INFLUENCE OF TEACHERS DISTRIBUTION ON TEACHERS RETENTION IN PUBLIC PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN BAYELSA STATE, NIGERIA

The study investigated the influence of teachers distribution on teachers retention in public primary schools in Bayelsa state. The study adopted the ex-post facto research design. The population of the study was made up of was the 5322 teachers distributed to the 539 public primary schools in the eight local government areas of Bayelsa state. The sample of the study was 428 teachers representing 7%. The instruments for data collection include a check list and a questionnaire. The data collected were analyzed using percentages, mean and standard deviation which were used to determine level of teachers distribution and retention. While the z- test was used to test the hypothesis at 0.05 level of significance. Findings from the study revealed that teachers were properly distributed among urban schools but poorly distributed among rural schools. Research questions 2 answered for both urban and rural schools showed average mean scores well above the bench mark of 2.50 indicating ways teachers distribution influence teachers retention. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended among others that government of Bayelsa State should ensure that equity is maintained in the distribution of primary school teachers to promote teachers retention government of Bayelsa State should map out effective strategies that could help to monitor teachers distribution especially in rural primary schools for their retention and should provide better remuneration packages that would help to boost teachers retention in rural primary schools.