Teachers Job Satisfaction and Motivation for School ...

1 Teachers Job Satisfaction and Motivation for School Effect iveness: An Assessment Nwachukwu Prince Ololube University of Helsinki Fin land. Abstract Significan tly, job Satisfaction and motiv ation are very essential to th e continuing growth of educational systems around the world and they rank alongsid e professional knowledge and skills, center competencies, educational resources as well as strategies, in genuin ely determining educational success and performance. This study assessed the diff erences and relationship between th e lev el of teach ers job Satisfaction , motiv ation and their teaching p erforman ce in Rivers State of Nig eria. A questionnair e titled TEJOSAMOQ was used to collect data for the study. While the data for th e study was analy zed using mu ltip le statistical procedures: mean point valu e, standard deviation, and varian ce, t-test of signif ican ce and One-way-analysis of variance (ANOVA).

2 The survey results revealed that teacher r elated sources of job Satisfaction seem to hav e a greater impact on teach ing performance, as Teachers are also dissatisfied with the educational policies and ad ministr ation, pay and fringe benef its, material rewards and advancement. Background to the Study The relevance of job Satisfaction and mo tivation ar e very cru cial to th e long-term growth of any educational system around the world. Th ey probably rank alongsid e professional knowledge and skills, center comp eten cies, educational r esources and strategies as the ver itable determinants of educational success and performance. Professional knowledge, skills and center competencies occur when one f eels eff ective in one s behavior.

3 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 (Filak & Sheldon, 2003). Th e above factors are closely similar to efficacy, and, of course, it is well known th at many Teachers lose or fail to develop self-eff icacy within educational settings (Dweck, 1999). In addition, needs Satisfaction and mo tivation to work ar e very essential in the lives of teach ers because they form 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 need Satisfaction . Job Satisfaction in this context is the ab ility of the teaching job to meet teach ers needs and improve th eir job/teaching performance.

4 However, it is assumed th at teach ers agitations and demands ar e beyond th e resources of the Ministry of Education or the governmen t. As a result, th e government in Nig eria and the Nigerian Union of Teach ers (NUT) are in a constant stand-off over th e incr ease in salaries, benefits, and improvements in working conditions of Teachers . The f ederal and state govern ments have argued that the presen t economic r ealities in the country cannot sustain the demanded increase in salar ies, benef its, and improvements in working conditions. Specifically they argue that teach ers demands ar e beyond th e government resources. Another problem is the govern ment s position concerning th e job performance of the teach ers; they accuse the teach ers of neglig ence, laziness, purposeful lethargy, and lack of dedication and zeal to work.

5 They further argue that Teachers level of efficiency and effectiveness does not necessitate th e constan t request for salary in crease, incen tives and better working conditions. Wh ile Teachers on their part argue th at th e existing salary stru cture, benefits and working conditions do not satisfy th eir basic needs in as much as oth er sectors of th e economy hav e bigger salary structure, better motiv ation and enhan ced working conditions. Th ey feel Niger ia s economy is not proper ly balanced, hence, their demands. The Teachers argument is in lin e with Adams (1963) equity th eory of Motivation . Adams Equity Th eory calls for a fair balance to be struck between employees inputs ( , hard work, skill levels, toler ance, and enthusiasm) and employees outputs ( , salary, benef its, and intangib les such as recognition).

6 According to the th eory s finding, a f air balance serves to ensure a strong and productive r elationship with the employees, with the overall result b eing satisfied, thus mo tivated employees. The th eory is built-on the b elief that emp loyees become d e-motivated, both in relation to their job and their employer, if th ey feel as though th eir inputs are greater than th e outputs. Employees can be expected to respond to this is diff erent ways, including de- Motivation (gener ally to the exten t the employee per ceiv es the dispar ity between the inputs and the outputs ex ist), reduced effort, beco ming disgruntled, or, in mor e ex treme cases, perhaps even disruptive ( ) Teach ers are expected to render a very high job performance, and th e Ministry of Education is always cur ious regarding the job performan ce of its Teachers .

7 Also, the Ministry of Education demands a very high measure of loyalty, patr iotism, dedication, hard work and commitmen t from its Teachers (Ubom & Joshua, 2004). Similarly, the roles and contexts of educations motiv ational methods and tools cannot b e underemphasized because high mo tivation enhances productivity which is naturally in th e in terests of all educational systems (Ololube 2004, 2005). The overall purpose of th e study was to explor e and explain job Satisfaction and Teachers work Motivation in relation to Niger ian teach ers needs Satisfaction for School effectiv eness. The primary purpose of th e present r esearch was to test th ese ideas in the education environmen t, using teach ers job and need Satisfaction ratings as th e dependent var iables and Teachers background information as the independen t variables.

8 To a larg e extent, th is work is built on th e theoretical frameworks of scholars like Her zberg, Mausner and Snyder man (1959) and Maslow (1943, 1970). The resear ch hypotheses and objectives of th is research wer e mad e to order for the study of Nigerian teach ers job Satisfaction , with the v iew of ascer tain ing the d egree to which intrinsic and extr insic factors of Motivation imp act them in their work situation. The relevance and in trigue of this resear ch may be seen in how far it supports or refutes prior claims about job Satisfaction and Motivation amongst Nig erian Teachers and, if possible, teach ers around the world. Prominently, Nigerian Teachers ref erred to in this study ar e secondary School Teachers . In addition, th e job and needs satisfactions of th e Nigerian Teachers were compared with the f indings from similar studies both with in and outsid e the f ield of education.

9 For example, Adams (1963), Denga (1996), Filak and Sheldon (2003), Hoppock (1993), MaKenna (2000), Michaelowa (2002), Reis et al. (2000), Robbins (1998), Roe (1970), Sheldon et al. (2001), Sheldon, Ryan, and Reis (1996), Ubom (2001), Ubom and Joshua (2004), Vroom (1964), and Whawo (1993) were consulted in order to establish th e extent of var iability or association that may ex ist across their findings. Finally, th e emp irical findings from this study would help in descr ibing or explain ing the p ivotal role of motiv ation on the needs Satisfaction of Nigerian teach ers in lin e with oth er theor ies that are r eviewed in this work. However, the emphasis of this research is on th e need-b ased or content th eories, with a glan ce at process and reinforcement theories.

10 The questionnaire d eveloped and used to gather data for this study borrows from similar works on Motivation and need Satisfaction by au thors like Maslow (1943, 1970), Herzb erg, Mausner and Snyderman (1959), Ifin edo (2003) and many others. In par ticu lar, th is research paper is written for education planners, policy makers, educators, academics and human resource development and str ateg ic managers in terested in empirical information methods to conceptu alise the issue raised in th is study and provide them with useful suggestions th at might help them improve secondary schooling in Nig eria. Multiple audiences ex ist for any text, thus it is my inten tion th at th e academic co mmunity will also find th is paper a usefu l addition to School effectiveness and School improvement literatur e.