Teacher Retention in Private Schools: A Narrative Inquiry into Principals’ Leadership

Abstract

This study, conducted to explore teacher retention in private schools through a narrative inquiry into principals' leadership, reflects principals’ experiences of helping teachers remain in their schools and how teachers narrate their stories regarding their retention. Here, I have attempted to identify the contributing dimensions that lead to teacher attrition or motivate them to continue their service. Adopting an interpretivist paradigm, I used a narrative inquiry method to explore the intricate dynamics of teacher retention through subjective expressions as a qualitative research method, where I interpreted the narratives through the theory of transformational leadership, relational leadership, and Herzberg's Two-Factor motivational theory. The study stood for multiple realities as an ontological stance, where the knowledge was gained through the interpretation of interviews as an epistemological stance, and there was a value-laden axiology that valued the participants' voices. The data was collected through semi-structured interviews with six principals and three teachers selected intentionally from private schools in Bharatpur Metropolitan, Chitwan District, Nepal. The collected data or narratives were analyzed to identify leadership approaches and challenges for teacher retention. The study reveals that teacher retention also depends on the principal’s leadership approach in Nepalese private schools. It is the principal’s relationship and approach to teachers that motivates teachers to work for the long term, being emotionally and professionally attached to the organization. Hence, the principal’s role goes beyond administrative functions to emotionally support, give valued recognition, and manage professional growth of teachers. The narratives of the participants demonstrated that the leaders who followed transformational leadership and relational leadership could effectively retaining teachers because they focused on inspiration, trust-building, and empowerment emphasizing meaningful relationships and psychological safety. The narratives also reflect that the effective principal's leadership aligns with Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory and Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, keeping balance in the hygiene factors with motivational ones and addressing layers of human needs. Critiquing the transactional leadership model, this study postulates another insight that intrinsic motivators are more important than extrinsic factors in teacher retention. As a concluding insight, the study reveals that teacher retention can only be effectively achieved through a human-centric leadership approach. For this, the leadership has to address teachers' evolving needs and expectations. Every teacher expects to get respected and dignified recognition in the organization and opportunities for their professional growth, along with basic financial requirements. So, the leadership that fosters empathy, builds relational trust, and understands cultural sensitivity can emotionally attach teachers to their organization, and they have a sense of ownership towards the organization. This helps teachers to be motivated to continue their service. School administrators and policymakers can use the findings of this study as references to enhance teacher retention and improve educational quality in private schools in Nepal. It also offers practical human-centric leadership approaches that enrich leadership literature, enriched with culturally contextualized leadership models.