The Influence of Teachers’ Education Qualifications on Teacher Attrition in Public Secondary Schools of Kilimanjaro and Manyara Regions, Tanzania

Teacher education qualifications give a teacher authority to teach at different education levels. Education qualifications on teacher attrition affect labour stability in educational institutions. The purpose of the paper was to assess the influence of education qualifications on teacher attrition in public secondary schools in Kilimanjaro and Manyara Regions. Specifically, the study aimed to examine the influence of teacher’s education qualification and teacher’s training entry qualification on teacher attrition. The study was based on Maslow’s and Herzberg’s two factors theory. The study was conducted in three districts of Kilimanjaro and Manyara Regions. The study adopted cross sectional research design. The sample size for the study was 140 respondents. The study adopted simple random and snowball sampling. Data collection instrument involved questionnaires administration, and telephone interview. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression. Qualitative data were thematically analyzed. The study found that bachelor degree education qualification had statistically significant influence on attrition P<0.05. The influence of teacher training entry qualification found slightly statistical significant with P<0.05. The study concluded that the mean score for both categories of teachers were above 50 percent indicating that teacher education qualifications and teacher’s training entry qualification influence teacher attrition. The study recommends to the Presidents’ Office Regional Administration and Local Government to set standards on student teacher training entry qualification to all teachers training institutions and or colleges, regardless of the institution’s ownership. Educational Policy makers should assure that teaching staff that need to pursue further education must be at their working stations for a specified number of years after finishing their study. Also, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology should provide guidelines for teachers who have undergone teacher’s education courses before venturing into the teaching profession. Keywords: Teachers' education qualifications, Teachers' training entry qualification, teacher attrition. DOI: 10.7176/JEP/10-33-08 Publication date: November 30th 201