Exploring Strategies to Retain Basic School Teachers in Ghana: What can We Learn from the Literature?

Debates about the major causes of teacher shortage have centered on issues such as insufficient numbers of people preparing to teach, early attrition of those in the teaching pool and increased student enrolments and teacher retirements. While each of these factors may be particularly significant in a given country and at a given time, there is evidence that in Ghana and many countries currently facing a teacher shortage problem, attrition, that is, those teachers who leave the profession for reasons other than retirement, is the driving force. Yet, issues pertaining to teacher retention have received little attention in teacher education policy in Ghana. This paper surveys and presents a comprehensive review of the literature on teacher attrition and retention. The paper aims to identify cues and pointers that could inform policies of retaining qualified teachers in the classrooms of Ghana and other countries experiencing disturbing rates of teacher attrition. Keywords: Attrition, qualified teachers, retention policies, teacher retention, teacher shortage, turnover