Teacher migration to Botswana: causes and implications for Human Resource Management in education

Abstract

Botswana has been a host country to migrant teachers from various countries and regions of the world for many years. This paper reports on the migration motives that prompted teachers from four countries to move to Botswana to work in junior and senior secondary schools, and their attitudes towards human resource management (HRM) policies and practices in these schools. The teachers completed an 87-item questionnaire which measured four dimensions of migration push-pull factors, and HRM policy and practice issues. Multiple factors were revealed, linked to economic issues, personal circumstances, community and school-related conditions in both the home and host countries. However, the influence of each factor is related to migrants’ gender and countries of origin. As a follow-up to the above, a small, qualitative investigation was conducted. The reactions of five Botswana school managers to the HRM issues raised in the first phase were investigated by means of interviews. The results reveal the unique challenges of a diversified workforce for HRM in these schools.