Correlates of Teacher Transfer in Rural Schools: A Case Study of Rural Primary Schools in Choma District

Inadequate teachers in rural schools of Zambia is a serious impediment toward equitable and universal access to education. The aim of the study was to determine correlates of human resource transfer in rural primary schools of Zambia in particularly focusing on Choma District of Southern Province. An explanatory factorial was employed enlisting 144 teachers from 10 schools in Choma. Data was analysed using SPSS version 22. Exploratory factor analysis was the main analytic technique. The main findings are that more than three quarters n = 97 (76.4%) of the teachers are unlikely to make a transfer request when compared to only a quarter n = 30 (23.6%) who would not. There is no significant association between likelihood of asking for a transfer based on gender, level of education and age of the teacher. One sample t tests result showed that males and females differed significantly in the asking behaviour. The standard acceptable score for propensity for asking for a transfer was set a priori at ≥ 45. Moreover, male teachers scored significantly higher (µ = 47) and were willing to remain in rural Choma when compared to females (µ = 45.1) who scored lower and were unwilling to remain in rural Choma. Out of fifteen factors that were analysed, only six factors were retained. The regression model shows 48% of the variation and transfer asking behaviour can be explained by the independent variables. The remaining 52 % of the variance is explained by other variables not included in this study. Based on the result the model is fair even though the model indicates that one regressor out of six do influence propensity of transfer asking behaviour in Choma as the p vales is ≤ 0.05 of the ideal α values. Key Words: Correlates, Teacher Transfer, Rural, Primary Schools. DOI: 10.7176/JEP/16-13-12 Publication date: December 30th 2025