ABSTRACT
This
study focuses on teachers’ motivation as a determinant of students’ academic
performance in some selected public secondary schools in Ikorodu Local
Government Area of Lagos State.
The
findings of this essay are based on the data collected from ten public
secondary schools in Ikorodu Local Government Area of Lagos State. The instrument that was used for data
collection was the questionnaire and the results of the data collected were
analyzed using descriptive statistics such as percentage and frequency
distribution to organize, summarize and extrapolate data from respondents.
Spearman’s Rank Order Correlation Coefficient was used to test hypotheses
formulated.
It is
evident from the results obtained that motivation of teachers has a significant
relationship with students’ academic performance.
Some of
the recommendations that were made are; proper social recognition should be
introduced to encourage teachers remain in the teaching profession; principals
and heads of department should know that several factors motivate teachers in
schools such as involvement in school management, teacher supervisory
techniques and good communication systems; government, parents and the society
should recognize and appreciate the efforts of teachers, rather than accuse
them of failures that are the obvious results of unfairness and injustice meted
out to them.
TABLE
OF CONTENTS
Title
Page i
Certification ii
Dedication iii
Acknowledgement iv
Abstract v
Table of
Contents vi
List of
Tables
ix
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
Background to the Study 1
Statement of the Problem 3
Purpose of the Study 5
Significance of the Study 5
Scope of the Study 6
Research Questions 6
CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
The Concept and Scope of Motivation 7
Types of Motivation 8
Importance of Motivation 10
Theories of Motivation 11
Adverse Effect of Poor Motivation 17
Effective Motivation 19 Summary of Review of Related Literature
21 Research Questions 21
Research Hypotheses 22
CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH
METHODOLOGY AND PROCEDURES
Research Design 23
Population 23
Sample 23
Research
Instrument 23
Validity of the Instrument 23
Method
of Data Analysis 24
CHAPTER FOUR: DATA PRESENTATION,
ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION OF
FINDINGS Data Presentation
and Analysis 25
Discussion
of Findings 26
CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, CONCLUSION
AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Summary of Findings 30
Conclusion 31
Recommendations 31
References 33
Questionnaire 36
List of Tables:
Table 1: Sources of Teachers’ Motivation and
Students’ Academic Performance. 25
Table 2: Present Level of Teachers’ Motivation
and Students’ Academic Performance. 26
CHAPTER
ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background to the Study
Motivation is not completely a new
term. What is interesting about motivation is that it is commonly assumed to be
a good thing that goes in influencing individual’s behaviour and performance at
work. Indeed, motivation determines an individual’s capacity and performance at
work. Motivation brings about job satisfaction. The relevance of job
satisfaction and motivation is very crucial to the long-term growth of any
educational system around the world.
Motivation ranks alongside
professional knowledge and skills, centre competencies, educational resources
and strategies as the veritable determinants of educational success and performance.
Professional knowledge, skills and centre competencies occur when one feels
effective in one’s behaviour. In other words, professional knowledge, skills
and competencies can be seen when one is taking on and mastering challenging
tasks directed at educational success and performance.
In Nigeria today, motivation is a big
issue that cannot be neglected in the school system. It is not an
over-statement to say that teachers’ motivation determines the performance of
their students. Motivation to work is very essential in the lives of teachers
because it forms the fundamental reason for working in life. While almost every
teacher works in order to satisfy his or her needs in life, he or she
constantly agitates for job satisfaction. Job satisfaction in this context is
the ability of the teaching job to meet teachers’ needs and improve their job
and teaching performance.
The teacher plays a significant role
in a student’s life. As one becomes a product of one’s learning, the student
builds himself or herself with the teachings of a teacher. The teacher’s
knowledge, along with the teacher’s feelings, becomes integrated within the
student’s schemata. Should the teacher not like teaching as a result of not
being motivated, the student emerges from the classroom with a dislike for
education, but when a teacher loves his or her profession, the student learns
to love education. There are many dynamics which coalesce into the person who
loves his or her profession, and the major of these dynamics is motivation. When
one understands the components involved in the construct of motivation, one can
better become motivated and remain motivated. When a teacher remains motivated,
loving the teaching profession, the students will not only learn the content
taught by the teacher, they will also be motivated toward learning. Much has
been said about motivation, but little seems to have been done. What then is
motivation?
Tracy (2000) defined motivation as
all those inner striving conditions described as wishes, desires, and urges to
stimulate the interest of a person in an activity. It is therefore an inner
state that stimulates and triggers behaviour. Mitchel (1986) defined motivation
as those psychological processes that cause the arousal, direction and
persistence of voluntary actions that are goal directed. Ukeje (1991) said the
relative incidence of specific behaviours such as teaching and learning,
discipline and control in schools could be undermined if teachers were not
motivated.
In job performance, an employee’s
ability determines what he can do but his level of motivation invariably
determines what he accomplishes after all. Teacher motivation naturally has to
do with teachers’ desire to participate in the pedagogical processes within the
school environment. It has to do with teachers’ interest in the students’
discipline and control, particularly in the classroom. Therefore, it could
underlie their involvement or non-involvement in academic and non-academic
activities which operate in schools. The teacher is the one who translates
educational philosophy and objective into knowledge and skill, and transfers
them to students in the classroom. Classroom climate is important in teacher
motivation. If a teacher experiences the classroom as a safe, healthy,
conducive, happy place with supportive resources and facilities for teaching
for optimal learning, he or she tends to participate more than expected in the
process of management, administration, and the overall improvement of the
school. The teacher commands and emits the image of one who improves knowledge
and the physical conditions of the classroom through orderliness, discipline
and control. The teacher makes diagnosis of students’ feelings and attitudes
inferred by their behaviour and response in the classroom environment.
Hence, Lash and Kirkpatrick (1990)
concluded that in the absence of school programmes, the major responsibility of
working with children in the school rests with the teacher. However, it should
be noted that a teacher who is not motivated will find it difficult to work
with children in the school. Likewise, Maehr and Midgley (1991) affirm that
what takes place in the classroom, even though the classroom itself is not an
island, is critical. Therefore, depending on the degree of congruence with
classroom practices and school environment, teachers’ teaching activities and
motivation may dilute or enhance students’ academic performance.
It is therefore noteworthy that if
excessive research could be carried out, it will not only help the teachers who
are directly faced with the challenge of motivation, but also help the
students, parents, school administrators and others who are directly linked
with the children’s welfare.
Statement
of the Problem
Teachers’ motivation for efficient
performance in our educational system has not always received due attention
despite the obvious leading roles teachers play in the classroom towards
attaining educational objectives. This has remained a very serious problem.
Generally, teachers’ motivation has therefore been very low. The ill treatment
and neglect of teachers breed dissatisfaction and hamper classroom
effectiveness efficiency and productivity. In the face of frustration, low
morale, harassment, condemnation and job dissatisfaction, teachers have been
accused of being responsible for the poor performance of students in external
examinations, their involvement in examination malpractice, cultism and other
negative vices. Teachers’ motivation can have several effects on how students
learn and how they behave, because students are not always internally
motivated; they sometimes need situated motivation which is found in
environmental conditions that teachers create. Nwadiani (1998) acknowledged
that schools in Nigeria are fast decaying. This can be linked to the fact that
most teachers are not motivated, and when teachers are not motivated, it tells
on their job, thereby affecting students’ academic performance negatively.
Teachers need to be properly motivated. Ozigi (1992) pointed out that teachers
in Nigeria were unhappy, frustrated, uninspired and unmotivated. The school
environment is dotted with dilapidated buildings equipped with outdated
laboratory facilities and equipment.
In Nigeria today, teachers at times
have to work under the most unsafe and unhealthy conditions. It is not unusual
to find teachers and students interacting academically under collapsed school
buildings. Likewise, students are sometimes left with no option but to receive
lessons under shades and open roofs while teachers make do with the little
available outdated materials at their disposal to teach. This has no doubt
translated into teachers’ low morale which in turn translated into students’
poor academic performance in external examinations, their involvement in examination
malpractice, cultism and other negative dispositions. There are some states in
Nigeria where their teachers have not been paid salary for months, yet every
parent wants his or her child to acquire education and skills through teachers
but apparently, none of them seems to worry whether teachers can cater for
their families, educate their children, settle health bills and contribute
meaningfully to community development.
This study is out to delve into the
main factors that are responsible for teachers’ lack of motivation and its
effects on students’ academic performance in public secondary schools in
Ikorodu Area of Lagos State.
Purpose
of the Study
The continual effect of teachers’
motivation on the academic performance of students in Nigerian public secondary
schools which has generated a lot of controversy in the school system, and lack
of awareness of its implications, inspired this study.
The purpose of this study therefore
is to:
1)
investigate into the different sources of teachers’ motivation
2)
assess the present level of teachers’ motivation
3)
determine the relationship that exists between teachers’ motivation and
students’ academic performance
4)
to make recommendations on solutions to the problems of motivation.
Significance
of the Study
At virtually every point in the
growth and development of education in Nigeria, we are ever reminded that the
quality of education depends to a large extent on the quality of its teachers
(Afe 2002, FGN, 1998). We are ever reminded of the magical feats of teachers as
they transform educational objectives into knowledge, skill and educated human
labour. With the rapid changes in the population which is affecting the
demographics of the schools in Nigeria, one is also reminded of the need to
motivate teachers in order to produce the desired educational results. This is
even more urgently necessary in this era of materialism and display of wealth
in the face of wide spread poverty and decay in the country. The assumption is
that motivation will ensure high level of teacher effort towards meeting school
objectives and improvement in all its ramifications.
In view of this, the significance of
the study is not only to find out what motivates teachers and its effects on
the academic performance of students, but also to propose concrete and
achievable practicable steps through which there can be total eradication of
poor motivation of teachers in secondary schools.
The findings of this study will help
government to find solution to the increasing problem of teachers’ motivation
in secondary schools. The findings of this study will also afford teachers,
parents and school administrators the opportunity of taking positive steps
which would maximize teachers’ motivation in secondary schools.
Scope
of the Study
The study was carried out in ten
selected public secondary schools in Ikorodu Area of Lagos State. The subjects
were principals, vice principals and other teaching staff of the selected
schools.
Research
Questions
1)
What are the sources of teachers’ motivation?
2)
What is the present level of teachers' motivation?
3)
What relationship exists between the level of teachers’ motivation and students’ academic performance?
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