Kazakhstan is located in Central Asia and by land surface it is the ninth largest country in the world, about the size of Western Europe. The republic of Kazakhstan has an uppermiddle income economy. In 2011 the population numbered 16.4 million and a quarter of them were 14 years old or younger age. The population is well educated and this can be attributed a positive influence of the USSR. According to statistics from UNESCO in 2010, Kazakhstan has attained 99.6 percent in universal adult literacy, 99.0 percent in universal primary education and 99.3 percent in gender parity. Twenty five percent of adults have completed higher education, thirty percent have post-secondary and forty percent have vocational education. The government is making considerable efforts in improving learning conditions and the capacity of schools, and reforming Kazakhstan’s education system to meet the needs of a modern competitive society.
The national system of education includes pre-school, primary, secondary-basic, vocational or general secondary, post-secondary and tertiary education. From the age of three to six children attend kindergartens, then usually they start school at the age of six or seven and study eleven years of compulsory education. The primary phase of education, grades 1 to 5, takes pupils up to age 11; secondary education up to age 17, when almost all students take the Unified National Test (UNT), which is counted as a test for school-leaving and for entry into tertiary education.
According to an OECD review (2014), on average education in Kazakhstan is more equitable in comparison with other OECD countries. However, the learning results in secondary education, which are measured by the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), are below the international average. These results are the main factors for motivating development and reforming the education system and Kazakhstan plans several important measures: restructuring the system, raising the level of excellence, developing teachers’ skills, expanding pre-school education, introducing new mechanisms of financing, improving infrastructure and modernising vocational education (OECD, 2014).
Undoubtedly, teachers are the most important part in the success of an educational system. The state Programme for Education Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan for 2011-2020 states that “education quality is determined primarily by highly qualified teachers”. The international research of DarlingHammond (2000); Rivkin et al. (2005), Rockoff (2004) and others suggests that the most considerable factors, influencing students’ outcome, are factors concerning the teacher and teaching, and they need a strategic emphasis in the efforts of improvement in education. Most challenges of teacher policy in Kazakhstan are not unique and have the same tendencies as around the world. The schools of the republic are experiencing a shortage of teachers and this is the same situation in many other countries too (OECD, 2005; Schleicher, 2012).
The fact that schools are suffering from teacher shortages was cited in the report of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan (MESRK) when in the beginning of 2010-2011 school year there were vacancies for 1362 secondary teachers (OECD, 2014). As well as in the UK, according to the statistics of DCSF (2008), the data on teacher vacancies indicates a growing tendency of shortages as the number of unfilled teaching positions rose from 2,040 in January 2007 to 2,510 in January 2008. This is unfortunately getting worse, in 2010-2011, 47,700 teachers quit teaching; an increase from the 40,070 in the preceding year (Burns, 2012).
Similar to the situation in Kazakhstan, teachers worldwide suffer from low status, feel undervalued, and are concerned about the image of their profession (OECD, 2005). The income of teachers in Kazakhstan is low and they are inequitably distributed among schools with highly qualified teachers working in advantaged schools (OECD, 2014).
Ingersoll (2003) claimed that all teachers after long years of study are thinking of the future and the enthusiasm of embarking on the process of teaching, and becoming a professional in their field. In this way there is a lot to learn, a lot to do, a lot to absorb and a lot to start in their new lives. However, there are statistics that demonstrate that most of them would not be at school in five years.
Grissmer and Kirby (1991) stated that the rate of teachers’ retention in education is ruled by many external factors, for example typical turbulence in the career caused by formation of a family and a job change by spouse. In our current society of job impermanence and quick alteration, it would be normal to view the rate of 50% retention in any field as realistic. Many aspects studied include the autonomy of teachers, financial motives, geographic reasons, different options of a career and personal account (Bond, 2001; Johnson, Berg, & Donaldson, 2005; Papin, 2005). Some studies explained statistics of teacher retention in comparison with other professions. Factors influencing retention have worldwide features based on the similar requirements of training. The retention rates illustrate a gap amongst different jobs. Lawyers have a retention rate of 95.7% within five years (Melendez, 2008) and physicians a 91% retention rate for the same period (Sox, 2006). Teachers have a 50% retention rate and it is far lower than other professions. Thus, research into internal and external factors, which govern teachers’ decisions to stay, must be carefully constructed in order to change the situation.
The factors impelling the decisions to retain can be divided into two groups based on how they are controlled by an individual. They are the internal factors within the persons’ control and an example of an internal factor is a sense of altruism. Altruism is a feature of many teachers and it is very significant cause of teacher retention (Foor, 1997; Yavuzer et al., 2006). The external factors are those which are out of the person’s control. For example, payment is an external factor that affects retention when salaries are compared to other jobs (Han, 1994).
The issue of teacher attraction and retention is essential for a number of reasons. According to Berliner (2004) firstly, it is teacher competency which is a teacher centric reason. Another reason is the professionalism of a teacher. Some reasons are discipline centric such as quality of instruction delivery and all of them have practical features. Typically by the third year at school teachers gain a level of adequate competence and they can attain a level of “expert” around the fifth year of teaching. However, there is a reason to accept that all teachers cannot be experts just because of their individual characteristics. From this point, competent and professional teachers are required to stay in teaching, in order to allow their excellent and competent experience to materialise in their students.
Second, according to Darling-Hammond and Berry (1999), the process of teacher retention is central to build a basis of teacher-practitioners who will provide the required experience and vision to maintain the system of education with development of quality teaching ready for reforms. Teaching is not a fixed object and needs modifications and constant checks on the basis of existing and prospect requirements (CochranSmith & Fries, 2001; Darling-Hammond, 1996; Feiman-Nemser, 2001). With the aim for better understanding their teaching practice teachers can use the important practice of reflection (Liaw, 2009; Marcos et al., 2011). There is a reason in the assumption that the longer a teacher is retained, the more increase there will be in the subjection to situations and circumstances which are required for reflection and personal improvements in teaching practice (Richardson, 1990).
Third, success in teacher induction, training, and professional development depend on retention issues. In order to meet variety criteria as lead teachers, attending teacher or mentors, retained teachers will confidently develop the required dispositions (Cochran-Smith and Lytle, 1999; Schwille and Dynak, 2000). These guides will have knowledge, experience and the proficiency for program purposes implementation (Schwille and Dynak, 2000).
Student outcomes can also be affected by teacher retention in different ways. Firstly, the high teacher turnover at school means that students of this school will get on average, less experienced and less effective teachers (Rockoff, 2004; Hanushek et al., 2004; Kane, Rockoff and Staiger, 2006). Secondly, high turnover produces instability at school and it creates an environment in which it is more difficult to give coherent instruction. The process of instability at school can cause problems with realizing reform because new teachers come every year and they tend to repeat the same mistakes rather than to improve them. Thirdly, the process of constant recruiting of new teachers needs a lot of work to do, a lot of time and it is very high in price. Moreover, with all these features, teacher turnover at schools decreases the achievement of students because teachers, who have a tendency to leave, are more experienced and more effective in teaching.
Teachers face a number of persisting challenges which includes a low level of respect from the nation, the community, parents, administrators and students. There is a hope for the education future with the increase of social demands, and at the same time education is accused for the past mistakes. For that reason, the issue that schools are suffering from a mass exit of professional teachers is not surprising. Most teachers decided to leave the profession and they are seeking more respect and not only better opportunities (Goodlad, 2001).
The statement that the attrition of teachers is a diversified problem is not a new finding. Though, for the future of education, in order to make substantial change in this sphere, more national research must be conducted and addressed to teacher attrition from the perspectives of local teachers (Elfers et al., 2006; Hirsch, 2004, 2005).
The National Education Association indicated in their research some evidence about teachers and these facts are possibly not well known to the public. On average 50 hours per week are given by teachers to their teaching responsibilities and duties, and teachers assign about a quarter of their own salary on school materials. They also teach sometimes more than 30 pupils per class, make an average first income, and teachers come into the teaching profession due to their love of children, to their subject and a desire to make a change in the next generation. The pressure from parents and a lack of support leads school teachers to the decision of their leaving (Hill & Barth, 2004).
Therefore, there are a number of factors which are correlated with the current issue of teacher retention: working conditions (oppressive or encouraging); head teacher support; the salary; teacher morale. The list of reasons cannot be extended or narrowed to one key factor, but a set of these causes forms the subsequent determination of teacher’s decision to leave or stay in the career of education. The professional climate also plays a role, administrators, way of faculty work at different schools are individual and variable. All of these varieties have possibly an equal contribution to the teacher retention issue.
The literature on retention examines education issue globally and does not separate or treat various disciplines at a specific context. It shows that both internal and external factors have a contribution to the teachers’ decision to remain in the career.
Teacher retention literature reports many influences and contexts come into play when teachers are formulating their retention attributions. These forces are classified as existing within the teachers control or outside of the teachers control when observed under the attribution theory. Further, these factors combine in various ways to create the attributional dispositions held by teachers.
Mostly teachers enter the profession with the feelings to be useful for the society, to work and help children, with a great love to their subject. The study showed that these attributions still remained and helped teachers to stay in the career. Some teachers comments, “great professional satisfaction of every single working day, admiration and respect from students, I like my profession despite all challenges”, are showing their high motivation and they felt themselves the most effective in teaching. These teachers love their job and continue to teach students. From these intrinsic and extrinsic reasons teachers develop their decision to stay or leave the profession.
Other factors included the external motivators such as salary, support of administrators and colleagues, professional development and working conditions. These factors were indicated by teachers at moderate level. However, they are considered being influential too by participants. Nowadays, society ignored the social value of teachers in practice. One of those indicators is teacher’s salary and it is not comparable to the payment of other professions. The administration and peers support, mentoring, and opportunity to develop professionally also reveals the level of teacher significance.
The amount of teachers’ salary in Kazakhstan is not so large and it cannot be compared to the salaries of professions with the same education level such as lawyers, doctors and others. Nevertheless, in the current research, the teachers’ satisfaction with pay and benefits was not the main reason in their decision to stay in teaching. This factor was ranked by the respondents as non-important reason. However, the participants identified that low salary was a reason for discouraging teachers from continuing their profession. One teacher commented, “The society and state need to make our job economically reasonable for people to select and stay in teaching”. In most cases, the previous research determined salary to be the major reason for teachers leaving the profession.
Although the reasons of working conditions, workload, students’ behaviour, stress, planning time, a lot of paperwork, job responsibilities, duties and needless disturbances, were not identified by teachers as main motivators but they played a role for beginning and experienced teachers. Moreover the technology and resources are high on the list of needs for teaching in order to reduce teacher workload.
The study showed that external and internal factors that influenced teacher retention can interact with each other. If a teacher has strong internal reasons to teach such as love of the subject, a desire to work with children, the need to do good for society and he has a support from the state, society, administration, colleagues or even parents, that means he will stay in the profession with great pleasure. For every individual being effective at the workplace is the most important reason to remain in profession and this attribution is influenced by both internal and external motivators. For example, you have a desire to work with children and you love your subject thus you can explain your subject very clear and understandable for students and in the end you are satisfied with your job. In this context, altruistic attributions are the most important for becoming and retaining in teaching. One more example, support of administration can be external factor or an internal factor. It is an internal factor when the head teachers and educators are sharing the same ideas, value autonomy and self-efficacy. Principals supply teachers with all required materials and it is an external motivator for the teachers to have a desired work environment and a reason to stay.
When teachers make their decision to become a teacher, they are more motivated by intrinsic factors than extrinsic reasons. The responses to the survey and the interviews confirmed it. The external motivators such as salary, benefits and family history did not influence significantly their decisions to enter teaching. The participants ranked as the most important factors their love of their teaching subject; desire to work with children and importance of teaching for society.
Other internal factors were identified by teachers in this study such as their effectiveness at work, control over their work and factor of helping society. Moreover, the participants cited these factors as the most important motivators to stay in teaching. All of these options are internal reasons and they are influenced by the attribution of altruism. The study showed that the factor of altruism revealed in the survey and interviews is the most significant internal factor leading to the teacher retention. Under this factor individuals make their decision to be a teacher and stay in teaching practice, work more extra hours, create and implement more chances to study for students, and they are interested in the life.
From qualitative analysis of open ended and interview questions similar responses concerning internal reasons of teachers were identified such as: “Working with children, help them to gain better knowledge, to teach children new things, to be loved by them, admiration and respect from students, great professional satisfaction of every single working day, I like my profession despite all challenges, joy of children when they understand difficult material, love to the subject, stability of the job, I have control over my work, I have an ability to manage a group of people”. All of these teachers’ comments support the strength of extrinsic motivators in making a decision to stay in teaching.
The factors of teacher morale, self-efficacy, job satisfaction and autonomy are interacting and influence each other. They were indicated in this study as the most substantial motivators in teacher retention.
The teacher shortage is a problem of a demand and it can be resolved with the increase of teacher retention. If the status of teachers in society change positively and social environment of great respect for teachers is created, the teacher retention problem will be solved. State financial incentives with different support and reasonable salary; sufficient teacher preparation; support of colleagues and administration; mentoring programs and support the new teachers; possibilities to develop professionally; and other aspects will help in attracting the brightest and the best individuals into teaching and inspire teachers with experience to stay in career.
Teacher challenges through the course of preparation, recruitment, induction, professional development, school conditions and culture, the teaching community, career advancements, teachers’ balanced autonomy and responsibility should be addressed.
The task to attract and retain effective teachers at school needs providing incentives of additional salary, smaller class sizes, a lower workload among many others (OECD, 2012b).
The success of most education systems is in the investing of substantial resources into attracting, developing, supporting and retaining the teacher workforce (Darling-Hammond and Lieberman, 2012; Hargreaves and Fullan, 2012; OECD, 2011, 2012a).
Most significant thought about recruitment, retention, and staff development as a whole is the nature of their interconnected relationship. Many aspects of recruitment can help bolster retention, such as sound screening practices. Staff development is often a primary factor that drives positive retention rates. Attractive incentives and staff development packages often are strong pull factors with respect to recruitment. The interconnected nature of recruitment, retention, and staff development are encompassed by the Internet, World Wide Web, and electronic technologies. These tools encompass best practices that can enhance all three of these human resource/personnel categories.
With respect to educational leadership in particular, recruiting, retention, and staff development must all incorporate ongoing learning for optimal success. Human resource management must learn to incorporate all three of these personnel divisions into one holistic process that follows employees from pre-screening and recruitment through to staff development that maintains and bolsters retention. It appears from the literature that some of the best practices involved in recruiting involve sound pre-screening measures, the use of electronic technologies to tap diverse resource pools and break down barriers to employment, and a collaborative effort that involves other company managers. When it comes to staff development, pro-active development of staff benefits both employees and the bottom line. Staff development is critical to molding employees whose own needs are fulfilled by their fulfillment of organizational goals. So, too, staff development that involves empowering employees and creating self learners lead to more productive employees that are better decision makers.
- Berliner, D. , (2004) ‘Describing the behaviour and documenting the accomplishments of expert teachers’, Bulletin of Science Technology Society, 24(3), 200-212
- Burns J. (2012) “Numbers of teachers who quit up by a fifth in a year”, BBC NEWS, Available at: http://www.bbc.com/news/education-20585457
- Cochran-Smith, M., and Lytle, S. L. (1999) ‘Relationships of knowledge and practice: Teacher learning in communities’, Review of Research in Education, 24, 249-305
- Darling-Hammond, L. (2000) “Teacher quality and student achievement: A review of state policy evidence”, Education Policy Analysis Archives, 8(1)
- Darling-Hammond, L. and Lieberman, A. (2012) Teacher Education around the World: Changing Policies and Practices, Routledge, London and New York
- Darling-Hammond, L., and Berry, B. (1999) ‘Recruiting teachers for the 21st century: The foundation for educational equity’, Journal of Negro Education, 68(3),
- DCSF (2008) School Workforce in England Available on-line at: http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000813/index.shtml
- Feiman-Nemser, S. (2001) ‘From preparation to practice: Designing a continuum to strengthen and sustain teaching’, Teachers College Record, 103(6), 1013
- Hanushek, E., Kain, J. and Rivkin, S. (2004) ‘Why Public Schools Lose Teachers’, The Journal of Human Resources, 39(2). Pp. 326-354
- Kane, T., Rockoff J. and Staiger D., (2006) “What Does Certification Tell Us about Teacher Effectiveness?
- Evidence from New York City”, NBER Working Paper 12155
- Liaw, E. (2009) The acquisition of professional knowledge through the development of critical reflection: A pilot study in a teacher training course, The Ohio State University, Columbus Ohio
- Marcos, J. , Sanchez, E., and Tillema, H. H. (2011) ‘Promoting teacher reflection: What is said to be done’, Journal of Education for Teaching: International Research and Pedagogy, 37(1), 21-36
- OECD (2004) Learning for Tomorrow’s World: First Results from PISA 2003, OECD,
- OECD (2010) PISA 2009 Results: What Makes a School Successful: Resources, Policies and Practices, PISA, OECD Publishing
- OECD (2011) Government at a Glance 2011, OECD Publishing
- OECD (2012a) Education at a Glance 2012: OECD Indicators, OECD Publishing
- OECD (2012b) Equity and Quality in Education: Supporting Disadvantaged students and schools, OECD Publishing
- OECD (2014) Secondary Education in Kazakhstan, OECD Publishing
- OECD, (2005) Teachers Matter: Attracting, Developing and Retaining Effective teachers, Education and Training Policy, OECD publishing
- Richardson, V. (1990) ‘Significant and worthwhile change in teaching practice’, Educational Researcher, 19(7), 10-18
- Rivkin, S., Hanushek, E., and Kain, J. (2005) ‘Teachers, schools and academic achievements’, Econometrica, 73(2), 417-458
- Rockoff, J. (2004) ‘The Impact of Individual Teachers on Student Achievement: Evidence from Panel Data’, The American Economic Review, 94(2) pp. 247-252
- Rockoff, J. (2004) ‘The Impact of Individual Teachers on Student Achievement: Evidence from Panel Data’, The American Economic Review, 94(2) pp. 247-252
- Schleicher, A. (2012) Preparing teachers and developing school leaders for the 21st century: Lessons from around the world, OECD publishing
- Schwille, S. , and Dynak, J. (2000) Mentor preparation and development, Washington, D.C.: Association of Teacher Educators.