PSYCHOLOGICAL EMPOWERMENT, WORK ENGAGEMENT AND PAY SATISFACTION: A PATH MODEL ON RETENTION AMONG SECONDARY SCHOOL TEACHERS

: In this study, psychological empowerment, work engagement, and pay satisfaction were used to estimate the best fit model for teacher retention at the Department of Education in Region XII. The study employed quantitative research design using path analysis and correlational approach which are under non-experimental research design. Using the stratified random sampling technique, the 400 secondary teachers from the divisions of South Cotabato, Koronadal, General Santos, and Sarangani were identified. The statistical tools that were used in interpreting the data were weighted mean, Pearson r correlation coefficient, and path analysis. Additionally, survey questions that had been adjusted, changed, and validated were employed. The outcome demonstrates the extremely high degree of psychological empowerment among secondary educators. Teachers also exhibit high levels of work engagement. Nonetheless, secondary teachers have a poor degree of salary satisfaction. As a result, secondary teachers have a high rate of teacher retention. Additionally, the results indicated that pay satisfaction was substantially connected with teacher retention when each independent variable was examined in relation to teacher retention. Additionally, there was a strong correlation between teacher retention and psychological empowerment. The best fit model for predicting teacher retention is model 3. According to the model, among secondary school teachers in Region XII, psychological empowerment and pay satisfaction are predictive factors of teacher retention.


Introduction
Teacher retention, the imperative of skilled educators worldwide is vital for the stability and effectiveness of educational systems.While some teachers leave for positive reasons like career advancement or alignment with principles, the increasing concern lies in educators departing due to negative factors such as stress, workload, and challenging student behavior (Towers & Maguire, 2019).
Additionally, the ability of the education sector to achieve its strategic objectives depends on teacher retention.The pupils are significantly impacted when skilled staff members leave.When organizational leaders invest excessive time, money, and energy in finding new teachers, especially when those employed lack the requisite skill set, they squander valuable resources.Education is negatively impacted by a number of hidden costs associated with employee turnover, including reduced productivity, talent drain, and low morale among surviving staff members (Arasanmi & Krishna, 2019;Singh, 2019;Surange, 2020).
On the other hand, stress and workload are without a doubt, common factors that may lead to low teacher retention and high teacher attrition or turnover.Teachers confront "regular and cumulative difficulties," in contrast to most professionals who occasionally experience crises.As a result, teachers are more likely to encounter "unstable, fluctuated, personal, situational, and professional scenarios" in schools that are socioeconomically challenged.Since teachers put in a lot of work during the school year, there is less time for personal and professional life balance (Worth & Van Den Brande, 2019).
Unexpectedly, a significant problem facing the global education sector is staff turnover.In fact, an organization's management has long had serious concerns about the analysis of employee turnover intentions.Turnover is a significant problem for education in the fiercely competitive global market of today.It was discovered that a frequent problem of the Ministry of Education is the phenomenon of personnel turnover.The company's performance and profits will be affected.Conversely, high employee turnover increases the risk of losing quality employees.Because competent and valuable people are essential to an organization's profits and performance, employers place great importance on retaining them.In addition, employee turnover is always an important issue in organizational management (Hom, Allen & Griffeth, 2019;Perryman & Calvert, 2020).
Additionally, with current employee attitudes and changing times, the toughest challenge for organizations is retaining top talent (valuable employees).If employees are not satisfied with these efforts, they have the right to leave.As a result, voluntary job retention is the result of mutual satisfaction between employee and employer.Given the critical importance of talent retention as a strategic tool to ensure superior performance, it remains at the top of any organization's agenda (Kumar & Arora, 2019;Masibigiri & Nienaber, 2020;Narayanan, Rajithakumar & Menon, 2019).
Globally, teacher attrition is a recurrent issue.Every year, hundreds of thousands of teachers in the United States-up to as many as 8% of the total teaching workforceleave the field for a variety of reasons.In addition to Europe, Hong Kong, and Australia, this tendency can also be seen in North America, where 40% to 50% of new and beginning teachers quit their jobs during the first five years of their careers.This problem, together with the discovery that fewer young people are choosing to work in education, implies that schools, their local districts, and leaders must find strategies to keep both young and capable teachers (Taylor & West, 2020).
On the other hand, another important factor that encourages teachers to stay in the department is leadership.They argue that leadership is important in meeting staff needs and that leaders must communicate with teachers about their needs, likes, and dislikes.Employees are ready to leave as soon as they feel their values are incompatible with their employer's values.Additionally, continuing to develop leadership skills from the top down is essential when people leave their leaders instead of their jobs.Employers must focus their efforts on retaining their highest-performing employees to thrive in today's economy (Alhmoud & Rjoub, 2019;Cran, 2019;Finocchiaro, 2022;Daudi, 2021).
According to a study conducted in the American education sector, retention becomes difficult and employee disengagement becomes more likely if managers disregard their personal lives and hobbies.Overwork and responsibilities negatively affect retention and personal life.Additionally, it has been found that non-work-related problems including workplace stress, burnout, and sporadic working interfere with the necessary Work-Life Balance and negatively affect retention (Banerjee, 2019;Li, Lee, Mitchell, Hom & Griffeth, 2016;Nasir, Ashraf & Riaz, 2019).
On the other hand, Bake's (2019) empirical research shows that employee engagement (personal interactions, knowledge sharing, and responsible behavior) has a beneficial impact on employee retention.Employee involvement in job design and personal development planning can improve performance.When employers step in, it will be difficult for workers to quit and find another job.Integrated employees have high levels of engagement and job satisfaction.
Consequently, according to research carried out by Doherty (2020), 13% of the millions of public-school teachers either relocate or quit each year.Additionally, young teachers (less than 30 years old) could leave public schools.Within the first five years of teaching, 40 to 50 percent of new teachers resign.Additionally, first-year teacher retention rates have been rising significantly over the past contemporary eras.In order to urge the teachers to continue working for the Department of Education, the organization must address the problems and issues they are now facing.
Although it was not possible to conclude that employee engagement alone would aid in employee retention, the theoretical section's study of the notions of employee engagement and retention and the questionnaire's results do indicate a relationship between the two.The instance company's status is generally good, according to the employee questionnaire findings, but there are still certain areas that require attention.
Based on the best practices described in the thesis, recommendations were made to the company to solve these challenges (Alo, 2019;Irabor & Okolie, 2019).
Aside from this, the findings of the study on the relationship between employee empowerment, capacity development, and promotion and employee retention in Pakistan's education sector, which looks at the function and effects of these three factors in employee retention, indicated that these factors were related to employee retention.The banking industry was chosen since it is the foundation of any nation's economic expansion (Ibrahim, Ali & Zumrah, 2019;Sheraz, Batool & Adnan, 2019).
However, an analysis of the relationship between pay satisfaction and employee engagement and turnover has shown that one important aspect that may help firms retain their competent workforce longer is employee satisfaction.Studies on the function as a mediator between the former and the latter are very scarce, even though research has demonstrated a negative relationship between pay satisfaction and employees' intention to leave.The contribution of this research is to theoretically conceive the function of employee engagement as a mediator between voluntary turnover and pay satisfaction.Based on the social exchange theory, it is proposed that when workers are satisfied with their compensation, they will grow to feel valued and treated fairly.This will have a favorable impact on their attitudes and behaviors, leading to high levels of engagement.As a result, highly motivated workers are less likely to participate in voluntary movements.Additionally, suggestions for additional research are made (Alias, Zailan, Jahya, Othman & Sahiq, 2019;Rohani, & Mumtaz, 2019;Taha & Esenyel, 2019).
Numerous studies have been done on the subject of employee retention in the business sector.For example, one study found that losing talented employees can have a significant negative financial impact on companies.Organizational leaders squander valuable resources when they overinvest time, cash, and effort in finding replacement staff members, particularly when such hires lack the requisite skill set.A corporation might suffer from several hidden costs associated with employee turnover, including reduced productivity, skill depletion, and low morale among surviving staff members (Arasanmi & Krishna, 2019).
On the other hand, another study found that employee retention is one of the most difficult challenges facing HR professionals today.Organizations continually challenge HR departments to find new ways to reduce employee turnover.According to a 1999 Walker Information survey, 33% of employees in the US plan to change jobs in the next two years, and only 42% of them believe their current employer is worthy of their loyalty.These figures indicate a significant challenge for organizations seeking to retain key employees.Human resource professionals are responsible for recruiting, retaining, and developing quality employees (Sawaneh & Kamara, 2019).There are only limited studies conducted regarding employee retention in the case of the education sector.Thus, this study should be conducted as this could provide a clear description of the teacherretention issues in the context of the public schools in the Department of Education.
Despite their permanent employment position with the Department, certain workers of the Department of Education submitted resignation letters to the Department of Education Regional Office XII.A portion of these educators were employed as educators abroad, while others were attempting to investigate career options beyond their department.No study has been conducted to determine the causes of employee retention in the Ministry of Education, Region XII.Therefore, the objective of this work is to determine the most suitable model in terms of retention of secondary school teachers by the regional Ministry of Education, Office XII.
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the level of psychological empowerment among secondary school teachers in terms of meaning, competence, determination, and influence.It also sought to discover the predictive model of teacher retention in Department of Education Region XII.In terms of zeal, devotion, and absorption, this rated the teachers' level of work engagement.The degree of pay satisfaction among secondary teachers was also ascertained by this survey, with respect to level, benefits, raises, and administration or structure.Fourth, this study examined the degree of teacher retention with respect to human resource policy, pay and benefits, and management interactions.Fifth, the study also established a strong correlation between psychological empowerment and teacher retention.Sixth, this determined the importance of the connection between engagement at work and retention.Seventh, this also revealed a strong correlation between pay satisfaction and retention.In the end, this identified the best fit model for Region XII's teacher retention predictions.
In addition, the null hypotheses of the study were tested at the 0.05 significance level.Specifically, it was hypothesized that there would be no significant relationship between empowerment and psychological retention, nor between job engagement and retention and salary satisfaction and retention.Finally, it was hypothesized that there would be no best-fit model to predict public secondary teacher retention in Region XII.The basis of this investigation is the human capital hypothesis.This is the basic idea of linking the mediating and dependent variables to the independent components as highlighted in Human capital theory (Becker, DeGroot, and Marschak 1964;Tsang, Rumberger, and Levine 1991) includes the following conceptual framework.
According to the human capital theory of Becker, DeGroot, and Marschak (1964), it can be inferred that the methods used by employees are negatively correlated with turnover.Furthermore, if firms attempt to internalize employment without investing in employee development, human capital theory predicts that they may do so.However, firms will probably be able to acquire these skills from the labor market if employee productivity does not outweigh investment costs.To determine whether to internalize or externalize employment, it is helpful to compare the estimated returns on worker productivity.Furthermore, a supporting hypothesis in this study is the efficiency wage theories that were highlighted and proposed by Becker, DeGroot, and Marschak (1964) in the human capital theory to explain pay practices and turnover.These arguments support the notion that paying employees more lowers employee turnover.As was already mentioned, order word pay practices have a negative correlation with turnover.
Furthermore, Fredrick Herzberg's 1950s theory-which held that two thingshygiene and motivators-are necessary for job satisfaction-provides additional evidence.Herzberg's theory states that while poor sanitation cannot motivate workers, it can lessen dissatisfaction if handled correctly.This study uses two variables to examine the topic of hygiene: supervision and pay practices, or salary.HRM practice defines supervisions as actions like being insensitive to others, not wanting to work as a team, being conceited, having poor dispute resolution skills, not meeting company goals, and finding it difficult to adjust during a change transition (Noe, 2015).
Last but not least, Herzberg's Two Factors Theory (1959) offers additional evidence.It suggests that management should consider both internal and extrinsic factors when assessing a successful strategy for keeping personnel in a company.The elements of HR procedures are either directly or indirectly connected to the satisfy/motivator and dissatisfy/hygiene proposed by Herzberg.Exogenous and endogenous variables are the two categories of latent constructs included in the proposed model.In this study, psychological empowerment, work engagement, and pay satisfaction are the exogenous variables.Conversely, Teacher Retention is the study's endogenous variable.The aforementioned variables cannot be directly measured because they are not immediately observed.Every latent construct had several observable variables or measurements linked with it.Therefore, one of the main goals of this study was to determine the amount of regression routes from the latent variable to the observed variables.
Conversely, psychological empowerment is one of the variables in this study.There are four (4) markers for this variable: impact, meaning, competence, and selfdetermination.These metrics assessed the instructors' level of empowerment as they carried out their assigned tasks and responsibilities in their stations.Depending on the outcomes of the upcoming survey, it would also determine whether or not the department's teachers have authority.These metrics assessed the department's level of empowerment, which encouraged instructors to continue their employment with the Department of Education (Rodríguez & Korshenko, 2013).
Additionally, work involvement is an additional variable.This assessed the level of engagement that Department of Education instructors had in their work as educators.Three (3) signs make up this variable: vitality, devotion, and absorption.This variable would assess the degree of engagement that teachers had with the Department of Education over their tenure, which led to their continued employment there (Drake, 2012).
Pay satisfaction is therefore another factor.This was done with the intention of ascertaining the Department of Education's level of satisfaction with teacher compensation.Four indicators make up this variable: rise, level, benefits, and structure or administration.This variable would assess the teachers' contentment with their monthly pay, as well as any additional financial advantages and incentives they may be receiving from the department (Heneman & Schwab, 1985).
Moreover, the last variable in this study is teacher retention.This variable has three indicators: human resource policies, compensation and benefits, and relations with the manager.This measured the level of employee retention among the Secondary Teachers in the Department of Education Region XII.By conducting this survey, the teachers' retention in the teaching profession was measured (Theron, 2015).
On the other hand, conducting this study would benefit the department of education, learners, school leaders, teachers and future researchers.The Department of Education may benefit from this study because they can think of attainable strategies to encourage teacher retention.Also, the learners could benefit from this study because there will be possibilities that their teachers who are planning to leave the teaching profession will also be retained.On the other hand, the school leaders may also think of school-based interventions to help the teachers who are planning to leave the department and seek better opportunities outside the department of education.

Material and Methods
The Department of Education, Regional Office XII, which includes 16, 708 Public Secondary Teachers in the Region who meet the eligibility requirements to be study participants, served as the sample for this research.But just 400 responses in all were included in this.The following are the respondent breakdowns: Koronadal City (32), South Cotabato (148), General Santos City (99), and Sarangani (121).Specifically, the study was conducted during the first quarter of 2023-2024 and the fourth quarter of 2022-2023 academic years.
A stratified random sample technique was employed to determine the number of participants for each group.Population strata, or smaller groupings, must be established in order to carry out stratified random sampling.The strata in stratified random sampling, also known as stratification, are established according to common attributes or member characteristics, including educational attainment or income.Random proportional or random quota sampling is often commonly referred to as stratified random sampling (Hayes, 2020).In addition, requirements for inclusion were created so that the participants may be considered research respondents.Teachers must be employed by public secondary schools, have permanent status in the Department of Education, and hold item positions I through IV for master teachers and I through III for teachers.They may also be any gender as long as they can respond to the quiz.Reliable information about psychological empowerment, work engagement, pay satisfaction, and teacher retention was anticipated by the respondents.Conversely, teachers who held head teacher positions, retired or resigned from the Department of Education, or came from private schools were not included as responses.
Four instruments that were developed in accordance with the research problem were used in this investigation.Primary data were used in the study, which is broken down into four sections: psychological empowerment, work engagement, pay satisfaction, and teacher retention.The survey instruments utilized in this investigation were derived from other related studies.A modification of the psychological empowerment questionnaire by Rodríguez Delgado and Korshenko was created (2013).Furthermore, the questionnaires on job engagement and pay satisfaction were adapted from Drake (2012) and Heneman III and Schwab (1985), respectively.Not to mention, Kethan's teacher retention questionnaire was updated in 2022.
The thumb rule proposed by Gliem and Gliem (2003) states that a result is categorized as excellent if it is 0.9 or higher, good if it is 0.8 or higher, acceptable if it is 0.7 or higher, questionable if it is 0.6 or higher, poor if it is 0.5 or higher, and unacceptable if it is less than 0.5.Santos (1999) further states that a score between 0.80 and 0.90 is considered extremely good.The other variable's Cronbach alpha for this survey instrument is 0.92, while the first variable's is 0.97.Moreover, the instruments' high reliability and validity are demonstrated by the third variable's Cronbach's alpha of 0.91 and the other variables of 0.84.
Below are the scales that were used to interpret the means of variables of this study: Secondary school teachers exhibit exceptionally high levels of psychological empowerment, work engagement, pay satisfaction, and retention when their scores fall between 4.20 and 5.00.Their range of 3.40-4.19indicates their high levels of psychological empowerment, work engagement, pay satisfaction, and retention.In addition, the teachers exhibit a moderate level of psychological empowerment, work engagement, pay satisfaction, and retention, all falling between 2.60 and 3.39.Furthermore, the range of 1.80-2.59indicates low levels of psychological empowerment, work engagement, pay satisfaction, and retention.Lastly, the range of 1.00-1.79indicates rather low levels of psychological empowerment, work engagement, pay satisfaction, and retention.
To find the best model that predicts teacher retention in the Department of Education, Region XII, the researcher used a non-experimental research design that combined path modeling and descriptive-correlational research design.Nonexperimental research designs are any quantitative investigations that go beyond basic descriptive research and are interested in evaluating relationships.The relationship or correlation between the two is investigated when there is a systematic variation in one variable, either directly or indirectly (Thompson & Panacek, 2020).
In contrast, path modeling is a statistical method that looks for and evaluates correlations between a collection of observed variables.Multiple direct and indirect correlations between variables can be studied simultaneously with path analysis (Valenzuela & Bachmann, 2017).However, the following procedures were taken in order to collect the pertinent data for this study.

Results and Discussion
The study's results are presented in this section.The degree of psychological empowerment, work engagement, pay satisfaction, and teacher retention are all discussed in the first section.On the other hand, the second part presents the significant relationship between psychological empowerment, work engagement, pay satisfaction and teacher retention.Lastly, the third part presents the different Path Models for teacher retention in the Department of Education, Region XII.

Psychological Empowerment
The level of psychological empowerment is displayed in Table 1 together with the following indicators: impact, meaning, competence, and self-determination.The combined mean of the four indicators was 4.36, which is considered very high.This indicates that there is broad agreement among secondary educators regarding their psychological empowerment.Meaning received the highest mean of 4.59 out of the four indicators, which is considered extremely high.This indicates that there is broad agreement among secondary educators regarding their psychological empowerment in terms of meaning.However, competence scored a mean of 4.40, which is considered exceptionally high.This indicates that a majority of secondary educators firmly believe they possess psychological empowerment in terms of competence.Furthermore, the mean for self-determination was 4.28, indicating a very high level.This indicates that secondary educators really believe they possess psychological empowerment in terms of willpower.Finally, impact received a mean score of 4.19, which is considered high.This indicates that the secondary educators concur that their psychological influence has given them greater power.Based on the results, it can be concluded that secondary teachers in Region XII have a very high level of psychological empowerment.This suggests that educators do have psychological clout in their particular institutions.Additionally, meaning was the indicator with the highest mean, indicating that teachers strongly agreed that they value their work, work on projects that have personal significance for them, make sure that decisions they make at work align with their standards and beliefs, take responsibility for the results of their work, and guarantee that the work's purpose is related to their standards and values.The indicator with the lowest mean was impact.It means that the public-school teachers agree that they can influence on service delivery process, make their opinions count in organizational decision-making, largely influence on the quality of service, contribute to the company's overall goals and strategies, and make decisions that are significant for the organizational performance.The findings of Shqerat (2022) are supported by the results of this investigation, which show that the psychological empowerment of faculty members at work is incredibly high, which has raised their level of overall job satisfaction.The study's outcome was consistent with the Department of Education's research, which revealed that public secondary school teachers in Region XIII have a high degree of psychological empowerment.

Work Engagement
The three measures of secondary school teachers' work engagement-vigor, devotion, and absorption-are displayed in Table 2.The results showed that the three indicators produced an overall mean of 4.03, which was deemed to be very high.This indicates that the secondary school teachers concur that their work at the Department of Education is fulfilling them.Dedication yielded the highest mean of 4.31 of the three categories, meaning it is considered Very High.This indicates that the educators firmly believe that they have a passion for what they do.Vigor, on the other hand, has a weighted mean of 3.99, which is considered high.Last but not least, absorption reached a mean of 3.78, which is considered high.The outcome also suggests that the secondary educators in Region XII of the Department of Education have a high level of engagement with their jobs.The findings indicate that instructors are strongly committed to their work and have a high level of engagement.
Teachers in public secondary schools unanimously state that they find their work to be meaningful and purposeful, that it inspires them, that it makes them proud of what they do, and that it challenges them in a way that is constructive.The results were consistent with those of Bakker and Bal (2021), who found that engaged workers-who seem to spread their energy and uplift colleagues with their optimism and enthusiasm-have higher levels of vigor, absorption, and devotion in their work.The results of this study corroborate the finding that public secondary school teachers in Region XII have high levels of work engagement.

Pay Satisfaction
The pay satisfaction of secondary school teachers in Region XII is displayed in Table 3.It is worth noting that the general mean of 3.12 indicates a low level of pay satisfaction among these teachers.This suggests that there is dissatisfaction among the teachers regarding their compensation.Conversely, the level, benefits, and increased satisfaction of secondary teachers are low, with a mean of 2.93, 3.18, and 3.19, respectively, and an overall standard deviation of 0.860.Additionally, with a mean score of 3.21, the instructors' pay satisfaction with regard to structure or administration is moderate.Regarding structure or administration, the teachers' satisfaction with their compensation is moderate.Thus, the public secondary school teachers in the Department of Education Region XII's level of pay satisfaction is low.This finding indicates that the level, perks, and increase of secondary school teachers in Region XII are not highly satisfying.Teachers in public secondary schools dispute that their take-home pay, present income, overall pay grade, and current salary amount are satisfactory.Conversely, the instructors contest that they are content with their benefits package, the amount the department covers, the worth of their benefits, and the quantity of benefits they obtain.The instructors also contest that they are happy with the rises they received most recently, the raises they have generally received in the past, the influence their supervisor has over their salary, or the process by which their raises are decided.It should be mentioned, nonetheless, that teachers are only somewhat satisfied with their remuneration in terms of administration or structure.This data strongly backs Kandaiya's (2019) recommendation that the government should keep asking teachers about their financial status, level of occupational stress, satisfaction with their jobs, and performance reviews.The findings showed that teachers are not very satisfied with their remuneration, particularly with regard to raises and levels.The main finding of this research-that public secondary school teachers in Region XII are dissatisfied with their salary-is supported by Kandaiya's study, which also reveals that the teacher respondents' degree of pay satisfaction is poor.

Teacher Retention
Table 4 displays the level of teacher retention among secondary school educators with respect to HR regulations, pay and benefits, and management interactions.Table 4 demonstrates the high retention rate of secondary teachers, with an overall mean of 3.44 and an overall standard deviation of 0.722.With a mean of 3.47 and 3.83 for the policies pertaining to human resources and manager relations, respectively, there is a high level of retention.However, with a mean of 3.03, the retention rate for secondary teachers in terms of pay and benefits is only moderate.The outcome also suggests that when considering human resource policies and relationships with managers or supervisors, a large percentage of secondary teachers intend to remain with the Department of Education.In terms of pay and perks, their plans to remain in the department are, nevertheless, at a moderate level.This indicates that the department's teachers are only slightly in agreement that their pay is commensurate with that of other employees at the same level, that there are sufficient benefits for both teachers and staff, that post-retirement benefits are prioritized, that there are sufficient rewards for good performance, and that teachers who perform well are awarded trips abroad.
The results of this study corroborate those of Perryman and Calvert's (2020) study, which found that teachers had a high degree of job retention.But the most often mentioned reason for quitting, or planning to leave, was workload.Therefore, it is necessary to monitor teachers' workloads in order to prevent teacher attrition in the future.

Correlations between Psychological Empowerment and Teacher Retention
Examining whether there is a significant correlation between psychological empowerment and teacher retention is one of the goals of this study.Therefore, Table 5 shows how psychological empowerment and teacher retention are significantly correlated.The null hypothesis may be said to be rejected with an overall computed rvalue of 0.303 at a significance level of 0.05 and a probability level of 0.000.Consequently, there is a strong correlation between the psychological empowerment of secondary teachers and their retention.In particular, there is a substantial association between all the psychological empowerment indicators and the teacher retention indicators, with the exception of the indicators of meaning and compensation and benefits.Therefore, it should be noted that there is no significant correlation between meaning and salary and benefits, with the calculated r-value of 0.491 being higher than the p-value of 0.05.The statistics also demonstrate that there is a positive association between psychological empowerment and retention.Among the four variables of psychological empowerment, self-determination earned the highest computed r-value of 0.322, followed by impact, competence, and meaning with computed r-values of 0.300, 0.250, and 0.193, respectively.This confirms the theory given in this study and is in consonance with the research of Sharma, Gupta, and Sharma (2019) which suggests that that there is a relationship between employee empowerment and teacher retention.It was also found out that autonomy is a crucial aspect that helps toward employee retention, and it has been found that many characteristics of employee empowerment have a favorable association with employees' retention in the education sector.Elements such as self-determination and significance have a major relevance to the plan of the teachers to keep working in the organization.

Relationship between Levels of Work Engagement and Teacher Retention
Table 6 illustrates the strong relationship between work engagement levels and teacher retention.Because the p-value is 0.00, which is less than 0.05, and the overall r-value is 0.398, as the table shows, the null hypothesis is rejected.As a result, work engagement and teacher retention are strongly correlated.Since every work engagement indicator has a p-value less than 0.05, it is also possible to infer from the results that all work engagement indicators and teacher retention indicators are positively correlated.With an r-value of 0.387, dedication has the highest work engagement metric.Conversely, vigor received an r-value of 0.306 and absorption an r-value of 0.364.The results indicate a noteworthy correlation between work engagement and teacher retention, which lends weight to the hypotheses discussed in the study, including the human capital theory.Additionally, Lindholm's (2019) study's findings demonstrated a substantial positive correlation or association between job engagement and retention, albeit it was not possible to conclude that engagement on its own would aid in employee retention.Employee motivation to work increases and their likelihood of leaving the company decreases as they become more interested in their work.Furthermore, the study's findings indicated that while the case company's circumstances are generally favorable, there are still certain areas that require attention.

Correlation between Levels of Pay Satisfaction and Teacher Retention
Finding out whether pay satisfaction and teacher retention are related is one of the study's other goals.With a p-value of 0.000, which is less than 0.05, and an overall r-value of 0.734, Table 7 demonstrates that pay satisfaction and teacher retention are significantly correlated.The null hypothesis is thus disproved.There is a substantial correlation between all the pay satisfaction indicators (level, benefits, raise, structure, and administration) and all the teacher retention indicators (human resource policies, compensation and benefits, and relationships with managers).It could also be noted that structure and organization got the highest r-value of 0.743; raise obtained the r-value of 0.707; benefits obtained an r-value of 0.675 and level got an r-value of 0.537.This finding lends credence to the two-factor hypothesis, which served as a heuristic for this investigation into the various factors-both extrinsic and intrinsic-that influence employees' decision to remain with a company.This bolsters the review on the effects of pay satisfaction on employee engagement and turnover, which found that workers' contentment with pay can be a significant element in helping firms raise the possibility that competent individuals will stay with them for an extended period of time.While there is empirical evidence of a negative correlation between employees' desire to leave and their level of pay satisfaction, there is a dearth of studies on the mediator's function in mediating this link.The current study makes a theoretical addition by conceptualizing the function of employee engagement as a mediator between voluntary turnover and pay satisfaction (Rohani, & Mumtaz, 2019).

Goodness of Fit of the Three Path Models
Path analysis was used on three proposed models to determine which best fit model best predicted teacher retention in Department of Education, Region XII.

Generated Path Model 1
Table 8 shows that the P-Close value for model 1 is 0.000, which is less than 0.05.The Chi-Square/Degrees of Freedom value is 69.769.The p-value is 0.000.Nonetheless, the Goodness of Fit score is 0.926 and the Comparative Fit Index is 0.914, both of which are below 0.95.Furthermore, with 0.487 and 0.914, respectively, the Tucker-Lewis and Normed Fit indices are both below 0.95.Finally, but just as importantly, at 0.415, the RMSEA (Root Means Square of Error Approximation) is greater than 0.05.Because it does not fulfill the necessary criteria, this model is not the best fit model.

Variable Regression Weights in Path Analysis Model 1
The variable regression weights in Path Analysis Model 1 are displayed in Table 9.It has been observed that when it comes to predicting teacher retention, the Generated Model 1 is not the best fit model.Nonetheless, this model reveals important conclusions.A statistically significant association has been observed between psychological empowerment and work engagement.Furthermore, there exists a noteworthy correlation between psychological empowerment and teacher retention, as well as a strong association between pay satisfaction and teacher retention.However, there isn't a meaningful connection seen in this developed model between teacher retention and work engagement.

Generated Path Model 2
The Path Analysis Model 2's Goodness of Fit Measures are displayed in Table 10.There is a difference between the P-Close value of 0.000 and the CMIN/DF (Chi-Square/Degrees of Freedom) value of 20.900.Furthermore, the obtained p-value of 0.000 is comparatively smaller than the necessary value of 0.05.Conversely, the computed values of the Goodness Fit Index and Comparative Fit Index are both 0.975, which is favorable because it is greater than the necessary value of 0.95.Furthermore, the computed value of 0.974 is greater than the required value of 0.95, indicating that the Normed Fit Index values are likewise good.Additionally, the Tucker-Lewis Index is less than the necessary value of 0.95, at 0.851.Last but not least, the Root Means Square of Error Approximation value is 0.223, above the necessary threshold of 0.05.Therefore, as the Generated Model 2 does not meet all the requirements to be the best model, it is not the best fit model for predicting teacher retention.Every value for every criterion falls short of meeting the best fit model requirement.

Variable Regression Weights in Path Analysis Model 2
The variable regression estimates derived from the produced Model 2 are displayed in Table 11.It is evident that psychological empowerment and work engagement are significantly correlated.Furthermore, there is a strong correlation between pay satisfaction and work engagement.However, there is a strong correlation between teacher retention and compensation satisfaction.Finally, there is a strong correlation between teacher retention and work engagement.The variables are significant predictors of the variables they predicted since the average p-value for all of the variables is less than 0.05.

Goodness of Fit of Path Analysis Model 3
The Goodness of Fit results for Model 3's Path Analysis on Retention Among Secondary School Teachers are shown in Table 12.It should be mentioned that the P-Close value is higher than 0.05 at 0.621.This implies that the model 3 fits quite well.Conversely, the CMIN/DF (degrees of freedom/Chi-Square) CMIN/DF quantifies how well the model fits the data in comparison.The value in this model is 0.619, showing a decent match and being within the allowable range.
Furthermore, the CMIN/DF score is higher than 0.05 at 0.431.This indicates that, by this measure, the model matches the data rather well.Additionally, an outstanding match is shown by the GFI value of 0.999, which is extremely near to the optimum threshold.Furthermore, an outstanding fit is shown by the CFI (Comparative Fit Index) value of 1.000, which is flawless.Additionally, an excellent match is indicated by the NFI (Normed match Index) value of .999,which is extremely near to the optimum threshold.Furthermore, the Tucker-Lewis Index (TLI) value is 1.003, little higher than the optimal threshold.It is more than 0.95.Even yet, a minor variation suggests a decent fit.In conclusion, this model's RMSEA (Root Mean Square Error of Approximation) score is .000,which is very good and suggests a very good fit.In general, the Department of Education's Region XII finds that Model 3 fits the data the best when it comes to predicting teacher retention.

Variable Regression Weights in Path Analysis Model 3
The estimates of the variable regression weights in Path Analysis Model 3 are displayed in Table 13.Work engagement and psychological empowerment are significantly correlated, as the table illustrates.Additionally, a substantial association between salary satisfaction, psychological empowerment, work engagement and teacher retention was discovered.Consequently, it is possible to draw the conclusion that all of the pathways connecting the variables had p-values of less than 0.05, indicating that the variables they predicted were significantly predicted by them.

Goodness of Fit Measures of the Three Path Analysis Models
The three path analysis models' goodness of fit metrics are displayed in Table 14.The table indicates that Models 1 and 2 do not meet the criteria for the standard fit as a consequence of the route modeling of the data, indicating that they are not the Best Fit Models that predict teacher retention in the Department of Education.It should be mentioned that 0.621 is the P-Close value.Based on this metric, model 3 appears to have a decent fit.Conversely, a decent relative fit is indicated by the CMIN/DF (Chi-Square/degrees of freedom) value of 0.619, which is within the acceptable range.With regard to CMIN/DF, the p-value is 0.431, which is higher than 0.05.This suggests that the model fits the data well according to this measure.
Additionally, an excellent match is indicated by the GFI value of 0.999, which is extremely close to the optimum value.Furthermore, the CFI score is 1.000, indicating a flawless and outstanding fit.A good match is indicated by the NFI (Normed match Index) score of 0.999, which is extremely near to the ideal value.Furthermore, the Tucker-Lewis Index (TLI) value is 1.003, which is marginally higher than the optimal value.Even with the tiny deviation, it still shows an excellent fit, even though it is officially above 0.95.Finally, this model has an outstanding RMSEA score of .000,indicating a very good fit.As a result, it is discovered that Model 3 fits the Department of Education's Region XII data the best for predicting teacher retention.Model 3 is the result of a theory that appears to be more complex and that eliminates weak influencing variables that are shown to have no discernible relationship to the other variables in prior models.

Best Fit Model
The Path Analysis Model 3 in Standardized Solution is displayed in Figure 4. Figure 4 illustrates that psychological empowerment, work engagement, and pay satisfaction together account for 58% of the variance in teacher retention.Conversely, the combined impact of psychological empowerment and pay satisfaction accounts for 68% of the variance in work engagement.Moreover, salary satisfaction (beta=0.71)and psychological empowerment (beta=0.22)have a substantial impact on teacher retention (P<0.05).Furthermore, work engagement is substantially predicted by psychological empowerment (beta=0.75)and pay satisfaction (beta=0.25)(P<0.05).Finally, there is a substantial correlation between psychological empowerment and pay satisfaction (beta=0.12)(P<0.05).

Recommendations
The Department of Education must take the initiative to develop mechanisms that will help the teachers become satisfied with their pay in terms of level, benefits, and raise since it has been found out in this study that public secondary school teachers have a low level of pay satisfaction in terms of these indicators.The Department of Education should strengthen its Financial Literacy Programs to help these teachers in their financial management, On the other hand, the public secondary school teachers should improve their work engagement, especially in terms of the impact of their current work towards them.They may attend relevant training and seminars that will help them improve their pedagogical, functional, and behavioral competencies.Also, since it was found in the study that the teachers have low levels of pay satisfaction, the department may also craft bills and programs that will add benefits to the teachers so that their pay satisfaction will also be improved.Additionally, the department should also develop retention strategies so that teachers' plans to stay in the organization will be maintained since it was also found out in the study that the public secondary school teachers' level of retention in terms of compensation and benefits is at a moderate level only.This means that there is still a probability that these teachers may leave the organization.
For the school heads or school administrators, it is now the time that they have to exert efforts in providing the necessary support for the teachers.Financial management seminars may also be conducted so that the teachers will be trained on how to properly manage their finances.Consequently, the school leaders should also make sure that the needs of the teachers are provided so that they will no longer spend a portion of their salary just to provide necessary teaching materials and for the improvement of their classrooms.For the teaching professionals or the teachers, they should continue to become psychologically empowered and engaged with their work.They have to become optimistic as they continue their journey towards shaping our children's future.that they will be motivated to stay teaching in the Department of Education.

Conclusion
Based on the results, it could be gleaned that psychological empowerment, work engagement, and pay satisfaction have significant relationships to teacher retention.These associations and relationships have been presented on the tables presented in the discussion of results and significant findings.With this, it could be concluded that the teachers' decisions to stay in the organization or teacher retention are influenced by how psychologically empowered they are in the organization, how engaged they are with their profession and how satisfied they are with their pay.Additionally, the secondary teachers' level of psychological empowerment is very high which indicates that they strongly agree that they are psychologically empowered in the Department of Education.The following findings are shown by its indicators: very high impact, very high competence, very high meaning, and very high self-determination.Secondary instructors exhibit a high degree of work involvement as well.The following outcomes are shown by its indicators: extremely high for vitality, high for meaning, and high for dedication.
On the other hand, it has been found out that the teachers' level of pay satisfaction is low.Its indicators have the following results: moderate in structure and administration, low in level, low in benefits, and low in raise.This means that the teachers disagree about their satisfaction towards their salaries and other benefits.On the other hand, the secondary teachers' level of retention is high.Its indicators reveal the following results: high in human resource policies and relations with the managers and moderate in compensation and benefits.Additionally, after analyzing the data and determining the best fit model that predicts teacher retention using Path Analysis Model, it has been found out that Model 3 satisfied all the requirements, making it the most fitted model.
The efficiency wage hypothesis, which was emphasized and put forth by Becker, DeGroot, and Marschak (1964) in the human capital theory to explain pay practices and turnover, is another theoretical tenet of this study that is supported by the data.The idea that paying employees more reduces turnover is supported by these arguments.Turnover is adversely correlated with order word pay practices, as was previously mentioned.The results of this study indicate that instructors have poor levels of pay satisfaction, which has a substantial impact on staff retention.
With the foregoing results, it could be recommended that the Department of Education must take the initiative to develop mechanisms that will help the teachers become satisfied with their pay in terms of level, benefits, and raise since it has been found out in this study that public secondary school teachers have a low level of pay satisfaction in terms of these indicators.The Department of Education should strengthen its Financial Literacy Programs to help these teachers in their financial management; on the other hand, public secondary school teachers should improve their work engagement, especially regarding the impact of their current work on them.They may attend relevant training and seminars that will help them improve their pedagogical, functional, and behavioral competencies.Also, since it was found in the study that the teachers have low levels of pay satisfaction, the Department may craft bills and programs that will add benefits to the teachers so that their pay satisfaction will also be improved.The Department should also develop retention strategies so that teachers' plans to stay in the organization will be maintained.The study also found that the public secondary school teachers' retention level in compensation and benefits is moderate.This means that there is still a probability that these teachers may leave the organization.
For the school heads or administrators, it is now the time to exert efforts to provide the necessary support for the teachers.Financial management seminars may also be conducted so that the teachers will be trained on properly managing their finances.Consequently, the school leaders should also ensure that the teachers' needs are met so that they will no longer spend a portion of their salary to provide necessary teaching materials and improve their classrooms.The teaching professionals or the teachers should continue to become psychologically empowered and engaged with their work.They have to become optimistic as they continue their journey towards shaping our children's future.that they will be motivated to stay teaching in the Department of Education.

Figure
Figure 1: Conceptual Framework

Figure 4 :
Figure 4: Path Analysis Model 3 in Standardized Solution

Table 1 :
Level of Psychological Empowerment

Table 2 :
Level of Work Engagement

Table 3 :
Level of Pay Satisfaction

Table 4 :
Level of Teacher Retention

Table 5 :
Significance on the Relationship between Levels of Psychological Empowerment and Teacher Retention

Table 6 :
Significance on the Relationship between Levels of Work Engagement and Teacher Retention

Table 7 :
Significance on the Relationship between Pay Satisfaction and Teacher Retention

Table 8 :
Goodness of Fit Measures of Path Analysis Model 1

Table 9 :
Estimates of Variable Regression Weights in Path Analysis Model 1

Table 10 :
Goodness of Fit Measures of Path Analysis Model 2

Table 11 :
Estimates of Variable Regression Weights in Path Analysis Model 2

Table 12 :
Goodness of Fit Measures of Path Analysis Model 3

Table 13 :
Estimates of Variable Regression Weights in Path Analysis Model 3

Table 14 :
Summary of Goodness of Fit Measures of the Three Path Analysis Models