AN ANALYSIS OF THE EFFECTS OF TEACHER’S MOTIVATION ON STUDENTS’ PERFORMANCE
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
Every organization has three types of basic resources, which are physical, financial and human. The most critical one is no doubt the human resource of an organization. These are the humans who can accelerate the process of organization development or can demolish the organizational progress. This is another fact that as human resource proves to be nucleus of organizational resources, motivation is central and vital component which is key contributor in job satisfaction of an employee. Motivating employees has become one of the most significant and most demanding activities for the human resource management in any organization. There is no doubt that efficiency suffers if workers are not motivated. Organizations invest in effectual strategies to get motivated workforce to compete in the market. Salary alone does not prove to be a vital motivator for everyone in an organization. Various factors motivate people differently depending upon the nature of an organization and its key contributors in developing learning environment.
Education in Nigeria is an instrument for effecting national development. The country’s educational goals have been set out in the National Policy on Education in terms of their relevant to the needs of the individual and the society (FGN, 2004). Towards this end, the National Policy on Education set up certain aims and objectives which are to facilitate educational development in the country. In fostering these aims and objectives, the school principals have important roles to play. Among this roles include providing effective leadership in secondary schools, thereby enhancing better job performance among teachers. How effective the Principal is in performing these roles has been a matter of concern to many educationists (Aghenta, 2000; Ige, 2001).
In the education sector, teachers are the most important human resource. As the most significant resource in schools, teachers are critical to raise education standards. Improving the efficiency and equity of schooling depends, in large measure, on ensuring that teachers are highly skilled, well resourced, and motivated to perform at their best.
However, the effective monitoring and evaluation of teaching is central to the continuous improvement of the effectiveness of teachers in a school. It is essential to know the strengths of teachers and those aspects of their practice which could be further developed. From this perspective, the institution of teacher evaluation is a vital step in the drive to improve the effectiveness of teachers and learning to raise educational standards.
According to the literature these conditions are responsible for low teacher morale and the difficulty in attracting and retaining quality personnel into the teaching profession. This has not always been the case. A broad consensus is that prior to independence, teaching was considered by almost all sections of society as a highly respected profession. Teachers played key leadership roles in local communities and acted as role models. However, after Independence, when the demand for educated labour grew rapidly, many teachers left the profession to take up jobs elsewhere in the public and private sector. According to Obanya, (1999), this marked the beginning of the teacher motivation crisis in Nigeria, as the public began to look down on those teachers who remained in the classroom as second – string public servants. The growing tendency for school leavers to opt for teaching only if they are unable to find other more lucrative public or private sector employment further compounded this problem of lowered professional status (Lawal, 2000).
1.2 Statement of the Problem
It is no longer news that every nation strive for economic development. What is important is the approach used to target this development. Worthy of mention is the fact that development thinking has gone beyond economic growth. There is therefore a paradigm shift to sustainable development. Economic growth however facilitates development. Effective resource allocation can lead to development that is self sustaining and perpetuating (Soubbotina, 2004). The relevance of education to development is buttressed by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Human Development Index (HDI) and most recently the new Human Development Index (NHDI). These two indicators of development (HDI and NHDI) priorities education sector’s in development. In the HDI, adult literacy is key y to development just as access to all levels of education as preached by the NHDI is also very paramount to development. It can therefore be said that any nation that wants to achieve sustainable development should pay attention to education.
Nigeria as a nation still suffers from poor level of education, as attention paid to education is quite low. This is seen in poor budgetary allocation, leading to low investment in education. In the last 10 years, total investments in social services (including health and education) have been below 40% of the capital expenditure. Capital expenditure of Nigeria was 28% of the entire budget in 2010 (CBN, 2011).
Generally, the exploring teacher motivational issues in Nigeria shows that teachers are poorly motivated and are dissatisfied with their living and working conditions. The key reasons for this are as follows:
Low wages when compared with other professionals
Low status in the society
Teachers not being promoted as at when due
Lack of career advancement opportunities
High teacher-pupil ratio
Poor work environment
Inadequate fringe benefits
Irregular payment of teacher salaries
Engagement of unprofessional teachers in the system
For education to attain the desired height there is need for key players to work at their peak. At this juncture, the role of teachers in educational development cannot be overemphasized. At all levels of education (nursery, primary, secondary and tertiary), teachers are the most primary stakeholders. Teachers are the instructors and the ones that can guarantee improved academic performance. Based on this fact, teachers are critical to raising educational standard. It is therefore important that they are effective in their duties. Unfortunately, this cannot be said to be the case. The educational sector is bedevilled by incessant strike action by teachers at all levels. In terms of their output, an immediate measure is the performance of students. At the national level, records from the West African Examination Council (WAEC) shows a general low level of performance. Particularly, performance in mathematics and English language has drop significantly in recent years, a study by Musa and Dauda, (2014). indicates that performance in mathematics in May-June WAEC SSCE examination has been poor in Nassarawa State since 2003 to 2014. Similarly, Maliki, Ngban and Ibu, (2009, have also found poor mathematics performance in WAEC examination in Bayelsa State in 2006.
Based on the establishment issues of incessant strike action by teachers, one may ask “what is their level of motivation”. As the most important resource in the educational sector, their motivation is very paramount. As found by Ahiauzu, Deprieye and Onwuchekwa, (2011). There is significant relationship between motivational factors and the performance of teachers. This is collaborated by IKenyiri and Ihua-Maduenyi, (2012), who posited that “motivation for teacher’s effectiveness is very crucial” However, teachers in Nigeria’s educational sector cannot be said to be satisfied. Afolabi, (2009) opined that teacher’s dissatisfaction is suspected to be major reason for decline in job commitment resulting in the poor performance by students. Therefore he found that majority of teachers would prefer other jobs as many have left teaching. However, the level of unprofessional teachers in the system already is high, most of which took the employment opportunity as a last resort to earn a living because they could not get their desired employment at the labour market. These set of teachers rather than impacting knowledge lacks the passion and commitment to teach irrespective of any measure of motivation that could be applied to them. It is against this background that the researcher undertook this study.
1.3 Objectives of the Study
The broad objective of this study is to investigate the level of motivation of teachers in Enugu educational zone and how this affects the sustainability of education in the state. Specifically, the study will:
(1) To analyse the contribution of motivation to teacher’s productivity
(2) To examine the extent of teacher motivation in Enugu educational zone.
(3) To analyse the effect of teachers’ motivation on the performance of students.
1.4 Research Questions
Based on the issues raised in the statement of problem, the researcher will seek to answer the following questions,
(a) Are teachers in Enugu educational zone motivated?
(b) What is the extent to this motivation?
(c) How has teachers’ motivation impacted on the performance of students in Enugu educational zone?
1.5 Hypotheses of the Study
The following hypotheses will guide this study.
H01: Teachers in Enugu educational zone are not motivated in their job.
H02: Motivation of teachers does not affect their productivity and efficiency
H03: Motivation of teachers does not have effect on the performance of students in Enugu educational zone
1.6 Significance of the Study
Given the important role played by education in human development, a research in this area is very important. This study will benefit the following group of persons: Ministry of education officials, teachers, policy makers, and post primary educational board and development experts.
Firstly, the Ministries of Education officials, Post Primary School Management Board (PPSMB) and Zonal Education Board will find this work useful as at it will provide them with information on ways of making teachers more productive. Hence as the agency saddled with the responsibility of managing educational standards, the knowledge gained here serves as a guide towards the improvement of the efficiency of teachers.
Also, stakeholders in the educational sector, policy makers and teachers will in like manner benefit from this research as they will understand how every of their action or inaction impacts on the performance students of in Enugu educational zone.
More so, the government of Nigeria at all level will find this very relevant as a solution to the incessant problems in the education sector in Nigeria. As such, the right policy will be fashioned from the knowledge gained from this research for positive performance of students.
Finally, this research will serve as a reference point for further research. It will also add to existing body of knowledge in this area.
1.7 Scope of the Study
Area of interest in this research is teacher’s motivation on student’s performance in Enugu Educational Zone in Enugu State. Hence the study covered teachers’ motivation, students’ performance secondary schools in Enugu Education in Enugu State and their productivity level. This study also looked into the concept and some theories of motivation, principles of motivation and ways through which staff can be motivated. Educational implication of motivation is discussed in this work.
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