Teachers' Perception Of The Impact Of Teacher Shortages And Teacher Turnover On Secondary School Students' Academic Performance In Benue State, Nigeria

The study investigated impact of teacher shortages and teacher turnover on students' academic performance in schools, in Benue State, Nigeria. Two research questions and one hypothesis guided the study. The study utilised the descriptive survey design selecting a sample of 110 secondary school teachers was selected through random sampling technique. The instrument of the study was developed by two experts. A reliability index of 0.81 was determined through Cronbach alpha statistics. Data analysis was conducted using means and standard deviations to answer research questions, while t-test was used to test null hypothesis at 0.05 level of significance. The findings of the study showed that both teacher shortages and teacher turnover have negative impact on students' academic performance in schools, in Benue State. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended that school organizations and managements should encourage the retention of high quality teachers through improvements in schools as work places, the school organizations and managements should ensure equitable distribution of high-quality teachers to fill shortages concentrated in schools educating high number of economically disadvantaged students in rural schools, and in special education as well as science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) courses.