Strategies for the attraction and retention of teachers in hard-to-reach secondary schools: a case study of kalangala district, Uganda

Abstract

The study sought-to establish the most effective strategies that could be put in place to attract as well as retain secondary school teachers to work in the remote and hard-to-reach District of Kalangala, Uganda vis-a-vis the Maslow's hierarchical theory of needs, neoclassic wage theory and the valence theory. The study aimed at establishing first the extent to which the existing strategies had solved the problem and proposing strategies for secondary school teacher attraction and retention that could serve alongside the existing strategies. The researcher used a case study design and methodological triangulation integrating some descriptive statistics in gathering, presentation, tabulating and analyzing data. The study was conducted in the three (03) secondary schools which were the only secondary schools in the whole of Kalangala District. The teachers who participated in the study were selected by convenience sampling strategy because they were the few who were available to the researcher. The findings herein reveal that strategies, such as payment of the hard-to-reach allowances were recognised by the participants of the study but they did not commensurate with the high cost of living associated with Kalangala, thereby not fulfilling the principle of the valence theory. The study concluded that there was a need to devise other non financial attraction and retention strategies alongside the financial motivators, such as provision of decent accommodation facilities for the secondary school teachers in order to motivate them to stay for a longer period. The study recommends prompt and consistency in paying the hard-to-reach allowances, construction of decent accommodation facilities, recruiting teachers found already serving in schools and sensitisation of the Kalangala community on education among others.