during the interview thus this kind of qualification required by DEPED was achieved. It was known that only 20% of them have master’s unit. This indicates that they are willing to enhance their education by taking up master’s degree but only few of them have it. Out of the 20 respondents nobody has finished a Master’s Degree and even proceeded to Doctoral Degree yet.
4. Majority of the private high school teachers were residents of Surallah which composes 9 teachers or 45% of the respondents. Teachers from the nearby city which is Koronadal City are 15% of the respondents, and also 3 teachers or 15% are from Banga, the nearest municipality in Surallah. The farthest residence of the teacher is General Santos City which represents only 5% of the total respondents. It was learned that most of the teachers who taught in the private high school are from Surallah. The teachers have no problem in terms of being away or far from their families. There are few who came from Polomolok and General Santos City which also would give us the idea that these teachers are willing to be spending their time away from their respective places for as long as they can serve or practice their professions.
5. Table 7 presents the ranking of the different contributing factors of attrition rate. The result of the survey says that Low salaries are the highest contributing factor of the attrition of teachers in private high school teachers. The work place condition ranks second on the reason why teachers leave the private high school institutions of Surallah. The sixth contributing factor of the attrition rate is the distance of residence to school. Management style of the private owned high school institution ranks fifth on this table. Retirement ranks as the last or the least contributing factor of the attrition rate. Low salaries were supplicated by the teachers which were also confirmed by the administrators because according to them, they can not compete with the salaries given by the government to the public high school teachers. Most of the teachers in the high school department of the private school would leave the school because of the opportunities given by the government to the teachers in the public high schools. Work place condition also contribute to the attrition rate of the teachers which could refer to sociological features that shape how teachers experience their work, including their their roles, status, and the characteristics of their students and peers or the educational features, such as curriculum and testing policies.
6. The private high school teachers in Surallah are highly satisfied with the rewards they are receiving from the school they are employed. They are given leave credits, bereavement benefits, longevity incentives and annual leave. They are also given uniform assistance rice allowances and faculty development. They are highly satisfied on how the administrators manage the school.
7. It was also known that teachers of private high schools in Surallah are moderately satisfied with their salaries given by their employers. They are more likely to be magnetized by the salaries offered by the government to the public high school teachers as well as the other benefits they can be enjoying if they are in the public school.
8. They were moderately satisfied with the work place condition in their respective schools.
9. Among the different factors that define the level of satisfaction working in the private high school institution in Surallah is the government support for private high school teachers which is 2.6. This just shows that government has no support given to the private high schools.

CONCLUSION
In the conduct of the study, after thorough analysis of the data collected the researcher found out that mostly of the teachers in the high school department of the private high schools in Surallah are composed of young. Almost all of the teachers are newly graduates from their baccalaureate degrees on Bachelor of Secondary Education and only few have taken up the master’s degree. These teachers are residents of this province Surallah, thus there is no problem as to the distance of the work place from their homes.
The conduct of the study is sought to answer the statement on what are the factors that likely contribute to the attrition rate of private high school teachers in Surallah. With the data gathered the researcher was able to know and identify that low salaries is the highest contributing factor of the attrition rate in Surallah followed by the work place condition of the school they are employed.
The conduct of the study is sought to answer the statement of what is the level of job satisfaction among the private high school teachers. With the data gathered analyzed and interpreted. The researchers was able to know and identify the factor that has the given high satisfaction to the private high school teachers of Surallah.

RECOMMENDATIONS
With the analysis and interpretation of the information gathered in the conduct of this study, the researcher recommended some solutions in order to minimize or lessen the attrition rate. Some of the recommendations are as follows:
1. The owners should raise or increase salaries to more competitive levels to attract the teachers to stay in their school.
2. An Improvement of the benefits to your teachers should be specified for this will entice job security.
3. The owners/ administrators should increase the teacher’s professional integration and involvement by providing professional seminars and conferences to your teachers. In this way, it can reduce teacher’s sense of isolation and you can contribute to their higher professional morale.
4. The owners should provide an improvement to the quality of teacher’s work life by providing a conducive work place condition.
5. They should conduct further study about the other factors that can affect the attrition rate which are not included in this research.