Academic performance in institution of higher learning generally is thought to be falling in Ghana. One of the reasons that have been ascribed to the declining performance has been the high turnover rate among lecturers in these higher educational institutions. This study was therefore undertaken in Accra Polytechnic to determine effects of lecturer turnover on students’ performance. The study utilized a descriptive survey research approach, in which a well structured questionnaire was designed, comprising close ended questions was administered by randomly to 100 students in Accra Polytechnic to obtain the primary data, and using secondary data on lecturers and student information obtained from Accra Polytechnic Administration. Data were collected from the respondents, collated and summarized using statistical tools such as tables and figures. The study revealed that lecturer turnover adversely affected students’ preparation towards examination. 90 per cent of the students sampled stated that when lecturers resigned in the middle of the semester their preparation towards exams was adversely affected. The study found that turnover did not always result in the decline of students’ performance. It is therefore recommended that to effectively deal with turnover of lecturers when they occur, educational institutions must always find very efficient lecturers as replacement so the performance of the students is not adversely affected.
As globalisation catches up with countries and its attendant competition, organisations need to be competitive, staying competitive means devising strategies to outwit the competitors. [
Today’s business environment has become very competitive thus making skilled labour the major differentiating factor for most organisations. Organisations―both public and private―rely on the expertise of their employees in order to compete favourably and indeed gain competitive advantage in the international market. However, recent studies have shown that retention of highly skilled employees has become a difficult task for managers as this category of employees are being attracted by more than one organisation at a time with various kinds of incentives [
The current study seeks to investigate whether labour turnover is a good predictor of organisations’ performance using Accra Polytechnic as a case study.
Employee turnover is now an issue that has come to stay with organisations, almost every organisation has employee turnover problems. [
Accra polytechnic has had its own share of labour turnover problems. What makes it worse for Accra Polytechnic is that after sponsoring its teaching staff for further studies, other organisations poach them. This problem has persisted for several years hence the need to conduct this study to determine the effect this has on the performance of Accra Polytechnic. Organisations invest a lot in their employees in terms of induction and training, developing, maintaining and retaining them in their organisation. Therefore, managers at all costs must minimize employee’s turnover so that their investments in employees will translate to improved performance.
The main objective of the study is to find out whether lecturer turnover affects students’ performance in Accra Polytechnic.
Both stratified and random sampling technique was employed in selecting one hundred (100) students of Accra Polytechnic for the study. The students were selected from ten (10) departments. Also the stratified sampling technique was used to select ten (10) students from their each department comprising five (5) from second year class and third year class to make up the total of one hundred students. Age range―range in itself consider the difference between the highest and lowest value (and in this case, highest age-lowest age). Mean age―mean talks about average of some item and this can be obtained by summing the ages of students under study and dividing it by number of students under study mathematically.
Gender distribution―gender is qualitative in nature hence non-numeric but does not follow any order (nominal scale) therefore, gender entails either a male or female, hence in questionnaires number are assigned to them to make it quantitative.
Primary data for the study was collected using questionnaires to solicit their responses from students on the effects of lecturer turnover on their performance whereas secondary data such as records and number of lecturers in various departments was obtained from the Human Resource Department of the Polytechnic. Descriptive statistical tools were employed in the analysis. The responses were collated, analysed and used in identifying trends across all three survey areas. Measures of central tendencies were used to analyse the responses and related them to lecturer turnover and students’ performance. The questionnaire is in parts: Section A, consider the demographic aspect of the population. Demographic are quantifiable characteristic of a given population (such as age, gender, education, nationality). Section B considers main aim of the study, and in the case lecturer turnover and students performance’’. Hence, there are 8 questions in this section. Section A, consider type of respondents under this study and Section B wants to know the depth (perception) of the respondents.
Result from the analysis of the questionnaire indicates that 47 per cent of the students sampled for the study believe that when lecturers resign their motivation to learn are adversely affected. 21 per cent of the students suggested they neither agree nor disagree with the assertion that when lecturers resign their motivation to learn is affected. Some 32 per cent of the respondents were also of the view that lecturer resignation has no effect on their motivation. None of the respondents, however chose strongly agree or strongly disagree (
when lecturers resign and new ones are appointed it takes time for the students to adjust to the new lecturer. Another 29 per cent of the students agree with the statement and 11 per cent of the students stated they neither agree nor disagree. 21 per cent of the students disagreed that when lecturers resign it takes time for them to adjust to the new lecturer appointed and only 10 per cent of the students strongly disagreed with the statement. It is clear from the analysis that majority of the students belief, lecturer resignation adversely affect the performance of students as it becomes very difficult for them to adjust to the new lecturer who takes over. This is in conformity with the findings of [
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Analysis of the questionnaire revealed that 29 per cent of the students strongly agreed that when lecturers resign and new lecturers are appointed it takes time for the new lecturers to adjust to the system. 32 per cent of the students agreed with the statement, 9 per cent of the students neither agreed nor disagreed and 10 per cent disagreed. 30 per cent of the students strongly disagreed with the assertion. The implication is that newly appointed lecturers are not as effective as those who leave (
initially lack essential knowledge and skills to implement unfamiliar instructional programme and must be given time to find to acquaint themselves with the requirement of their new position. The initial stage of the appointment therefore retards the progress of the students’ performance. It can therefore be concluded that because newly appointed lecturers are unable adjust to the system immediately they are employed, any lecturer turnover that warrants appointing new lecturer is inimical to students’ performance.
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It can also be concluded from the study that lecturer turnover has the adverse effect on the performance of students. Students’ morale and motivation to learn fall with lecturer turnover as well as adversely affecting their preparation towards examination especially when lecturers resign in the middle of the semester.
It is clear from the study that lecturer turnover adversely affects performance of students; however, if the exiting lecturers are replaced with more efficient lecturers the performance of the students is likely to improve. It is
therefore recommended that to effectively deal with turnover of lecturers when they occur, educational institutions must always find very efficient lecturers as replacement so the performance of the students is not adversely affected.
H. Hammond,F. Kutsanedzie, (2015) Lecturer Turnover and Its Effect on the Performance of Students: A Case Study of Accra Polytechnic. Open Access Library Journal,02,1-8. doi: 10.4236/oalib.1101933