Principals leadership and motivational practices as correlates of teacher retention in public senior secondary schools in Rivers State

Abstract

The study examined principals ’ leadership and motivational practices as correlates of teacher retention in public senior secondary schools in Rivers State. Two (2) research questions and 2 hypotheses guided the study. The design for the study was correlational, population as the 330 public senior secondary school principals in Rivers State and sample as 390 teachers selected using the simple random sampling technique with Taro Yamene minimum sample formular. The instruments of the study were a 10-item Principals Leadership and Motivational Practices Scale (PLMPS) and the 20-item Teacher Retention Scale (TRS) with reliability indices of 0.77 and 0.89, respectively, obtained using Cronbach Alpha procedure. Simple regression was used in answering the research questions while z-test associated with simple regression was used in testing the hypothesis at 0.05 level of statistical significance. The results of the study show a low extent of correlation of principals’ leadership and motivational practices on teacher retention in public senior secondary schools in Rivers State. The study also showed significant correlations of principals’ leadership and motivational practices on teacher retention in public senior secondary schools in the state. Based on the findings of the study, it was concluded that principals’ leadership and motivational practices have little implications for teacher retention but from a statistical perspective, leadership and motivational practices of principals have significant correlations with teacher retention. Consequently, it was recommended that, principals should adopt supportive and participatory leadership strategies to arouse teachers participation, just as proprietors of public schools should ensure prompt release of teachers emoluments to attract their continuing decision to stay.