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Chapter 2 Literature Review This section reviews the literature concerned with the study in question and the views of other writers. It is clear from the background of the problem that the rural areas in Namibia are made up of tradition and “urban fringe” areas, scattered and sparely populated, has high levels of dependency, low income and long and persistent of emigration as well as a portion of elderly people. Some of these are also areas of perceived remoteness in other parts of the country.
The implications of these constrains are very strong in affecting, health, social services and mainly education needs of the population and influencing the way in which they must be responded. The literature explores the research relevant to rural teacher employment compensations and suggests policy directions that can help guarantee that all teachers are equally equipped in the country’s quest for qualified and/or skilled teachers. Introduction Skill shortages* in Namibia are having an impact not only on the labour market but also on the economy of the country as a whole.
Despite the ongoing improvements and developments in the country, the problems of putting unemployed people into work remain and there is still a shortage of skilled labour in many sectors of the economy. The recruitment of skilled staff has become a major issue in the Namibian public sector. The government is investing record amounts of money in the health services, in Education, in the police and in Local Governments. This investment, however, is being inhibited by the inability of public sector institutions to recruit suitably qualified and experience staff in some areas of the country, particularly rural areas.
There are a number of causes of this problem. The first is that the public service is not seen as attractive, particularly when the economy is floating. The second is that the demands in the public sector are not seen to be reflected in the rewards on offer. The third is the growing professional skills age, creating great competition for those with appropriate skills. The fourth is the cost of housing in certain parts of the country. The social status of teachers refers to the relative standing of teaching as an occupation in a hierarchy of all occupations.
As a status of an occupation is usually determined by the prestige, wealth and authority of the workers enjoy, a comparison of social status in deferent countries may reveal the significance attached to the teaching ant the amount of appreciation reserved for teachers in each society. (Biddle, 1995). Therefore, the social status of the teachers is an important areas of enquiry that provides insight into the significance attached to education in each country.
In Namibia, growing affluence and social diversity has been accompanied by the independence of March 21st 1990, which has made Namibia a truly democratic society. As a developing country, education is one of the greatest challenges and priorities the country has set on its top list in producing a highly trained workforce needed for economic development, and teacher education is placed as a cornerstone of education order to produce a strong group of quality learners, and scholars.
Countries world-wide are plagued with problems of teachers shortages and difficulty in attracting academically able students into the teaching profession (Leavitt, 1992; Williamson and Morris, 2000), Namibia is not unique in a sense of not being able to fully attract the few of its qualified to the rural areas especially to the northern regions. This phenomenon might be attributed to the relatively, low social status not so well enjoyed by most these young qualified teachers in Namibia. The Significance or Teaching
Teaching is the essential profession, the one that makes all other professions possible. Without well qualified, caring, and committed teachers, neither improved curriculum and assessments, nor safe schools, not even the highest standards in the world will ensure that our children are prepared for the challenges and opportunities today and future labour market has to offer. The importance of quality education is what will make the difference between those who will prosper in the new economy and those who will be left behind.
Teaching is the profession that should be shaping our education and therefore Namibia’s future, molding the skills of the future workforce and laying the foundation for good citizenship and full participation in both community and city life. Accordingly, what teachers know and are able to do of critical importance to the nation, as is the task of preparing and supporting the career-long development of teachers’ knowledge and skills. Yet, while doctors are not asked to perform surgery after several months of clinical experience, students are expected to become teachers with only a few months of in-class training.
While employees in high-performance industries, example, accountants and human resources practitioners, have opportunities for professional growth and learning, many teachers do not receive the opportunities for continuous learning that they need to teach effectively. 1. Teacher Shortages While other areas of education are hotly disputed, the need for excellent teachers should not escape debates. Every child deserves an excellent education and qualify teachers are essential in achieving this goal although this vision may not see light of day in rural areas where there’s an ever increasing shortage – especially of qualified teachers.
Although teacher shortages are found in all areas – urban, suburban and rural – there are demographic differences, of which indicates that rural areas, especially, are finding it increasingly difficult to attract the few of the qualified available teachers in the country. The main biggest problem for many rural schools remains finding teachers who are qualified and willing to settle in these remote areas. Teacher shortages are made worse because qualified teachers find themselves unable to cope and adapt to the social status and the living situations in the ural areas and for those teachers that could be persuaded to move to these areas end up facing the loss of a number of benefits, and exposure to the new developments that teachers in urban areas are at best advantage. As is mentioned in the problem statement of this research proposal, a critical shortage exists in secondary schools, which forms a foundation of career guidance for learners. The teacher shortage problem itself involves complex economic, social and demographic factors.
However, any solution needs to include incentives (or benefits) that are fairly competitive considering the circumstance. Unfortunately for rural areas, the data indicated that there are no special services made available to the teachers. Thus, it is not surprising that rural areas around the country and in particular the northern regions report that qualified teachers are taking jobs in urban schools or other fields with more benefits – leaving rural areas with less choice of whom to employ – or not candidates at all, in most cases they are forced to employ anyone who is willing and needs an income.
This is a complex issue that the Human Resource Development Programme (see pg 4) in Namibia will be faced with. Areas such as government policies, teacher salaries, job opportunities for new graduate teachers, higher education programmes in teacher preparation, recruitment strategies, and local working conditions are all areas which cover the problem of teacher shortages. Almost every part and every level of the educational system is part of the problem and need to be part of the solution.
Shortages of skilled teachers have already critical proportions in our high-poverty communities of rural areas; in fields such as science and mathematics; in areas experiencing the greatest population increases; and in the population of teachers from diverse racial, cultural and linguistic backgrounds. Shortages of qualified teachers will, however, not necessarily be felt in all communities. While urban areas may always have a large pool of applications, “urban fringe” and disadvantaged rural areas often find it difficult to attract and retain qualified teachers.
It is usually the schools in high-poverty communities that, faced with shortages of qualified teachers employ teachers who are not fully qualified to teach. For example, it is reported that, usually schools in high-poverty areas have less than 75 percent chance of having a science or mathematics teacher with a diploma and/or qualification in the field he or she teachers (Min of Basic Education, 1998). As a consequence, Namibia’s most challenging schools are often forced to employ the least qualified teachers if at all. A number of school children who could benefit mostly from effective teaching are denied access to quality education.
This is a fundamental issue of equity. Teacher shortages of all kinds are exacerbated by poor support for both new and experienced teachers. Attrition rates for new teachers in urban areas can sometimes reach 50 % in the first five years of teaching because of the inadequate preparation, challenging assignments, and the paucity of high quality mentoring and induction programmes available for trainee teachers. Such attrition rates drain rural resources for recruitment, and the revolving-door staffing patterns they promote in some schools create a considerable burden on school environment and learner performance.
In addition teachers in high-poverty settings often become “de-professionalised” because they lack the professional development opportunities that are more often available to those who teach in urban areas. The absence of quality professional development is a strong disincentive for teachers to choose schools in rural areas. It also denies development opportunities to the same teachers who face the most challenges in the classroom. The teacher shortages dilemma actually consists of three overlapping elements. Firstly, the recruitment challenge of increasing the number of potential new candidates for staff vacancies.
Secondly, is the problem of retention (retaining teachers once they are employed). And lastly, teacher shortages are magnified by recent attention to, and demand for teacher “quality” and thus the need to recruit “highly qualified” teachers. Effective solutions to teacher shortages need to address all of the above-mentioned elements. All are critical and all demand attention. For example, it is futile to increase recruitment if new teachers leave within a short-time. Demographics by definition – rural communities are characterized by sparse population.
However, taken together, rural people encompass a significant portion of our nations citizenry. Rural areas are found in all regions of the country and represents a large segment of the country’s population. In fact, most of the children live in rural, and “urban fringe” areas and tend public schools. Their education is in the hands of a few of these qualified teachers if at all. How these educators are paid matter. 2. Recruitment Strategies: Rural Areas One of the key issues policy makers should address is teacher recruitment.
Different schools in rural areas pose the own set of challenges and they face formidable challenges in recruiting and retaining quality teachers. Compared with teachers in the city or town schools and urban fringe schools, rural teachers tend to be less educated, slightly experience if at all and more likely to belong to that particular village. Professional isolation and chronically low benefits exacerbate to rural schools. “Many young teachers are wondering how they cope in rural areas, away from the comforts of home” (Govender, 2002).
Rural and village teachers are also less likely to have access to professional development, special services, and opportunities for peer collaboration. They are more likely to have to teach out of the field in which they have majored. The colleges of education don’t necessarily prepare teachers to teach in rural areas. (Govender, 2002) The education spokesman, Mandla Mbisi said, “new qualified teachers should embrace the “rural experience””…, “it will be a good experience, teachers will get a difference perspective”. 2. 3. 1Reasons for High Teacher Turnover
Many rural areas, especially remote villages are struggling with worse teacher shortages and the consequences of the teacher shortfall are serious. In general, teacher shortages are first evident in the decreased number of applicants for a particular vacant position. Superintendents and principals in geographic shortage areas find that they have few applicants to choose from and as a result, little choice in recruiting decision. In some cases, they have no choice – or no applicants. The impact of teacher shortages is significant for many rural school areas. Doug; 1984), Many qualified teachers employed in rural villages or small towns come reluctantly and do not stay. Teachers leave these areas for the following reasons: Pre-service preparation that is inappropriate for villages and rural schools Failure to recognise that experience in rural schools can advance career plans and goals Inadequate experiential and psychological preparation for the demands and limitations of these schools and communities Mismatch of personal value systems and rural lifestyles Discontinuity between idyllic expectations and harsh realities of rural living.
Why Teachers Stay or Go The principal reason teachers do not consider taking up employment or leave rural areas is isolation of social, cultural, and professional. Recent research on rural teacher recruitment and retention appears thin, and much of it has been conducted outside the United States. For example, a survey of teacher mobility (94 past and current teachers in a rural British Columbia school area) found that teachers leave communities because of geographic isolation, weather, distance from larger communities and family, and inadequate shopping (Murphy & Angelski, 1996/7).
The literature suggest rural administrators have difficulty attracting and finding qualified who fit in with the school and community and who will stay in the job. The “ideal” rural teacher is certified to teach more than one subject or grade level, can teach learners with a wide range of abilities in the same classroom, is prepared to supervise extracurricular activities and can adjust to the community (Lemke, 1994; Stone, 1990). In the British Columbia study, teachers stayed because of their principal, spouse employment in the community, and satisfaction with the rural lifestyle (Murphy & Angelski, 1996/1997) Better Staffing Essential Staffing involves everything that an organization does as part of hiring an applicant. Staffing consist of two basic sets of activities; attracting candidates (employee recruitment)”… (Harris and Brannick, 1999). The challenge of staffing every classroom with a qualified teacher is not trivial. Most of the public schools are in rural areas, and importantly, the majority learners in the northern regions attend school in rural communities. The learners deserve an excellent and equitable, education, with access to qualified and quality teachers. Geography should not dictate which children obtain an excellent education and which do not.
In South Africa, “teachers will no longer be ale to choose the schools where they will teach if an education Bill that aims to give the Minister of Education, far-reaching powers is approved by parliament”…. “newly qualified teachers will be told by provincial education departments where to teach”. … “this applies to teachers who return to classrooms after a break”… (Pretorius, 2002). Clearly, if the nation is to guarantee an adequate education and solid career opportunities for all children, we must put an effective teacher in every classroom and focus on recruiting, preparing and retaining teachers in rural areas.
This may not be easy an answer to find to this problem and the ultimate solution may vary from school to school. Nevertheless, there are some clear factors to consider, some general approaches that have strong expert consensus behind them, and some individual programmes and strategies that have demonstrated success or promise in specific, limited implementation. There is an indication that policy makers don’t understand as completely and precisely the specific problems and challenges their rural schools face and identify the avenues of solution most likely to succeed in particular villages.
Attracting qualified or skilled employees The perceived remoteness of the regions from other part of the country has given rise to great difficulty in attracting and holding key staff. This applies to all professions but particularly that of skilled and/or qualified teachers. One of the most critical issues in fulfilling a vacancy is to obtain the right people. In a traditional way, this can take place by means of recruitment, when the HR professional goes outside to organisation to replace current talent with higher-quality talent or to obtain additional talent required by the organisation (Brewster, Carey, Dowling,….. 2003). There are many other things that organizations should and can provide to attract and retain workers. A broad mix goes into any successful recruitment and retention strategy. Prospective employees obviously want competitive salaries and health care benefits. They also want meaningful organisational culture and work-life balance. But there is something also they feel strongly about: training and development – the chance to learn new things, take on new responsibilities and grow. Education Training and Support
Attracting and retaining teachers, their continuing education and training both in terms of their practice and I the use of communications and information technologies are regarded throughout Namibia as a major concern. The Minister of Higher Education, Hon. Mr. Nahas Angula, in his speech on youth development, clearly identifies the special needs of rural and remote area teachers for further education and training including the problems associated with obtaining access to these services. Professional isolation is a major problem for rural school teachers that was also clearly identified.
The public sector institutions do not benefit from employee growth because of the inability of attracting and retain skilled employees. The rural areas face a shortage of housing for employees, a significant disincentive to potential candidates. These disadvantage and constraints the capacity and growth of employees intending to relocate to rural areas. There are other perceived disadvantages for employees considering taking up employment in rural areas, i. e Constant increase in transportation Lack of infrastructures, i. e housing
Inadequate and costly telecommunications Transport links Access to service such as banking etc. Capitalise on Perceptions While the foregoing represents some of the main constrains to the services in the rural areas there are of course several advantages, which can be utiltised to the full. Foremost is the existence of very good communities and community networks, excellent neighbours and a very good knowledge of local circumstances and needs. There is a huge level of local pride and a wide spread of local voluntary activity.
However, because of the nature of the area this voluntary activity, while widespread, is limited in scope. Some people think of rural areas as being safer and friendlier environments to work in, offering less of a stressful lifestyle and having good public schools. Although there Quality Induction is Critical Of all the initiates to improve the quality of teaching in Namibian schools, the most significant are those that seek to ensure beginning teachers start their careers with substantial professional support and opportunities to enhance what they know and are able to do.
The are two main reasons why this investment may be productive: to improve student achievement, and; to reduce teacher attrition, especially among teachers with the greatest promise. No matter how good a teacher preparation programme has been, beginning teachers have much to learn. Indeed without adequate professional support, novice teachers often narrow their repertoire of competencies and focus on less sophisticated and less effective instructional strategies. The lives of beginning teachers are full of questions about what needs to be done, given the situation and children they have.
They are ready to learn, and what they learn will shape their perceptions of what good teaching is and what it means to be a teacher. The absence of opportunities for professional development focused on particular challenges new teachers face means that the learners of new teachers, as well those they will teach throughout their careers, suffer accordingly. Retaining Current Teachers Once teachers have been recruited and prepared, the next step is to keep them in the profession. Experiences have shown that support – financial, intellectual and human – helps retain new teachers.
New initiatives may include low-cost housing loans that would be repaid after five years of teaching. A scholarship – and loan-repayment programmes should be proposed for persons who agree to teach in schools in rural areas. The challenges may not necessarily get easier in the foreseeable future. Fifty percent of the teachers may be retiring over the next 10 years, and the teachers college of education and universities may not be able to prepare enough new teachers to meet this demand. Additional paths into teaching must then be investigated, incentives to tech in rural schools and roadblocks removed.
Benefits and Incentives: Financial incentives In the US, financial incentives to entice prospective teachers are increasingly popular and include college scholarships, signing bonuses, assistance with moving expenses and housing subsidies. While such incentives are often effective in the short term in some areas, it is not clear that they have the desired long-term benefit of keeping good teachers in he classroom, especially in the hard-to-staff schools. What is more, isolated rural schools are not succeeding in luring new graduates, even by offering generous financial incentives.
Moreover, a reliance of financial incentives runs the risk of putting poorer schools and other rural areas at a significant disadvantage in the competition for good teachers unless the government can help equalise poorer and remote areas’ potential to compete. When adequate incentives are provided, urban and rural areas are succeeding in their efforts to recruit mid-career professionals in other fields to become teachers. For these more senior candidates, the most important incentive seems to be ease and rapidity of entry into the classroom.
Consequently, efforts to attract mid-career professionals into teaching usually involve an alternative teacher preparation programme that enable them to begin teaching after a brief initial training period, and to earn a full-time teachers’ salary right away. The areas of concern are also experimenting with more indirect and innovative strategies such as building low-rent housing for teachers, or in some rural communities, making teacher recruitment a responsibility of the entire community. Doug, 1984) Some rural area schools in the USA are offering some of the following monetary considerations not necessarily appropriate to urban areas: salary increments for multiple teaching assignments, tuition reimbursement for professional development activities, career ladders and merit pay, and a four-day teaching week. 2. 6Will Increasing Incentives Fix the Problem? The Ministry of Basic Education has put focus on improving their recruitment process in attracting good teachers. Added research could shed some light on whether the large bonuses and better salaries will attract good teachers who otherwise would not teach there.
Likewise, while offering prospective mathematics and science teachers’ salaries competitive with what they could receive in the private sector could attract more people to teaching, research is needed to substantiate that. What is uncertain about financial incentives, however, is their long-term impact. Since highly desirable teacher candidates often have other career options, offering financial incentives to “the best” may only be a short-term fix unless the issues of career advancement and salary satisfaction are addressed for the benefit of especially those in rural areas.
Salaries (and benefits) Teachers’ salaries are the elephant in the room. Not only are teachers in (in America) lowest paid professionals, but they also are entrusted with its most valued resource. Teachers should be paid more generously. All teachers should be paid according to the salary schedule for staff development time. Salaries in rural school areas are generally lower and/or tend to fall behind those in large or urban areas in comparison to the availability of resources and facilities.
However, the total compensation package – salary and benefits (social security, pension, and medial aid) are often comparable to their counterparts in urban areas. Rewards and Recognising Hard Work: Intrinsic Advantages of Rural Areas The following advantages of rural schools are emphasised when recruiting qualified teachers in rural areas: Opportunity to know learner and their families and satisfaction of watching learners’ progress Opportunity to influence curriculum and administration Community involvement in the school.
While we can build a system that draws people to teach in the rural areas, we have to be increasingly sensitive to the fact that teaching, especially in rural areas, is hard work. Namibia cannot expect to retain quality teachers if their need for professional places to work, professional development, and financial and human support are not respected. Leaders in education should consider approaching this task with their full commitment. To do less – to ignore the vital role that teachers play – will sabotage all other efforts to raise learner’s achievement. Influence of Government Policies
According to Poppleton (1999), government policies on curriculum standards, school evaluation, teacher training, recruitment and retention do have a significant impact on teacher’s working conditions, levels of satisfaction and thus, indirectly, on their social status. For instance, in some countries such as Japan and German, teachers are employed as civil servants with life-long job security tend to express higher satisfaction with their jobs and enjoy a relatively higher social status than teachers in the UK and USA who are hired only as a local or school employees.
Further more, in some countries, such as USSR even before1980, they operated on a centralised system with a national curriculum and a uniform standard and narrowly defined responsibilities. In other nations, such as the UK even before the 1988 Education Reform Act, which implemented a more centralised system, teachers tended to assume a broader range of roles and responsibilities and experienced a higher degree of stress in their work.
In the case of Namibia, the government has adopted a decentralised educational administration system that is characterised by a uniform teacher education policy and a national standard for curriculum and assessment. These policies may not necessarily have made a significant impact on the relatively low level of occupational prestige, greater job satisfaction, better academic quality and a more positive role image for Namibian teachers. Therefore, it is important to examine further the policies pertaining to the recruitment and retention of teachers as well as the implementation of school curriculum, instruction and assessment policies.
Under the decentralised system, since independence the Namibian government has adopted nationally uniform policies to recruit and retain talented people into the teaching profession. Failure of providing attractive incentive packages, the government has not been able to recruit academically able students into teacher training institutions. Graduates from these colleges enjoy an urban job setting rather than considering taking up employment in rural areas. Reconciling People with Jobs
The institution and the individual, at the time they formally meet, bring with them sets of needs and expectations, which continue to change and evolve during their association. The degree to which these needs and expectations are satisfied will not only influence the duration of the ‘partnership’, but also the employees’ level of motivation and performance, as well as the manner in which the institution achieves its goal (Kastner, 1988). Maslow’s theory of motivation In order to reconcile people and jobs, sufficient knowledge of the employee’s needs are of paramount importance in order to foster effective functioning.
Maslow (1954) classified needs into five different groups or classes: physiological critical needs such as food and water, shelter, and clothing that can be directly satisfied by compensation; oxygen, sleep and sex; safety/security needs, ordered existence in a stable environment; social, the need for relations with others and the need to be accepted by peers; esteem, need for self-confidence, independence, freedom, recognition, appreciation and achievement; self-actualisation, need for self-fulfilment and the need to realise one’s full capacity of doing.
These five classes form a ‘hierarchy of needs’ and proceed from the very best (level 1 and 2) to a cluster of higher needs (3,4 and 5). Maslow’s basic premise is that the behaviour of any person is dominated by groups of needs which are unfulfilled and that the individual will systematically satisfy his needs, starting with the most basic and moving up the hierarch. Projected into the work situation, Maslow’s theory can be reflected in a triangle and highlighted with examples for job factors, which are able to satisfy particular needs.
Upon graduation, teachers will emerge with higher level needs. It is therefore imperative that the recruiting process address job satisfactors comprising of the higher level needs. This should form the basis of the incentive motivation if recruitment is to be at all successful. Herzberg’s two-factor motivation theory Herzberg (1954) found a set of factors in working conditions that tend to motivate people to improve their performance. These factors are closely related to the nature of and content of the work done and are known as motivators.
They include achievement (for successful tasks); recognition – the job itself (how interesting, meaningful and challenging); progress and responsibility. According to Herzberg, a job will generate high intrinsic motivation if it includes these factors. He states that dissatisfaction is covered by absence of another set of factors, which he termed hygiene and maintenance factors. These factors satisfy a person’s lower order needs and include organisational policy, supervision, interpersonal relations, salary, status, working conditions and work security.
If employees regard hygiene factors as insufficient, dissatisfaction will lower productivity as a result. The two sets of factors are very different. The core of the motivation is the nature of the job, while hygiene factors are present in the job environment. The motivation factors overlap with Maslow’s higher order needs (self actualisation, Ego) and the hygiene factors corresponding to his lower order needs (physiology, safety, social). This theory, however, offers an explanation for the limited influence that more money and fringe benefits have on motivation. Job enrichment is of vital importance. McClelland’s Theory of Motivation
McClelland (1961) basis his achievement motivation theory on the assumption that there is a relation between the achievement motivation aroused in individual’s entrepreneurship and economic growth of a particular cultural group. His theory is that any person has the potential energy to show a variety of behaviours, which depend on the relative strength of his or her various motives and the opportunities offered in the situation. People with a high need for achievement motivation have the following characteristics: They want and accept a high degree of personal responsibility; They set realistic performance goals;
They take calculated risks; They show a need for concrete feedback on their actions. This category of person makes a greater effort to overcome difficulties in order to achieve their goals. Process Theories of Motivation Process theories of motivation are aimed at determining not only what arouses behaviour, but the relationship between variables constituting the motivation process. Vroom’s Expectancy Theory The assumption that individuals have expectations about outcomes that may manifests themselves as a result of what they do, underlies the expectancy theory of motivation.
Vroom (1964) suggests that individuals will be motivated to work well if they have the perception that their efforts will result in successful performance, which in turn will result in desirable outcomes. The basic variables in Vroom’s motivation process include the following: Expectancy: the effort a person makes to obtain a first level outcome is influenced by his or her expectancy that the outcome will be realised. The higher the probability of achieving a specific goal, the greater the effort that will be made.
Instrumentality: is the degree of conviction that the first level (performance outcome) will result in attaining the second level outcome (reward). Valence: refers to the expected satisfaction that will follow an outcome, rather than the immediate satisfaction it brings. It is the strength of an individual’s preference for an outcome. Management can redesign a task or introduce incentives in order to change an employee’s expectancy. In the same way, management can affect instrumentality by introducing a compensation system and promotion policy that is linked to performance.
Managers must take into account individual differences in respect of salary, promotion, recognition and so on, and make an effort to satisfy individual preference with available outcomes. Adam’s Equity Theory Adam (1975) bases his equity theory of motivation on the assumption that motivation is influenced by the degree of equity an employee experiences in the work situation. This boils down to a comparison of what one employee receives on the basis of his or her effort with what other employees receive on the basis of their efforts.
If an employee feels that he or she is being paid less than one or more colleagues for the same quality and quantity of work, such an employee will be dissatisfied and attempt to reduce the inequity. Inequity may be reduced in one or more of the following ways: Employee may change inputs (less work); Employee may change outcomes; Employees may distort inputs and outcomes subjectively; Employee may withdraw; Employ may react to comparable employee; Employee may change the object of comparison. The equity theory implies that problems arise in employees’ performance orientation if their perception is that they are not being equally remunerated.
Therefore, employees must be paid comparable salaries and wages. Motivation of Employees Placement of Teachers prior Independence (The Brain Drain) Namibia spends an estimated N$ annually on educating teachers in the country both at UNAM and the four Colleges of Education. Before Independence, Namibia had no choice but to depend on highly skilled from the country of its colony. After independence, Namibians gradually replaced many of these minorities. Emigration of skilled personnel was negligible, due to a relative abundance of job opportunities and attractive benefits for skilled Namibians.
The early years of independence saw improvements in education budgets of the country, and this resulted in increased schools and higher learning institutions enrolments and the availability of scholarships to study abroad. But over time, more and more Namibians who had gone overseas to study either failed to return or returned only for brief periods. As economic performance presents its status quo, even those who had filled high-level positions in Namibia or other african countries for that matter began to seek opportunities abroad.
Many of the skilled personnel reasons for not returning home include limited job opportunities, poor working facilities, comparatively lower salaries, limited opportunities for promotions. The high rates of unemployment, and the lack of adequate social services especially in rural areas only compound their reluctance to return. “For non-returning graduates, these reasons can be very subjective and are often based on experiences prior to departure from their home country” (Fadayomi.. ). Depleting skills when most needed.
The departure of skilled people is often costly to remote rural areas. Not only is their education time-consuming, but it is also expensive and often heavily subsidized by the state. Of concern to development planners is that the majority of remote rural areas will continue to loose the battle to retain, regain or attract skilled manpower and be further marginalized from the global economy. Reversing the Phenomenon African governments, international organisations and academics are beginning to grapple that the brain drain crisis.
Under the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD), African leaders identify the reversal of the brain drain as a major priority for the continent. The need to Reform Education The Maldistribution of Qualified Teachers It sound naive to assume that qualified teachers will distribute themselves according to society’s overall needs when there are so many influences pulling them in other directions. In most cases, the Colleges of Education historically selected the bulk of their students from urban backgrounds and train them in academic centres in urban or “urban fringe” locations.
Consequently, most young graduates have no training or personal experience to prepare them to work in areas where they may be most needed. In addition, the economic pressures tend to lead them away from practice in the settings and specialities in which they are most needed (McPheeton, 1985). General Strategies to Resolve Maldistribution Strategies Implemented by the Ministries of Education, Namibia The rural teacher recruitment and retention problem varies across the country. Some areas have teacher surpluses; others have shortages.
According to the National Association of State Boards of Education, an adequate number of teachers is trained each year (Bradley, 1998). The problem is with distribution. State policies deal with teacher recruitment and retention in various ways, depending on their circumstances (Education Commission of the States; 1999). In the case of Namibia, the government has adopted a decentralised educational administration system that is characterised by a uniform teacher education policy and a national standard for curriculum and assessment (Indabawa; 1998).
These policies may not necessarily have made a significant impact on the relatively low level of occupational prestige, greater job satisfaction, better academic quality and a more positive role image for Namibian teachers. It is, therefore, important to examine further the policies pertaining to the recruitment and retention of teachers as well as the implementation of school curriculum, instruction and assessment policies. Recruitment of Qualified Teachers
The perceived remoteness of the regions from other part of the country has given rise to great difficulty in attracting and holding key staff. This applies to all professions but particularly that of skilled and/or qualified teachers. One of the most critical issues in fulfilling a vacancy is to obtain the right people. In a traditional way, this can take place by means of recruitment, when the HR professional goes outside to organisation to replace current talent with higher-quality talent or to obtain additional talent required by the organisation (Brewster, et al; 2003).
There are many other things that organizations should and can provide to attract and retain workers. A broad mix goes into any successful recruitment and retention strategy. Prospective employees obviously want competitive salaries and health care benefits. They also want meaningful organisational culture and work-life balance. But there is something also they feel strongly about: training and development – the chance to learn new things, take on new responsibilities and grow (Allen; 2000). Reasons for High Teacher Turnover
The literature suggest rural administrators have difficulty attracting and finding qualified who fit in with the school and community and who will stay in the job. The “ideal” rural teacher is certified to teach more than one subject or grade level, can teach learners with a wide range of abilities in the same classroom, is prepared to supervise extracurricular activities and can adjust to the community (Lemke, 1994; Stone, 1990). In the British Columbia study, teachers stayed because of their principal, spouse employment in the community, and satisfaction with the rural lifestyle (Murphy & Angelski, 1996/1997)
Many rural areas, especially remote villages are struggling with worse teacher shortages and the consequences of the teacher shortfall are serious (Education Commission of the States; 2002). In general, teacher shortages are first evident in the decreased number of applicants for a particular vacant position. Principals and administrators in geographic shortage areas find that they have few applicants to choose from and as a result, little choice in recruiting decision. In some cases, they have no choice – or no applicants at all (Doug; 1984).
The impact of teacher shortages is significant for many rural school areas. Many qualified teachers employed in rural villages or small towns come reluctantly and do not stay. Teachers leave these areas for the following reasons, (Doug; 1984): Pre-service preparation that is inappropriate for villages and rural schools Failure to recognise that experience in rural schools can advance career plans and goals Inadequate experiential and psychological preparation for the demands and limitations of these schools and communities Mismatch of personal value systems and rural lifestyles
Discontinuity between idyllic expectations and harsh realities of rural living. A review of literature from 1982 to 1996, with citings from thirty sources, has yielded a variety of suggested strategies for recruiting and retaining qualified employees. The following section presents these strategies, which have been grouped somewhat subjectively into four sub-categories. Many of the suggestions have been cited in a number of sources and in the interest of briefness in this proposal, strategies within the body are not credited to individual sources.
However, all sources are listed in the reference section of this proposal. Incentives Once teachers have been recruited and prepared, the next step is to keep them in the profession. Experiences have shown that support – financial, intellectual and human – helps retain new teachers. New initiatives may include low-cost housing loans that would be repaid after five years of teaching. A scholarship – and loan-repayment programmes should be proposed for persons who agree to teach in schools located in rural remote.
The challenges may not necessarily get easier in the foreseeable future. Fifty percent of the teachers may be retiring over the next 15 t0 25 years, and the teachers Colleges of Education and universities may not be able to prepare enough new teachers to meet this demand. Additional paths into teaching must then be investigated, incentives to teach in rural schools and roadblocks removed (Allen; 2000). Under the decentralised system, since independence, the Namibian government has adopted nationally uniform policies to recruit and retain talented people into the teaching profession.
Failure of providing attractive incentive packages, the government has not been able to recruit academically able students into teacher training institutions (Ministry of Basic Education, Sports and Culture; 1999). Graduates from these colleges enjoy an urban job setting rather than considering taking up employment in rural areas. Financial In the USA, financial incentives to entice prospective teachers are increasingly popular and include college scholarships, signing bonuses, assistance with moving expenses and housing subsidies (Education Commission of the States; 2003).
While such incentives are often effective in the short term in some areas, it is not clear that they have the desired long-term benefit of keeping good teachers in he classroom, especially in the isolated rural schools. What is more, isolated rural schools are not succeeding in luring new graduates, even by offering generous financial incentives. Moreover, a reliance of financial incentives runs the risk of putting poorer schools and other rural areas at a significant disadvantage in the competition for good teachers unless the government can help equalise oorer and remote areas’ potential to compete. When adequate incentives are provided, urban and rural areas are succeeding in their efforts to recruit mid-career professionals in other fields to become teachers. For these more senior candidates, the most important incentive seems to be ease and rapidity of entry into the classroom. Consequently, efforts to attract mid-career professionals into teaching usually involve an alternative teacher preparation programme that enable them to begin teaching after a brief initial training period, and to earn a full-time teachers’ salary right away.
The areas of concern are also experimenting with more indirect and innovative strategies such as building low-rent housing for teachers, or in some rural communities, making teacher recruitment a responsibility of the entire community. What is uncertain about financial incentives, however, is their long-term impact. Since highly desirable teacher candidates often have other career options, offering financial incentives to “the best” may only be a short-term fix unless the issues of career advancement and salary satisfaction are addressed for the benefit of especially those in rural areas (Education Commission of the States; 2003).
Education and Training Opportunities According to , ( ), attracting and retaining of quality and qualified teachers, their continuing education and training both in terms of their practice and in the use of communications and information technologies are regarded as a major concern. The Minister of Higher Education, Hon. Mr. Nahas Angula (Ministry of Higher Education; 2000), in his speech on youth development, clearly identifies the special needs of rural and remote area teachers for further education and training including the problems associated with obtaining access to these services.
Professional isolation is a major problem for rural schoolteachers this was also clearly identified. The public sector institutions do not benefit from employee growth because of the inability of attracting and retaining skilled employees. The reason being that, rural areas face a shortage of housing for employees, which is a significant disincentive to potential candidates ( ). This disadvantage and limit the capacity development and growth of employees intending to locate to rural areas. There are other perceived disadvantages for employees considering taking up employment in rural areas (Hammer & Jack; 2002), i. . Constant increase in transportation Lack of infrastructures, i. e. housing Inadequate and costly telecommunications Access to services such as banking etc. Marketing the Rural Areas While the foregoing represents some of the main constrains to the services in the rural areas there are of course several advantages, which can be utiltised to the full ( ). Foremost is the existence of very good communities and community networks, excellent neighbours and a very good knowledge of local circumstances and needs.
There is a huge level of local pride and a wide spread of local voluntary activity. However, because of the nature of the area this voluntary activity, while widespread, is limited in scope. Some people think of rural areas as being safer and friendlier environments to work in, offering less of a stressful lifestyle and having good public schools. Retention of Qualified Teachers in Rural Areas In many rural areas, retention of qualified professionals is as great a problem as initial recruitment.
Helge (1983) reported that 44% of rural administrators surveyed, reported no successful retention strategies. Pritchard (1991) showed through a survey of speech therapists, that apart from monetary incentives, an increase in administrative support and provision of a better working environment and conditions was considered an import retention strategy for speech therapist in rural West Virginia. Conclusion Numerous research efforts have attempted to identify environmental, professional, personal and economic factors that influence a teacher’s practice or employment location decision.
Studies reveal that teachers who are most likely to teach in a particular community are those who grew up, completed high learning or have had some expose in a similar environment (California Health Federation. 1985). In the Namibian context, a proactive approach to addressing the maldistribution of teachers is essential. The aim of this research is to identify the job factors that Namibian education students regard as being important determinants in helping them locate to rural areas. An attempt will also be made to decipher the profile of a potential rural teacher.
The brilliant scholar oozing with a sense of altruism may not be the ideal education student. Effective solutions to teacher shortages need to address all of the above-mentioned elements. All are critical and all demand attention. For example, it is futile to increase recruitment if new teachers leave within a short time. Objectives Of the Study This research aims to identify the probably profile of a potential rural teacher and to ascertain what factors will motivate qualified teachers to take up posts in rural schools.
It will investigate the views of the future rural teachers on the unilateral implementation of new training schedules of teachers by the Government. 7. 3To ascertain that a comprehensive strategy to address the mal-distribution of qualified teachers in rural areas incorporates the views of the school administrators, teachers and affected communities. 7. 4To determine whether a need exists for additional incentives to recruit and retain qualified teachers in rural schools. * skill shortages exist when employees have difficulty or are unable to fill vacancies in recognised occupations and specialisations or common occupational groups.