Teacher Shortage in Nigerian Schools Causes, Effects and Administrators Coping Strategies

The study examined causes and effects of teacher shortage in public secondary schools in Osun State. It equally investigated the administrators coping strategies in the State. The descriptive survey design was used for this study. The study population for this study consisted of administrators and teachers of public secondary schools in Osun State. A total of 275 respondents consisting of 25 administrators and 250 teachers selected from 25 public secondary schools in Osun State constituted the sample size using proportional stratified sampling technique to select 25 schools from 6 local government areas across the 3 senatorial districts in Osun State. The instrument used for this study was “Teacher Shortage and Coping Strategies Questionnaire (TSCSQ)” designed by the researchers. The instrument was pilot – tested via the test re-test technique with a reliability coefficient index of 0.83 obtained. Based on the findings of this study, it was discovered that poor teacher’s salary, high student enrolment and poor work conditions; all culminating into job dissatisfaction were responsible for teacher shortage in Osun State public secondary schools. The effects were the implications for administrators and remaining teachers’ health, commitment to the job, poor students’ performance resulting from ineffective teaching and poor quality of instruction. It was also found that overloading the existing staff with assignments and multiple responsibilities, use of substitute teachers such as Youth Corp members and student – teachers plus increased class size were the coping strategies used by the school administrators to manage teacher shortage in Osun State public secondary schools. Consequently, recommendations were given that Osun State government should do all possible within her powers to recruit adequately commensurate quantity of teachers and ensure good work environment and conditions of service.

Keywords: Teachers; Shortage; Teacher Shortage; Effects; Coping Strategies; Public Schools