Staffing and Retention Challenges of Teachers in Rural Schools of Eswatini: The Case of the Lubombo Region

Abstract

This article draws attention to staffing and retention challenges that teachers face in rural schools in Eswatini. Despite policies and strategies developed by the Ministry of Education and Training, retention and staffing challenges continue unabated in rural schools. The continuing challenges indicate that limited success is achieved with the implementation of staffing and retention strategies. Drawing on staffing and retention literature, coupled with empirical data derived from teachers and head teachers in the Lubombo Region in Eswatini, this article proposes an alternative, multifaceted contextual approach to reducing staffing and retention challenges. A focus on lived rural and teaching experiences at rural schools offsets the abstract and one-dimensional universal approach to staffing and retaining teachers adopted by the office of the Teaching Service Commission in the Ministry of Education and Training in Eswatini. The article recommends that the office of the Teaching Service Commission should follow a context-specific differentiated approach based on thick analysis of staffing and retention challenges of teachers in rural schools.

Keywords

Staffing retention rural areas rural schools

Introduction

Among all school resources, experienced, expert and well-prepared teachers are the most significant elements of student achievement, especially in rural schools (Krasnoff 2014, 1). The inability of rural schools to attract and retain capable human resources often results in some rural schools attracting underprepared or poorly skilled staff (Lehmann et al. 2008, 2). In Eswatini, many qualified teachers refuse placements at rural schools for various reasons, such as a lack of incentives, poor working conditions and limited opportunities for professional development (Hamid et al. 2015, 130). These reasons are often exacerbated by a lack of basic infrastructure such as electricity, water, roads, transport and information and communications technology (ICT) (Du Plessis and Mestry 2019, 1). Consequently, rural schools receive predominantly underqualified and unqualified teachers, and in some cases, rural schools do not receive teachers at all (Hamid et al. 2015, 131). This is corroborated by Du Plessis and Mestry (2019, 2), who argue that African governments often prioritise urban schools over their rural counterparts, which has led to perennial neglect of rural schools. This article argues that the continuous neglect of teachers in rural schools is detrimental to staffing and retention policies and strategies in Eswatini, especially in the Lubombo region. Central to this argument is the question: what are the key challenges to staffing and retention of teachers in rural schools of the Lubombo region? The main aim of this study is to investigate the key challenges to staffing and retention of teachers in rural schools of the Lubombo region.

Literature Review

The following sections discuss the fundamental themes that emerged from the literature review on staffing, retention and the challenges experienced by teachers in rural areas of developing countries, including Eswatini.

Rural areas and Rural Schools

Many studies have tried to address the concepts of rural areas and rural schools but have failed to come up with a definition that is universally accepted (Chigbu 2013; Du Plessis 2014; Hlalele 2013; Wubayehu 2020). Hlalele (2013, 563) and Yeboah and Adom (2016, 85) argue that the term ‘rural area’ is defined as a large area occupied by a small number of people who depend on agriculture and natural resources, and it is characterised by a lack of social amenities, limited access to ICT and poor infrastructure of roads. Adedeji and Olaniyan (2011, 20) contend that the fact that rural areas are occupied by a few people who depend on agriculture means that schooling in rural areas is an interrupted process. The demand for labour from schoolchildren who are expected to work on farms means that these children will attend school irregularly. Moreover, Morales-Romo (2017, 418) observes that the low population density and sparse settlements serving rural schools affect the proper management of the schools and the provision of services like transportation and other resources. In view of the multidimensional features of the term ‘rural areas’, Wubayehu (2020, 20) concludes that definitions may not be true for all regions across the globe and may be different within a single country over time. However, such definitions predominantly reflect the reality of developing countries, which include Eswatini and the Lubombo region, where a number of rural schools are located.

Against the above-mentioned background, it is also necessary to define the term ‘rural schools’. Du Plessis (2014, 1110) and Morales-Romo (2017, 419) concur that schools in rural areas are poor and disadvantaged; are distant from urban towns; lack basic infrastructure for water, roads, electricity, transport and ICT; and lack lifelong learning opportunities, all of which are disadvantages for both teachers and learners. Because of the narrowness of choice in almost all the aforementioned facets of life, the more rural the school, the more challenges it poses for the staff and the more challenging it becomes to retain teachers. Wallin and Reimer (2008, 601) observe that isolation from specialised services, teacher shortages, insufficient quality staff, decreasing enrolments and limited accessibility to development and college services are some of the characteristics that define rural schools. In support, Nelson (2010, 1) affirms that rural schools are those located further from municipalities or city centres, where services such as medical, commercial, educational and governmental facilities are located. This indicates that a trip to town for rural teachers may pose a certain challenge additional to access to goods and services. Such isolated conditions in rural areas, according to Adedeji and Olaniyan (2011, 21), fail to attract qualified and experienced teachers.

The terms ‘rural areas’ and ‘rural schools’ have suffered a definitional pluralism. Definitions include variables such as availability of resources, geography, demography and economics. However, it can be deduced that rural schools and rural people inherently have a certain limited choice in almost all aspects, such as having effective teachers, proper schooling, access to healthcare and other social amenities. Against this background, it is essential to consider staffing as an additional component to the conceptual framework.

Staffing

Hughes and Rog (2008, 747) postulate that the attraction and retention of talent is one of the critical people management issues facing private and public organisations. Thus, Sarma (2009, 16) suggests that human resource management can play a role in attracting and retaining teachers with desirable characteristics in terms of knowledge, skills and attitudes. However, attracting and retaining teachers are not enough. Developing the teachers, whether new or existing, is also important so that they can carry out their tasks effectively and efficiently (O’Neal and Gebauer 2006, 9).

Staffing, according to Ployhart (2006, 868), is a series of actions taken to attract, select and retain capable individuals to accomplish an organisational goal. Staffing is the means for an organisation to influence its diversity and seek out the productive human capital of new employees. Similarly, Heneman and Judge (2009, 7) view staffing as the process of selecting candidates and choosing the ones whose qualifications or experience match the job requirements. This is carried out to create a positive impact on the effectiveness of the organisation. Koontz and O’Donnell (2016, 4) offer a similar perspective of staffing as a managerial function that involves nourishing the organisational structure by recruiting, selecting, placing, appraising, compensating and properly and effectively developing the personnel needed to fill the roles considered for the structure of the organisation. Nasurdin et al. (2016, 33) claim that staffing is the process of providing an adequate supply of qualified individuals to fill the vacant positions in an organisation, and that this entails obligations and long-term commitment for both the organisation and the prospective employees.

Based on the above-mentioned conceptual perspectives, staffing is a process of finding appropriately skilled or competent employees for the various positions at the right time and ensuring that they remain with the organisation. Consequently, this article refers to staffing as the various strategies used by administrators and schools to attract teachers to accept employment at a school. It is therefore necessary to consider retention as the next logical component of the conceptual framework.

Retention

In most studies, retention is seen as a teacher staying within a given school, while other studies view retention as teachers staying within a specific district, region, state or province, within state-funded schools or even within teaching as a career or profession (See et al. 2020, 4). Regardless of the definitional plurality, retaining employees plays a significant role in the long-term health and success of an organisation. Failure to retain employees will affect productivity and service quality, and will lead to loss of corporate memory, skills and experience (Ghansah 2011, 7). Hence, Gberevbie (2008, 277) views employee retention as the plans, means and decisions formulated by organisations to keep their competent and proficient personnel and prevent frequent turnover. In addition, Khalid and Nawab (2018, 1) claim that employee retention is an intentional process of encouraging employees to remain with the organisation for a long time or until a certain project and/or objective has been completed. Das and Baruah (2013) concur that employee retention is an effort initiated by organisations to sustain and retain valuable employees for a longer period, using extrinsic and intrinsic motivational tools. Imam et al. (2017, 29) add strategy as an additional component to the definitional characteristics of employee retention, in that organisations should carefully and strategically design initiatives in order to retain and sustain personnel for an extended period. For this reason, Khalid and Nawab (2018,1) conclude that organisations should adopt retention strategies and practices that are twofold. First, organisations should attempt to reduce employee turnover, and second, deliberate attempts should be made to reduce expenses or costs associated with hiring, training and inducting new employees.

The preceding definitions imply that employee retention is an ongoing organised effort to create and nurture an environment that encourages and inspires employees to remain in organisations. Also pertinent in the definitions is the mention of putting in place strategies to address the diverse needs of employees in order to encourage them to remain in organisations. For this article, teacher retention will be viewed as the process of taking appropriate measures or interventions to inspire and encourage employees to remain in organisations for a long period of time. Therefore, retention means a limited turnover of teachers at rural schools in the Lubombo region of Eswatini.

Staffing and Retention Challenges Experienced by Teachers in Developing Countries

Developing countries have a significant share of staffing problems in rural schools. A study, conducted by Mulkeen and Chen (2008, 2), on the experiences of rural schoolteachers in Lesotho, Tanzania, Mozambique, Malawi and Uganda revealed that the constraints on teacher deployment and retention in rural schools are caused by the rural–urban disparities in living conditions, working environment (classroom and school resources), quality of accommodation, limited opportunities for further education and varied local languages originating from multiple ethnic groups. In line with the aforementioned, Monaco (2016, 20), in a study conducted in Rwanda, observes that rural teachers often lack access to teaching materials. These findings are echoed by Du Plessis (2014, 1115), who adds that children also often have to deal with old facilities and resources. Furthermore, rural schools have become the dumping ground for old or used resources no longer used in urban schools, which may also contribute to the urban–rural disparity (Du Plessis 2014, 1115).

Most Latin American and Caribbean countries experience significant staffing and retention problems in rural areas. Bruns and Luque (2015, 25) observe that the shortages of teachers in rural schools are characterised by a lack of teachers willing to work in rural schools. For example, in Peru, Bertoni et al. (2019, 2) found in 2015 that out of 19,630 permanent teacher vacancies, 40% of vacant posts in rural schools had not received applications. With specific reference to retention, Madero (2019, 1) revealed that 40% of teachers in Chile, 68% in Peru, 47.5% in Argentina, 40% in Brazil and 36% in Uruguay leave the teaching profession after 5 years. These levels of attrition and a lack of applications to hard-to-staff rural areas are often the result of numerous factors, such as poor working conditions, low-quality initial training and inadequate wages and professional development opportunities, to name a few (Bertoni et al. 2019, 6–7). Likewise, reporting on the state of education in Latin America and the Caribbean, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO 2014, 102) reports that the cause of the challenges in the staffing and retention of teachers in rural areas is a lack of proper work environment factors. These include higher salaries, opportunities for professional development and a positive school climate, which include satisfactory support systems from administration, manageable caseloads and reasonable role demand.

A study conducted by Mohamed (2017, 2) in Arusha, Tanzania, revealed that the terrible conditions of service, such as inadequate accommodation, lack of clean water and low salaries, contributed to the challenges in staffing and retention of teachers in rural areas. Yeboah and Adom (2016, 84), in a study conducted in Ghana, reported that teachers reject rural placements due to low pay, availability of infrastructure, quality of accommodation, access to recreational and health facilities, school resources and professional development. Furthermore, James et al. (2012, 126) point out that despite the high salaries in government schools as compared to that of private schools in Nigeria, teachers opted to teach in private schools rather than going to rural areas because government schools had inadequate infrastructure, poor houses and a lack of clean water, which indicate that high salaries alone are not sufficient if there are no other necessities. Likewise, in Kenya, teachers refused placements to rural areas because of the shortage of houses. In such circumstances, as highlighted earlier, Mohamed (2017, 3) has revealed that in some schools, teachers have turned classrooms into houses, and some have been living in very poor houses in rural areas. If teachers lack accommodation, electricity and clean water, or if they are not supported to rent a good house, they do not take up positions in rural areas. Teachers who already work in rural areas would also rather transfer or relocate to semi-urban or urban schools. Peng (2015, 12) rightly observes that despite the policies set by the government to help rural schools attract more talented teachers, such teachers are reluctant to take positions and remain in rural schools.

According to Mulkeen and Chen (2008, ix), the staffing and retention challenge is difficult to resolve due to the unwillingness of teachers to work in rural areas. In countries such as Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania and Uganda, reports point to the existence of unemployed teachers in urban areas and unfilled positions in rural areas. Adedeji and Olaniyan (2011, 6) note additional factors that hinder placement and the acceptance of rural posts. These factors include a lack of career opportunities, unpredictable disruptions of academic programmes instigated by political disturbances and public service strikes, and inadequate medical facilities to deal with numerous medical conditions and diseases some teachers are confronted with. Regarding the latter, Mulkeen and Chen (2008, 4) have found that teachers who have tested positive for HIV/AIDS have refused to accept posts in rural areas because of their health concerns, predominantly because of the lack of antiretroviral treatment in the areas where the schools are located.

Maphosa et al. (2014, 347), who conducted a study in Zimbabwe, have established that staffing and retention of teachers in rural areas are serious problems because the rural environment is poor and has nothing interesting with which to attract experienced teachers from urban areas. There are no recreational facilities, and teachers feel lonely and isolated, which may develop into depression, mental problems and boredom.

The above-mentioned discussion indicates that the challenges regarding the staffing and retention of teachers in rural areas are similar in a number of countries and regions around the globe. The following section seeks to analyse and contextualise the staffing and retention challenges in Eswatini.

Staffing and Retention Challenges in Rural Schools in Eswatini

It is imperative to analyse the contextual dynamics of staffing and retention as it will shed light on the implementation challenges surrounding staffing and retention of teachers in Eswatini. According to De Vries et al. (2020, 5), context is based on realist principles since realist scholars often pose the question of what works. In other words, what works in one country or region might not work in another country or another region within the same country. A contextualised approach will allow this article to explore the contextual dynamics that affect staffing and retention of teachers in rural areas in Eswatini.

Rural areas in Eswatini are faced with socio-economic challenges and immense inequalities. Scarce resources, bad infrastructure and underqualified teachers are some of the challenges experienced by rural schools, and they limit rural learners’ chances of accessing quality education (Maphalala and Davison 2017, 58). Even after a number of interventions and education reforms, such as Free Primary Education, the Education and Training Sector Policy and the Mission and Goals Sector of 2011, aimed at providing equitable access to education for all rural schools in Eswatini, especially in the Lubombo region, rural learners still perform below standard (Hamid et al. 2015, 132). Despite the inequalities between rural and urban areas, a uniform measure is used to grade schools equally, using the same performance standards, irrespective of the different challenges and socio-economic situations of rural and urban areas (Langa 2013, 2).

As a result, the inability to attract and retain teachers has led school administrators to employ underprepared, incompetent and unqualified teachers, which has a negative impact on learner achievement (Maphalala and Davison 2017, 58). In a similar vein, Hamid et al. (2015, 131) point out that a large proportion of primary educators in Eswatini do not have the necessary qualifications, and this has resulted in a high failure rate, with 66% of primary learners not completing primary school. Even though the demand for teachers has steadily increased in both primary and secondary schools (Kingdom of Swaziland 2016), it appears that many schools, including those in the Lubombo region, are still characterised by poor staffing and retention mechanisms. Consequently, unfilled posts endanger the educational progress and future of learners and negatively affect the effectiveness of the Ministry of Education and Training (MoET). Numerous studies have found that teachers resist positions at rural schools, leaving rural schools with a large number of unfilled posts (Adedeji and Olaniyan 2011; Bertoni et al. 2019; Downes and Roberts 2018; Monaco 2016; Mulkeen and Chen 2008; Peng 2015; Yeboah and Adom 2016). Even if the posts are filled, it is usually with unqualified or temporary teachers because the more experienced or qualified teachers move to their preferred schools in urban areas (Bertoni et al. 2019, 2).

Notably, the MoET has confirmed a failure rate of 16% in the Swaziland Primary Certificate in both the Lubombo and Shiselweni regions. This is a problem for the government because, as alluded to in the Annual Education Census Report, if failure exceeds 10%, it becomes a cause for concern (Kingdom of Swaziland 2016). The high failure rate was also due to the fact that 25% of the teachers in primary schools were properly qualified not to teach at primary schools, but at secondary schools (Kingdom of Swaziland 2015, 5). This resulted in the placement of teachers who were not fit for the purpose, particularly because secondary-level teachers usually focus on a single major subject, which makes them unable to offer all the subjects primary-level teachers are properly trained to teach (Maphalala and Davison, 2017). In addition, school-leavers who have just finished their high school education are also posted in rural schools as casual teachers to control the teacher shortage, a move that increases the failure rate in the Lubombo region (Kingdom of Swaziland 2015, 21). Because of this placement of unqualified teachers at rural schools, Hamid et al. (2015) have likened the teaching profession to a dumping ground for unqualified school-leavers who lack the experience, competencies, expertise and technical knowledge of teaching.

In addition, the provision of educational services in the hard-to-reach rural areas of Eswatini has proven difficult and involved many staffing and teacher retention problems. Factors contributing to these challenges may be the growing number of new learners due to the introduction of state-funded primary education in 2010 (Kingdom of Swaziland 2015)—which failed to keep up with the number of teachers—and the reluctance of newly graduated teachers to move beyond their traditional places of residence, which is mostly in urban and surrounding areas. According to Adedeji and Olaniyan (2011), for newly qualified teachers, work in rural schools is characterised by aversion. The MoET has found that many teachers in Eswatini who were posted in rural settings were not willing to deal with the challenges and harshness of both rural schools and village life (Kingdom of Swaziland 2016). Sometimes, they declined their placement in rural schools, opting rather to teach in urban schools (Kingdom of Swaziland 2016). This not only leads to vacant teaching positions, but also creates an unfair allocation of teachers, to the disadvantage of schools in remote areas.

Despite the critical need for staffing and retention of teachers in rural areas, research in this area appears to be neglected by the Teaching Service Commission (TSC) and the MoET in Eswatini, as reports on such information is very scarce, especially in the human resources domain. Moreover, the TSC appears not to have established any actions and strategies for staffing and retaining teachers in order to ensure continuous provision of quality teachers in rural schools as intended. And if it did, its strategies did not work because these staffing and retention challenges continue (Hamid et al. 2015, 133).

It appears that the challenges teachers face in rural areas have not been given the attention it deserves because of the constant refusal of teachers to work in rural areas. The following subsection outlines the objectives of this study.

Research Objectives

The objectives of this study are to:

conceptualise rural areas and schools and the nexus that exists between staffing and retention in relation to the challenges experienced by developing countries, including Eswatini;

analyse the findings derived from teachers and head teachers in the Lubombo region in order to analyse the key challenges associated with staffing and retention in rural schools; and

offer possible recommendations in relation to the recent National Education and Training Sector Policy in order to reduce staffing and retention challenges in rural schools in the Lubombo region of Eswatini.

Research Methodology

A qualitative method was adopted for the gathering of data for this article, and it was situated within the interpretive paradigm. Bonache and Festing (2020, 110) assert that the interpretive paradigm uses qualitative approaches such as case studies, ethnography and phenomenological investigations to measure participants’ experiences and perceptions. Hence, this study utilised a qualitative approach and a case study design to understand the experiences of the teachers and head teachers in rural schools in the Lubombo region of Eswatini, as they directly faced the challenges of staffing and retention. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 30 teachers and 10 head teachers who were selected using purposive sampling. After determining the demographic profile of the 40 participants (n), the study found that the minority of the participants (n = 6) had between 0 and 5 years’ teaching experience, while the majority (n = 34) had between 6 and 21 years teaching experience or more in rural areas and schools. It can therefore be deduced, based on the extensive working experience of most of the participants that they have the necessary experience to provide the information required to ensure the validity of the study. According to Grinnell and Unrau (2008, 153), purposive sampling enables the selection of samples that represent the characteristics a study seeks to investigate and those that will provide in-depth and rich information about the phenomenon under investigation.

A thematic content analysis approach was followed. This approach was relevant to the study because the objective was to analyse the opinions, views, knowledge and experiences from data obtained from the semi-structured interviews (Bengtsson 2016, 8). The responses or data were broken down, analysed and coded to construct themes, subthemes and categories based on repeated phrases and significant statements relevant to the phenomenon under investigation (Welman et al. 2010, 211). Thereafter, the data were analysed by identifying patterns, themes and subthemes, as well as the relationships among key patterns, themes and subthemes. For the purpose of this article, the analysis and interpretation of only one broad theme and its seven subthemes pertinent to the topic are presented. In addition, a deductive approach was followed, since the article proceeded from a conceptual framework immersed in an extensive theoretical literature review of staffing and retention challenges of rural schools.

Study Area

Eswatini (formerly known as Swaziland) is a landlocked country located in Southern Africa. Approximately 75% of Eswatini’s population live in rural areas. Lubombo is one of the four regions in Eswatini, located in the eastern part of the country bordering Mozambique, with an area of 584,911 km² and a population of 212,531 (Knoema 2020). There are 127 primary schools, 9 junior secondary schools and 59 senior secondary schools in the Lubombo region, with approximately 4,500 teachers (Hamid et al. 2015, 131).

Results and Discussion

In this section, the interview data derived from rural schools in the Lubombo region of Eswatini are presented.

Challenges Experienced in Rural Schools

One theme and seven sub-themes emerged from the question regarding the challenges that teachers and head teachers experienced in rural schools. The responses from the interviewees were organised in line with the following subthemes.

Lack of Accommodation

Every human being needs basic social services. Rural schools lack basic services and decent accommodation, with clean water and electricity at the top of the list. A study by Grissmer and Kirby (2013) points out that teachers are reluctant to work in areas and schools that lack the basic social services. This is one of the factors contributing to the movement of teachers from rural schools to better urban schools. All the interviewees revealed that the rural schools did not have sufficient accommodation for teachers. Even some of the available houses in some schools were not in a good condition and needed to be revamped. All the head teachers pointed out that the lack of sufficient accommodation was a challenge in the rural schools. They further said that the houses available were not proper and lacked some essential amenities like water and electricity.

With the introduction of Free Primary Education in 2010, there has been an increased demand for accommodation for teachers. A few teachers mentioned that they were forced to rent nearby homes to avoid travelling long distances to schools. Some indicated that even though accommodation was provided by the community, the conditions of the houses were not favourable. This is supported by Tao (2012), who observes that deplorable houses are provided for teachers, and that some of them live in rented houses with high rental amounts consuming a large portion of their meagre salaries. To illustrate this, one head teacher stated that a lack of housing subsidies, especially for temporary teachers, has added an additional financial burden on teachers because they have to rent costly private accommodation. Another head teacher not only commented on the lack of sufficient accommodation but also alluded to the long distances teachers have to commute between the workplace and home. The latter has adverse effects on productivity since teachers report for work late due to transportation shortages in rural areas.

Lack of and Poor Basic Infrastructure

The lack of basic infrastructure was practically the first thing mentioned by interviewees when asked about the challenges of teaching in rural schools. Some schools lack the essential infrastructure to support teachers to function effectively and efficiently in schools. A small number of those interviewed identified a lack of infrastructure as relating to ICT, school buildings and furniture in rural schools. One head teacher mentioned that a particular school has never had computers, which significantly disadvantaged both learners and teachers.

These findings have also been corroborated by Yeboah and Adom (2016, 84), who argue that that teachers in rural areas are challenged by a lack of infrastructure, quality of accommodation and school resources.

According to most teachers and head teachers, poor roads, a lack of water and unreliable transport and sanitation were the main infrastructural challenges in rural schools, even though some (e.g., roads) are beyond the control of MoET and school administrators. Constant power cuts are also a challenge, especially as they lead to unpleasant working conditions.

Inability of Learners to See the Value of Education

The interviewees, especially the teachers, uniformly saw the learners’ inability to see the value of education as another significant challenge. A few interviewees mentioned that the lack of parental involvement made their lives difficult in the schools because they are unable to deal with defiant and ill-disciplined learners if the parents do not cooperate. For example, one interviewee stated that teaching in rural areas is difficult because students do not place a high value on education, and they lack motivation and role models from their rural community.

Moreover, a small number of the interviewees mentioned that some learners do not aspire to further their education, like going to university or college. This is a challenge because, as teachers, they want to see their learners become successful in life. Upon reviewing the literature, this finding appears to be novel, in that no data were found to corroborate how learners’ attitudes towards the value of education affect teachers’ motivation and ultimately staffing and retention in rural schools.

Poor Working Conditions

The interviewees considered poor working conditions as one of the main challenges of teaching in rural areas. However, they differed in their responses depending on which school they represented. Common reasons were that working in rural areas is demotivating because of fewer teaching resources, and that teachers were overworked due to additional teaching assignments. This is in line with a study conducted by Marinette (2017, 60), who argues that working conditions are important in rural schools because if teachers have a negative perception of their working conditions, they are likely to look for a better school and perpetuate the staffing and retention challenges. This finding further supported the idea of Lyles (2016, 13), who has established that assigning heavier workloads, having fewer resources and larger class sizes were some of the poor working conditions that contribute to the high turnover of teachers in rural schools. However, the findings of the present study do not support larger class sizes as one of the poor working conditions. In line with this contradiction, two divergent and often conflicting discourses emerged. One interviewee expressed the belief that school working conditions are favourable, given the adequate supply of teaching materials and the principal’s equitable management support practices that enhance teachers’ job performance. In contrast, another interviewee commented on staff shortages, which resulted in immense workloads that often lead to job dissatisfaction and poor performance by teachers. Further, attention was drawn to this negative discourse by one interviewee who said that the absence of textbooks and other instructional materials leads to ineffective teaching and learning, with dire consequences for effective job performance and teacher success.

Shortage of Teaching Resources

Some interviewees felt discouraged by the lack of teaching resources and believed that their motivational levels are determined by the presence of teaching resources in schools. Some interviewees also added that the misconception that competent teachers improvise and use whatever material is available was actually demotivating. Even though it is true to a certain extent, the interviewees stressed that proper teaching resources are required for successful teaching and learning. One interviewee said that teachers suffer a great deal in rural schools, and that it is tough to succeed if they do not have access to textbooks and other resources. The absence of computers at a particular rural school led the aforementioned interviewee to argue that learners in rural schools, and especially in the twenty-first century, should have access to the same computer equipment as their urban counterparts.

The interviewees emphasised that the lack of Internet access, books, reliable photocopy machines and computers limits the process of teaching and learning. A few interviewees argued that the lack of the mentioned resources is typically not the main reason teachers leave rural schools, but that it does influence teachers’ morale and effectiveness. The aforementioned responses are corroborated by Monaco (2016, 20), who observes that rural teachers often lack access to educational materials, which is a challenge, particularly because classes are overcrowded, and learners are made to share the few available resources like desks and books. However, what the above-mentioned findings reveal is that teaching resources are directly linked to motivation, which may affect job satisfaction and ultimately retention of teachers in rural schools.

Teacher Turnover

The majority of the head teachers reported that teacher turnover was one of the challenges experienced in rural areas. One interviewee argued that although teacher turnover is beneficial in terms of bringing new and fresh perspectives into a school, frequent turnover means that the head teacher goes around in circles rebuilding the team and inducting new teachers on a constant basis, which negatively affects the operational effectiveness. Some interviewees also felt that replacing teachers is a challenge if they are not replaced with equally qualified teachers. For example, a head teacher in one of the schools included in this study commented on high teacher turnover and described it as an administrative challenge, in that frequent staff attrition negatively affects cohesion and/or collaborative management, which ultimately negatively affects momentum in each department and/or subject field in the school.

On another note, one interviewee mentioned that when faced with difficulty appointing the required number of quality teachers, teachers who are competent in one area are assigned to teach and fill the gap in the area where there is a shortage. As a result, learners are taught by less qualified teachers who lack the knowledge and skills to produce the best learners. One may infer that due to the high turnover of teaching personnel, rural schools are unable to attract and appoint competent teachers. This is in line with the findings of Williams et al. (2012), who state that the turnover of teachers leads to the loss of service efficiency, which ultimately has negative effects on learners’ performance.

Insufficient Qualified Teachers

The interviewees were asked whether they had qualified teachers in their schools. Five head teachers mentioned that they had enough qualified teachers in their schools, while another five responded in the negative. Interestingly, one interviewee mentioned that although teachers were qualified and sufficient in his school, the problem was that some of the teachers were not permanently employed by the government. In addition, some of the interviewees said that the Lubombo region had qualified teachers, but that they were not equipped for what was needed in the schools. Tertiary institutions produce graduates who are less equipped than the required personnel in schools, like teachers experienced in saturated subjects, for instance, history and religious knowledge. For example, one interviewee indicated that there is a shortage of mathematics and science teachers. Du Plessis and Mestry (2019, 2) corroborate this by arguing that better-trained and experienced teachers are more likely to serve academically advantaged learners in more affluent schools than in disadvantaged schools. Consequently, it appears that urban schools enjoy a comparative advantage over rural schools in the staffing of highly qualified high school teachers. In addition, one interviewee indicated that ‘a large number of teachers are qualified to teach adolescents and not primary school learners, as they possess a postgraduate certificate in education and not [a] primary teacher’s diploma’. One may infer that some rural schools in the Lubombo region are unable to attract and appoint qualified teachers with the appropriate pedagogical skills.

Recommendations

Based on the results of the analysis and in relation to the recent Eswatini National Education and Training Sector Policy of 2018, the researchers propose the following recommendations. If adopted by the TSC, the office responsible for the hiring of teachers, these recommendations may lead to improved staffing and retention of teachers in rural schools in the Lubombo region of Eswatini:

Mechanisms like hardship allowances and/or financial incentives must be established to attract and retain qualified teachers in rural schools. This recommendation to reform the demand-based financing model into a multifaceted approach is echoed by UNICEF (2018, 33). Such an approach would address various regions (rural or urban) and link incentives to teacher training, increased scholarships, career development, promotion and ultimately retention.

The provision of teacher accommodation with essential amenities like water and electricity should be prioritised. This recommendation addresses a policy gap not identified by the sector-wide policy goals and objectives. More specifically, the policy makes provision for addressing limited accommodation challenges in higher education in the form of distance learning (UNICEF 2018, 51) but fails to address teacher accommodation shortages in rural schools. With specific reference to primary and secondary teaching and learning support, emphasis is placed on teacher safety, which includes fencing and lighting (UNICEF 2018, 15), at the expense of prioritising or increasing accommodation with essential amenities for teachers at rural schools.

The ability of rural schools to retain quality teachers lies in the maintenance of a good working environment. This gap must be filled by the government’s meeting of the challenges faced by rural schools. This commitment should be shown by upgrading such schools, since it is now known that teachers work better in a good teaching environment. This recommendation is supported by the National Education and Training Sector Policy, which seeks to promote rural bias, that is, the transfer of school infrastructure to rural areas with the aim of achieving equity in the provision of quality education and, ultimately, of attracting and retaining qualified teachers (UNICEF 2018, xiii).

Hiring of teachers should be regionalised so that school administrators may also be involved because they know the requirements of teachers in their respective schools.

Policymakers should help teachers adapt to their new environment by developing relevant policies geared towards rural schools.

Conclusion

This article has offered a context-specific approach based on thick analysis of lived rural and teaching experiences related to staffing and retention challenges faced by teachers and head teachers in rural schools of the Lubombo region of Eswatini. This article has revealed that conventional human resources practices like staffing and retention cannot be addressed in isolation from the environment in which organisations operate. Thus, the classical teacher–school intersection of managing staffing and retention challenges is increasingly difficult to sustain in complex environments with cross-sectoral linkages. Consequently, if policies and strategies for resolving staffing and retention of teachers in rural schools are to be successful, they should be multifaceted and include the introduction of hardship allowances, provision of accommodation, good working environments with professional development opportunities, teacher support and the improvement of internal and external amenities, which are sometimes beyond the schools’ reach. However, some interviewees looked beyond the challenges and still accepted offers at rural schools. This was motivated by their desire to have a job and to serve their local community of origin selflessly. In conclusion, this article has revealed that a universal approach to staffing and retention of both rural and urban schools in Eswatini is neither feasible nor possible. In other words, future research on staffing and retention will have to consider the complex intersections among the local government, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development and the MoET in order to address the unique staffing and retention challenges of specific rural schools in Eswatini.

Footnotes

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.

ORCID iD

Ambrosé Ray Du Plessis

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