Strategies employed by two (2) East London schools to adapt in times of “teacher loss”: implications for leadership and management

Abstract

The issue of “teacher loss” has been reported widely as one of the biggest challenges facing schools around the globe. The international concern is that education departments have more teachers leaving than entering their systems. Evidence shows that this situation is also synonymous in South Africa and remains one of the ongoing phenomena, also noted in the provinces, including the Eastern Cape. As previous research focused on the reasons for “teacher loss”, as well as the strategies for the retention of teachers, the purpose of this study was to investigate how the selected schools adapt in times of “teacher loss”. The implications for leadership and management in this regard were also explored. In exploring this issue, a qualitative research approach was adopted in the form of a case study, which involved two (2) rural schools, one (1) primary and one (1) secondary school. This qualitative approach entailed semi-structured interviews involving eight (8) participants and document analysis as data collection methods for the study. The findings reveal that there is little support that schools receive from the Department of Education in order to cope with “teacher loss”. Teachers‟ limited knowledge in terms of strategies to cope with “teacher loss” results in de-motivated and stressed teachers. Several implications for leadership and management were also drawn out, including equipping school management teams with skills that can enable them to assist teachers to cope with “teacher loss”.