85% of Ugandan primary teachers want to quit

Dec 21, 2014

Only 16% of primary teachers in government schools aspire to remain in the profession over the next two years.


Only 16% of Ugandan primary teachers in government schools aspire to remain in the profession over the next two years, according to a report compiled by UNESCO. Innocent Anguyo writes.


The findings by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), the world’s educational body, show that only 16% of Ugandan primary teachers aspire to remain in the profession in the next two years.

This implies that 84% (106,216) of the 126,448 (as established by the 2012 national report) primary teachers in government schools want to quit.

The report found out that 47% of teachers were dissatisfied with their job, 59% would not want to stay in the profession if they were to start their career anew and about 78% believe that their colleagues are dissatisfied with their job.

It was found that 37% of dissatisfied teachers would like to resign within a year, compared to just six percent of satisfied teachers.

The propensity to abandon the teaching job, as noted by this report is, therefore, six times higher among dissatisfied teachers than among their satisfied colleagues.

The report further indicates that over 60% of teachers want to obtain an administrative position in the education sector, rather than conduct lessons.

“Administrative functions seem to be most attractive to teachers, with about 68% of them aspiring to be promoted to such a post,” says the report.

The western region is home to the most dissatisfied teachers (68%), followed by the north (61%), central (55%) and east (51%). It has also emerged that, teachers working in hardto- reach-areas, are more satisfi ed with the profession, compared to those in easy-to-reach areas.

About 55% of teachers in hard-toreach areas are dissatisfi ed compared to 60% in other areas.

The report
 


Education minister Jessica Alupo


The report was released earlier this week by Mohammed Djelid, the regional director of UNESCO based in Nairobi, Kenya, education minister Jessica Alupo and the Chinese ambassador to Uganda, Zhao Yali at Shimoni Core Primary Teachers College in Wakiso district.

UNESCO compiled the report on the education sector in Uganda under its continental educational scheme dubbed “Teachers Initiative in Sub-Saharan Africa (TISSA)”.

The report’s account of primary teacher satisfaction is based on the data collected during the National Survey on Primary Teacher Satisfaction in Uganda (NASPTSU), organised by the education ministry in 2012.

The sample size for this study was of 387 elementary teachers employed in government primary schools randomly selected from all regions of Uganda.

Characteristics


The study found that on average, with an increase in age, the overall level of satisfaction decreases. For instance, 45% of teachers below 35 years were satisfied with the teaching profession, compared to only 36% of teachers above 46 years.

Regarding academic credentials, teachers holding O’ level certificate as their highest academic qualification are most satisfied (over 58%), compared to teachers with A’ level or higher education.

Teachers with high job satisfaction are most likely to hold an O’ level certificate (50% of satisfied teachers do, compared to 41% of dissatisfied teachers).

On professional education, satisfaction, the study found that decreases as professional qualifications increase. Teachers with a Grade III Certificate are the most satisfied (45%) compared to teachers with a Grade V Certificate (36%) and university graduates (32%).

Looking at work experience, teachers with less than five years of experience are the most satisfied.

“When analysing the relationship between satisfaction and length of service, the same pattern appears as for age. Less experienced teachers are the most satisfied (55%) compared to teachers with more than 20 years of experience (40%),” states the report.
 


Minister for higher education John Muyingo addressing teachers in Mukono district


Membership and sources of satisfaction

Teachers with low job satisfaction are more likely to be members of the Uganda National Teacher Union (UNATU). The survey shows that 61% of UNATU members are dissatisfied, compared to 54% of nonmembers.

The survey examined eight major possible sources of primary teachers’ career satisfaction, including professional recognition, opportunities for professional growth, interpersonal relationships, salary, benefits, working conditions, regular performance assessment and quality of head teacher leadership and supervision.

Respondents were asked to rank the proposed eight factors according to the importance of their respective effects on job satisfaction.

Salary emerges as the main factor affecting teachers’ level of satisfaction, according to a consolidated 50% of respondents. Actually, salary has a greater weight in explaining dissatisfaction (55% response rate) than satisfaction (43% rate).

As noted in the report, from the findings, it appears that the rate of dissatisfaction decreases with greater salaries whereas the rate of satisfaction increases with higher salary levels.

Findings show a 69% dissatisfaction rate among teachers earning a salary below sh300,000, which decreases to 54% for those earning a salary above sh350, 000. The satisfaction rates conversely increase from 31% to 46% for teachers earning the higher wage.

The same pattern is apparent when analysing additional revenue.

The satisfaction rate drops from 60% for those with additional income under sh50,000 to 51% among teachers whose extra revenue is above this amount.
 


The reverse is equally true for satisfaction rates, which increase among teachers with higher additional income, from 40% to 49%. After salary, the two other main factors considered as determining their satisfaction are opportunities for professional growth and professional recognition.

About 12% and 135 of teachers respectively believe these factors to be their main source of satisfaction, whereas 10% and eight percent, respectively believe them to be their main cause of dissatisfaction.

On head teacher leadership and supervision, on average, 71% of teachers who work in a school whose head teacher is less experienced (under 15 years of seniority) are dissatisfied, compared to only 57% for those whose head teachers have greater experience.

Disparity based on region teachers in central and western regions attributed more importance to salary (67% and 57% respectively) than other regions’ teachers (about 35% in eastern and northern regions), despite the latter also ranking salary in the first place.

Opportunities for professional growth are particularly significant for teachers in the central (14% say this is the most important factor) and northern (16%) regions, whereas professional recognition is the second most important factor in the eastern and northern regions (identified by 16% and 17% of teachers respectively as the most motivating factor).

The quality of leadership and supervision by head teachers is a strong determinant of teachers’ satisfaction in the eastern region, with 14% of respondents prioritising it as the major factor and is the second most factor in the western region.

In the central and northern regions, being cited by seven percent of teachers as the principal motivational factor, quality of head teacher leadership ranked in the third and fifth positions, respectively.
 


Disparities based on gender men and women share similar views in terms of the impact of salary on job satisfaction, as both consider it to be the main factor, and in terms of the impact of opportunities for professional growth, which both genders place third.

However, a significant difference is apparent in terms of the second most important factor: for men it is professional recognition, whereas for women it is the quality of supervision. Teachers earn more than comparative public service positions.

The report also says that although teachers believe that their salary is low, it is actually higher than similar graded civil service jobs.

“Primary teacher pay (in purchasing power parity per dollar) is relatively higher in Uganda than in the average low-income country. In addition, within the Ugandan public sector, entry pay is 22% higher for primary teachers (U7-Upper Grade) than other civil servants (with exception of medical and legal staff),”says the report.

Meanwhile, at the launch of the TISSA report, Yali said China has channeled $800,000 through UNESCO to undertake integration of ICT pedagogy for blended teaching and learning at Kyambogo University, Nakawa VTI and Shimoni Core PTC.

The project will equip ICT Labs, train teacher educators on ICT and also establish a platform for teacher networks to promote sharing of good teaching practices.

Yali said the project will also improve on distance learning opportunities using the ICT platform to increase access to continuous professional development for our teachers as well as incorporating certification in courses offered.
 



WHAT THEY SAY ON PROFESSIONAL CHALLENGES 


Rose Adiru, a teacher in Arua says teachers in hard-to-reach areas are more satisfied with their jobs because they have a lower cost of living as opposed to their colleagues in easy-to-reach areas.

Herbert Kamukama, a teacher from Mbarara, says he wants to quit the profession after 10 years on a U7 salary scale because he thinks he can earn better in another profession, especially with NGOs.

Anita Asio, an educational consultant, says teachers with higher qualifications are less satisfied with their jobs because they think they could earn more in another profession at the same level of academic credentials.

 Education minister Jessica Alupo said the TISSA diagnostic study generates information on teachers as evidence to the education stakeholders on areas for priority interventions so as to improve the quality of education.

“The current situation is such that the education system is faced with a high pupil-teacher ratio in primary schools, lack of effective teacher performance management appraisal, poor recognition and reward systems; ineffective and inconsistent curriculum delivery; inadequate teacher professional development; low job satisfaction among teachers; weak and inconsistent community engagement and support; and weak teacher records management.

“For instance, UNESCO went further to mobilise resources to support key recommendations that are now being implemented. These include review of the teacher policies, harmonisation of teacher training programmes, including teacher competency profiles and creation of a teacher licensing and records electronic system known as Teacher Management Information System (TMIS).”

The minister added: “The TISSA recommendations are many and need to be addressed simultaneously for the system to achieve quality education through addressing issues of management. I applaud all other education development partners in the teacher sub-sector, who are also supporting teacher education institutions.”
 

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});