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ABSTRACT

The study investigated job security and teachers’ retention in private secondary schools in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. One (1) research objective was raised and translated into a research question and hypothesis. The study adopted ex-post facto correlational research design. The target population consisted of 4735 teachers in all the private secondary schools. The sample of the study was 835 teachers selected using multistage sampling and simple random sampling techniques which shows 439 females and 396 males. The instrument used was Personnel Job Security and Teachers’ Retention Questionnaire (PJSTRQ). The data were analysed using Pearson Product Moment Correlation. The null hypothesis was tested at .05 level of significance. The result revealed positive significant relationship between job security and teachers’ retention. Based on the finding of the study, it was recommended among other things that conditions of service for staff be enacted while improved working environment be considered a priority by the proprietors of the private schools.

Keywords: Personnel, Job security, Secondary school, Teachers’ retention.

DOI: 10.20448/815.21.13.17

Citation | Aloysius Umosen; Ngozika Oleforo (2019). Personnel Job Security and Teachers’ Retention in Private Secondary Schools in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. American Journal of Creative Education, 2(1): 13-17.

Copyright: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License

Funding : This study received no specific financial support.

Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

History : Received: 10 April 2019 / Revised: 15 May 2019 / Accepted: 20 June 2019 / Published: 26 August 2019.

Publisher: Online Science Publishing

1. INTRODUCTION

Human capital represents the human factor in an organisation. It is the combination of intelligence, skills and expertise that gives an organisation its distinctive characteristics and human comparative advantage. This human factor is otherwise referred to as personnel in the social organisation. Personnel simply refer to a group of person that has a job title to perform in an organisation (Armstrong, 2010). The personnel are also the employees in a firm or establishment. Therefore the importance of personnel in an organisation or establishment cannot be overemphasized because they served as hub upon which the entire system revolves. It is the personnel which ensure adequate utilization of other resources for the common interest of the educational sector in Nigeria. This implies that adequacy of personnel in an establishment contribute significantly to the successful attainment of the organizational goals and vice versa. In view of the above, secondary level of education becomes consolidating stage for the gains of the primary education and a transiting stage for the tertiary level of education.

In the context of this study, Secondary level of education refers to the type of education receive after primary education and before tertiary education. It aimed at providing functional education to the youth (Federal Government of Nigeria, 2013). Functional education emphasizes utilitarian purposes which deal with the preparation of the students for useful living in the society. To achieve its set objective, the Secondary level of education, needs dynamic and committed teachers who are willing to remain in the teaching profession without any turnover intentions and contribute to the successful attainment of the educational objectives.

Teachers’ retention especially at the Secondary level of education refers to the steps or practices put in place to motivate the personnel by the management to stay in the schools in order to prevent its competent and valuable workforce from leaving their job. It involves taking appropriate measures to encourage teachers to remain in the teaching profession for a maximum period of time (Hong et al., 2012).  This implies that maximum productivity can be achieved in any organisation by optimising the effectiveness of the employees, improving the life span of employees and treating employees as valuable assets. It further means, addressing the needs of teachers to enhance their job satisfaction thereby reducing the tendency of quitting the teaching job.

Security is one of the second fundamental needs of man as postulated by Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Langbert (2002) asserted that security needs are essential needs; for physical safety and the desire to be free from the fear of deprivation of the physiological needs. It is largely observed that once an employee on the job passes the probationary period, the need for job security quickly appears to recede its importance. As this is achieved, the individual becomes relaxed and complacent in a job situation.

Lankford (2002) opined that job security is both intrinsic and extrinsic values. It is a paramount consideration of most workers in deciding how long they intend to stay on a job. Lankford (2005) further emphasized that job security is indispensable in any work organisation. This is because it guarantees staff members’ retention in the system and its absence threatens stability and spells doom for the organisation.

Job insecurity can be seen as one of the socio-psychological problems which are predominant in the developing countries such as Nigeria. It is characterised by poor wages, loss of pay, issue of downsizing, lack of accommodation, lack of consideration for promotion, possibility of dismissal and application of dragonian rules. Job insecurity tends to result in a sense of worthlessness and bleak future for an individual worker or teacher in such a system. The absence of job security is responsible for the high turnover rate of teacher. Research findings abound which indicate that when teachers are dissatisfied with their jobs as a result of lack of job security they respond to the situation by seeking other jobs and leaving teaching profession.

Blazer (2006) study indicated that 20% of new teachers in Miami-Dade county public school in Florida, United States of America leave the teaching profession after three years and close to 30% left after five years due to perceived job insecurity.

Coulter and Abney (2009) reported that the trend in Canada indicates that teachers are leaving the profession and at higher rate than any other job. Kamara (2002) asserted that a massive number of teachers exit the teaching profession due to many reasons including lack of adequate salaries, lack of job security, houses and promotion opportunities.

Mukumbira (2001) reported that Zimbabwe lost about 2000 newly qualified teachers who left for greener pastures in year 2000 because of perceived lack of job security. Chaika (2002) advocated that lack of teachers’ mobility, lack of job security, inadequate induction programme and poor working conditions as sources of teacher turnover.

Candle (2010) carried out a study on teacher turnover in private secondary schools in Wakiso District in Kampala, Uganda. The study revealed employers related factors such as teachers’ low salary, lack of job security and poor working conditions as having positive significant effect on teachers turnover. However, studies reviewed revealed that most works were conducted outside Nigeria. Other studies also revealed that many other works were conducted in firms and public schools outside Nigeria. This is the existing gap in the literature. Hence, the researcher is poised to determine whether there is existing relationship between personnel job security and teachers’ retention in private secondary schools in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria.

1.1. Statement of the Problem

Job mobility is observed to be rapid in the private secondary schools than the public schools in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. due to job insecurity. More importantly, frequent abdications of duties in the private secondary schools either with or without notice tend to have much bearings on lack of clearly defined conditions of service, poor working environment and job insecurity.

The proprietors of secondary schools in Akwa Ibom State tend to be more interested in increased performance through excess work load at a minimal cost. However, many of the proprietors of private secondary schools claimed that it is through their effort towards adequate provision of good work environment and personnel incentives that tend to promote staff/management relationship and students’ high academic achievement. It is based on these contradictions that the researchers are poised to investigate if any relationship exists between job security and teachers’ retention in private secondary schools in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria.

1.2. Research Question

What is the relationship between personnel job security and teachers’ retention in private secondary schools?

1.3. Research Hypothesis

There is no significant relationship between job security and teachers’ retention in private secondary schools.

1.4. Research Method

The correlational design was used in this study. The design was adopted because the variables were assumed to have occurred and cannot be manipulated. The population of the study was 4735 teachers. It was made up of 2012 male and 2723 female in all the private secondary schools. The sample comprised 835 teachers selected from the sampled schools using multistage and simple random sampling techniques which show 439 females and 396 males. The instrument used was Personnel Job Security and Teacher Retention Questionnaire (PJSTRQ).

The instrument used for the collection of data was divided into three sections; A, B, and C. Section A contained demographic data. Section B contained 5 items on personnel job security. These items were constructed on a four-point measuring scale with response options such as Very High Extent (VHE)-4 points, High Extent (HE)- 3points, Low Extent (LE) – 2 points and Very Low Extent (VLE) – 1 point. Section C contained 10 items on Teachers’ retention and constructed on a four point modified Likert Scale of measurement of Strongly Agree (SA), Agree (A), Disagree (D) and Strongly Disagree (SD). The instrument was validated by validates in the Department of Curriculum Studies, Educational Management and Planning, University of Uyo, Uyo. The reliability of the instrument was established using Cronbach’s Alpha reliability estimate and the result yielded a reliability coefficients of range from 0.71 and 0.91. The results indicated that the instruments were reliable.

2. RESULT

2.1. Null Hypothesis

There is no significant relationship between personnel job security and teachers’ retention in private secondary school.

*Significant at 0.05, df=833, critical r = 0.062.

The result of the analysis in Table 1 shows that the calculated r-value of 0.086 was statistically greater than the critical r-value of 0.062 at 0.05 level of significance with 833 degree of freedom. With this result, the null hypothesis was rejected and the alternative hypothesis was upheld. This means that there was positive significant relationship between job security and teachers’ retention in private secondary schools in Akwa Ibom State. The finding of the study depicted that job security was associated with the teachers’ retention in private secondary schools. Hence, the more teachers’ employment is secured, the higher teachers’ retention in private secondary schools. In other words, the lower teachers’ employment is secured, the lower the teachers’ retention in private secondary schools in Akwa Ibom State.

3. DISCUSSION OF FINDING

The finding of the study revealed that job security significantly relates with teachers retention in private secondary schools. The positive correlation indicated that the more teachers’ employment is secured, the higher the teachers’ retention in private secondary schools in Akwa Ibom State. The explanation for this study is that the job security is the assurance an employee has about the continuity of his gainful employment for the work life. When there is certainty in the stability of teacher’s job, the teacher becomes happier.
Hence the chances of retaining the job become very high, this leads to job satisfaction. However, when the teachers’ job is threatened, the chances of retaining the job become very low. The absence of job security can result in disenchantment with a job.

This finding agrees with earlier findings of Lankford (2002) that job security is both intrinsic and extrinsic factor which most workers consider in terms of how long they intend to stay on a job. Lankford (2005) maintained that the absence of job security is equally responsible for high turnover rate of teachers, this also agrees with the finding of this study. The finding is also in line with Candle (2010) study which revealed that employers related factors such as teachers’ job security, salary and working condition had a significant effect on teachers’ turnover.

4. CONCLUSION

The finding of the study revealed that job security is associated with teachers’ job retention. This implies that personnel job security is significantly related to teachers’ retention in private secondary schools in Akwa Ibom State.

5. RECOMMENDATIONS

Based on the finding of the study and the conclusion drawn, it was recommended that the proprietors of private secondary schools should put in place an approved condition of service for staff members. It was also recommended that the staff working environment be made conducive as it is considered a factor in job security which tends to influence job retention in any organisation.

REFERENCES

Armstrong, M., 2010. Human resource management practice. London: Kogan Tag Press.

Blazer, C., 2006. Literature review on teacher transfer and turnover. Journal of Human Resources, 36(3): 28-35.

Candle, J., 2010. Factors affecting teachers turnover in private secondary schools in Wakisco District. Unpublished M.Ed Thesis, Kampala, Uganda: Makerere University.

Chaika, G., 2002. The teacher shortage: Apply please. Educational World. Available from http://www.educationalworld.com/admin.admin 155 [Accessed sept. 23, 2018].

Coulter, M.A. and P.C. Abney, 2009. A study of burnout in international and country of origin teachers. International Review of Education, 55(1): 105-121.Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11159-008-9116-x.

Federal Government of Nigeria, 2013. National policy on education. Lagos: NERDC Press.

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Kamara, F., 2002. As acute teacher shortage hit countryside: GTU President speaks out. The Daily Observer, pp: 12.

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Lankford, H.G., 2005. Explaining the short careers of high achieving teachers in schools with low performing students. American Economic Review, Papers and Proceedings, 95: 166-171.

Mukumbira, R., 2001. Zimbabwe loses 2000 teachers News24.com. Available from http://www.news24.com/zimbabwe/0. 11113, 2-259_990572,00. html [Accessed Sept. 23, 2018].