IMPACT OF TEACHER ON STUDENTS CAREER MOTIVATION IN SECONDARY SCHOOL
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background to the Study
Over the years, job value has become an increasingly important area of interest among scholars and managers alike. Gosnell (2000:12) defined Job value as the degree to which people are happy with their careers. It is an emotional affective personal response, which is as a result of the estimation of the degree to which some facts of career reality is congruent or incongruent with values (Adeniyi, 2009:76). Research on workplace attitudes has identified three primary determinants of job value to be individual attributes or demographic variables, characteristics of the career itself and schools characteristics (Gosnell, 2000:98).
There is relevant evidence in literature to show that teachers job value does exert a positive and significant influence on student learning (Michaelowa, 2011:98). Since it is the desire of every nation to improve the quality of education, it is imperative that the influence of demographic variables on teacher job value be empirically determined.
Teachers in schools and learning institutions appreciate that someone cares about their work and value it which in turn motivates them to work more effectively. Owens (2004) describes motivation as the forces that cause people to behave as they do. He further points out that behaviorists think of it as extrinsic while others believe it is intrinsic. Generally, in schools, the challenge for administrators is to develop highly motivated teachers who are actively engaged in teaching and learning, open to new ideas and approaches, and committed to students and change over the lifetime of their teaching careers.
Teacher motivation plays an important role in the promotion of teaching and learning excellence. Generally, motivated teachers are more likely to motivate students to learn in the classroom, to ensure the implementation of educational reforms and feelings of value and fulfillment. While teacher motivation is fundamental to the teaching and learning process, several teachers complain of not being highly motivated. This observation ought to be taken seriously and an investigation into the factors influencing teacher motivation is therefore necessary to achieve the educational goals in every learning institution.
Compared with other professions, teachers across various countries, school contexts, and subject fields exhibit higher levels of emotional symptoms. According to Dai and Sternberg (2012:34), high levels of job disvalue, stress, and burnout can negatively influence motivation and job performance. According to Gorham and Millete (1997) teachers who report low levels of motivation tend to perceive their students‘ motivation levels as low. In a study done by Ofoegbu (2009:23) in Nigeria on: Teacher motivation as a factor for classroom effectiveness and school improvement; he found that teacher motivation enhances classroom effectiveness and improves schools.
Many factors have been found to promote teacher motivation. Pay incentives, for example, have been found to be unsuccessful in increasing motivation. In a study done by Sylvia and Hutchinson (2010) in the USA, a study among 167 teachers, found that teacher motivation is due to freedom to try out new ideas, assignment of appropriate responsibility levels and intrinsic work elements. They explain that true job value is derived from the gratification of higher-order needs rather than lower-order needs.
Teachers are arguably the most important group of professionals for our nation‘s future. Michaelowa (2010) in her study on analysis of the key determinants of teacher motivation in the developing country context, foud that large class size, double-shifting, rural location, high educational attainment and active parental involvement negatively correlated with teacher job value in these countries. She further found that the level of communication between teachers and school managers had no statistically significant impact on teacher job value. Motivation should be a major concern of policy makers; this was to create conditions for the success of other education interventions (VSO, 2002).
A study done by Majanga, Nasongo and Sylvia (2010:53) on the influence of class size on classroom interaction in the wake of Free Primary Education (FPE), found that FPE created increased class sizes, shortage of teachers, heavy teachers’ working load and lack of teacher motivation. Study also found that teachers are demoralized with heavy workloads, handling many lessons, many pupils and work for long hours. Sirima and Poipoi (2010) also reported in a related study in Kenya that public secondary school teachers with high levels of job value tend to have high social, and psychological atmosphere in the classroom that result in high productivity and effectiveness in job performance and willingness to stay longer.
Teacher job value and motivation are very important to the continuous growth of educational systems around the world. Value and motivation to work are very essential in the lives of teachers because they form the fundamental reason for working. According to Osesusi (2003:56), teacher’s competency motivates them to perform well. They also observed that promotion opportunities, due favor, effective division of work among teachers, availability of teachers for guidance, good working conditions and job security enhance motivation. Mayowa, (1991) has indicated that teachers in Nigeria are highly dissatisfied and de- motivated to perform due to low salaries, poor teaching conditions and unattractive condition of service, low teacher morale and he poor quality of teacher work life. Almost every teacher works in order to satisfy his or her needs deficiency and growth. Needs theorists such as Abraham Maslow and Clayton Alderfer (2010 )have underscored the importance of the value of the needs physiological, relational, and growth of individuals in influencing individual and organizational outcomes. The value of these needs is paramount in their engagement and eventual achievement of stated individual or organizational goals.
According to Kazeem (2009:90), teachers tend to remain contented and reasonably motivated as long as salaries are paid on time and are promoted regularly. Sunkanmi (2011:45) also identified the payment of salaries, allowances and promotion as the key factors that shape teachers’ attitudes towards their work. Teacher’s motivation naturally has to do with his/her attitude to work, or desire to participate in the pedagogical process within the school environment, and the interest of the teacher in student discipline and control, particularly in the classroom. The teacher is the one who translates educational philosophy and objective into knowledge and transfers them to students in the classroom. The major responsibility of working with children in the school rests with the teacher. Thus, how to ensure and maintain their value on the job is very crucial in achieving the success of their students.
A secondary school is both an organization that delivers secondary education and the building where this takes place. A secondary school comprises of junior secondary education and senior secondary school, junior secondary school comprises of J.S.S. 1 TO J.S.S. 3 phases while Senior secondary rang from S.S.S 1 to S.S. S 3 is considered to be the second and final phase of basic education. Secondary schools typically follow on from primary schools and lead into vocational and tertiary education. Attendance is compulsory in most countries for students between the ages 13 and 16. A teacher (also called a school teacher or, in some contexts, an educator) is a person who helps others to acquire knowledge, competences or values.
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