Аннотация:
Technical and vocational education and training (TVET) in Kazakhstan is currently viewed
as one of the most important sectors of the educational system since it prepares sufficiently
skilled and trained individuals who will work in the rapidly changing knowledge economy.
This educational sector has also hugely expanded because of changes that have occurred in
the national economic structure and a concurrent lack of skilled and qualified workers. Due
to the massive expansion of TVET colleges, the demand for teachers and instructors has
risen. However, this demand cannot be met because of an undersupply of new TVET
instructors and the difficulties involved in not only recruiting teachers to the profession,
but retaining them as well. This study is aimed at exploring those factors, as perceived by
college instructors, that have the greatest influence on teachers’ decisions to either continue
their career in TVET or to depart. To address the research question, a qualitative research
design was used by conducting semi-structured interviews with eleven instructors working
at a TVET college in Kazakhstan. This study employed maximum variation sampling in
order to select participants purposefully among TVET instructors working at this college
and to explore the problem from different perspectives. Diversity was obtained by
choosing participants who differ in terms of gender, years of experience, previous
workplaces and disciplines they teach. The findings revealed that organizational factors
such as salary, workload, administrative support, collegiality, professional opportunities
and autonomy are significant factors that could influence instructors’ retention. The study
concluded by suggesting some recommendations for policy makers and college
administrators to enable them to prevent high rates of faculty turnover in TVET.