Factors influencing teacher's intention to leave teaching in the southwest province of the Republic of Cameroon, 1994

The purpose of this study was to survey public secondary school teachers of Southwest Province of the Republic of Cameroon to determine the factors that influence teachers to leave teaching. The following variables were used to examine the problem: a) principal's leadership style, b) conditions of work, c) principal's planning techniques, and d) demographic variables of sex, educational level, experience, size of community and teacher's intention to leave. A questionnaire survey was developed for the purpose of collecting data reflecting the opinions of teachers from public secondary schools in the Southwest Province and administered to 250 randomly selected subject groups from twelve schools. The results of the analysis showed that a statistically significant correlation existed between principal's leadership style, conditions of work, principal's planning techniques, demographic background and teacher's intention to leave. Since the data indicated that a significant relationship existed between teacher's intention to leave and all the other variables, and since we acknowledge that teacher's decision to remain in teaching is related to school factors which have been found to influence teacher commitment, it is recommended that school administrators and policy-makers in the educational system be concerned about the incentives that will make teachers satisfied. The Ministry of National Education should develop a policy that focuses on school factors that are enhancing or impeding teachers, thereby minimizing the possibility of teachers planning to leave