Why people become teachers: A case of teachers at a rural secondary school

Journal of Social Research & Policy, Volume: 7, Issue: 2, pp. 25-40

Date: December 2016

ISSN: 2067-2640 (print), 2068-9861 (electronic)

Abstract: There are various reasons why people the world over join teaching, but there is limited literature exploring the reasons people joining teaching in Zimbabwe. The study was done at a secondary rural boarding school in the Midlands province of Zimbabwe. The purpose of this case study was to discover and understand why people continue to join teaching when there seem to be inherent problems in the profession. In-depth interviews, as well as document analysis, were used to collect data in this study. The 10 teachers who participated in the study were chosen through purposeful sampling and snowballing techniques and had a mean age of 39.3. The findings of the study were that the teachers joined teaching because of lack of alternatives, poor backgrounds, the need to take care of the family, love teaching and working with the kids, and failure to make the grade. It terms of benefits, the finding was that the only perceived benefit was survival. Professionalization of the profession through increased salaries, lower workload, increased cooperation between parents and schools, and the reintroduction of incentives are some of the recommendations made to encourage people to join and remain in schools.

Keywords: Joining Teaching; Incentives; Love Teaching; Poor Background; Teachers.