The shortage of specialist Physics teachers in senior secondary schools in Swaziland has, for years, been one of the nagging issues for the Ministry of Education and Training (MoET). This led MoET to exploiting the services of non-specialists, thus undermining the quality of learners who graduate from the system. Therefore, the study ascertained the causes of the shortage of specialist Physics teachers in senior secondary schools in Swaziland, how they could be retained and how their number could be increased. A positivist-interpretive quantitative research approach was utilised to obtain reliable and valid results in this study. The quantitative research was a survey consisting of a questionnaire that was completed by Physics teachers in senior secondary schools. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics. The study, based on the findings, concluded with some recommendations that could be used to retain and increase the number of Physics teachers in senior secondary schools. / Curriculum and Instructional Studies / M. Ed. (Curriculum Studies)

Teacher attrition in schools is a common and ongoing phenomenon experienced nationally and internationally. Teacher attrition takes place continuously in schools either voluntarily or involuntarily in the form of retirement, resignation, transfer, dismissal, redeployment, ill-health and death, affecting the teaching and learning process in a negative way. The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of female principals on teacher attrition. The study was conducted in the public schools of Tshwane West District of Gauteng Province. Transformational leadership theory and ethics of care theory underpinned this qualitative study positioned within the constructivist paradigm. A case study design was used to explore the case of teacher attrition. Purposive sampling was used to select the female principals to participate in this study. Data were collected through face-to-face semi-structured interviews, observation and document analysis. Qualitative content analysis was employed for data analysis. The study found that teacher attrition affects schools negatively. It disrupts and destabilises the schools, affecting the morale of the teachers as well as affecting learner performance and discipline as it takes place throughout the academic year. The female principals employ various strategies to address the issue of teacher attrition and to motivate for teacher retention. The study recommended that female principals be empowered to enable them to cope with their role of managing teacher attrition. / Educational Management and Leadership / Ph. D. (Education (Educational Management and Leadership))

This study explored the role of school-based teacher financial incentives on student academic achievement. Despite great efforts made by Zimbabwean government towards improving the education system in terms of infrastructure development and increasing number of schools, prior and after 1980, not much attention had been paid to the role of teachers’ extra-financial incentives on enhancing teacher motivation which leads to student achievement in and outside classroom situation. Extra-financial incentives differ from government to government depending on the revenue base and political will by such governments to support these teacher incentives programmes. In developed countries, respective governments pay different teacher incentives while in developing countries, parents/guardians or School Development Committees (SDCs) shoulder the burden. This study contented that one of the ways to improve student achievement has been payment of school-based teacher incentives to supplement teachers’ low salaries. While the need to adequately compensate teachers had been a worldwide phenomenon, this is in contrast to Zimbabwean experience after 2014, when Government of National Unity (GNU) came to an end. Zimbabwean government banned payment of teacher incentives under unclear reasons which were widely purported to be political. This research adopted a qualitative approach and as such, collection of primary and secondary data were done using multiple data collection techniques. Techniques included interviews with key informants, focus group discussions and open ended questionnaires in selected secondary schools. Results from this study revealed that improving teacher motivation through school-based incentives had been central to improved student achievement. In schools where teacher incentive system was practiced pass-rates increased, with a sudden decline when teacher incentives were banned. Banning or lack of properly designed incentive systems, where teachers were consulted, was seen as negatively affecting student achievement in selected secondary schools of Makoni District. / Educational Foundations / D. Ed. (Socio-Education)