An Assessment of Teachers’ Turnover and its Impact on Academic Performance in Government Secondary Schools in Mbozi District, Tanzania

This study investigated the attitude of teachers towards teaching profession, the existence and causes of teachers’ turnover and the impact of teachers’ turnover on academic performance in government secondary schools in Tanzania particularly Mbozi District. Stratified and simple random sampling techniques were used. Stratified was used to select schools from rural and urban areas while simple random sampling was used to select 200 respondents. Data collection methods were; documentary search, questionnaires and interviews. Data analysis was based on quantitative and qualitative techniques. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences and Microsoft excel were used to arrive at percentages and frequencies, tables, charts and graphs as well as chi square test. The findings indicated that there were different reasons for becoming a teacher, perception of teaching profession, satisfaction and choice for further career. Teachers were interested in teaching profession at a larger proportion whereas few opted for teaching profession due to lack of other jobs and others became teachers just temporarily. Different perceptions were also observed; some teachers reported that their job meant a lot more than just money. Job satisfaction had increased because of flexibility and in case of further choice career, it was found that there was a likelihood of choosing the same career again. The study found the existence of teachers’ turnover in the study area which was caused by socio-economic and political factors. Teachers’ turnover was found to be one of the contributing factors for the decline of academic performance. The researcher recommends that, the government should provide decent accommodation and overtime payments for extra duties to teachers and also policies should be supportive