Academic Performance The Impact Of Motivation On Teachers And Students In Some Selected Secondary School In Udi Local Government Area

Education has been recognized as the fundamental basis on which any nation could function effectively. Its socio-political and economic viability depends solely on the qualitative education given to her citizens.

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Therefore, those that impart the needed knowledge or those that build and mould character must be motivated adequately because motivation is the key to performance and improvement. Hence it is believed that a motivated teacher always complete the tasks set for him, even when such tasks or assignments are difficult or seen uninteresting. However the pertinent question that may rise is; what is motivation?

Motivation comes from the Latin root movers which means to move. So motivation can mean the process of arousing the interest of an individual to take a move towards a certain goal. Harzberg (1978), defines motivation as all those phenomena which are involved in the stimulation of actions toward particular objectives where previously, there was little or no movement towards these goals. Waitley (1996), defines motivation as the inner derive which prompts people act in a certain way. Motivation involved a number of psychological factors that start and maintained activities towards the achievement of personal goals. Motivation in education can have several effects on how students learn and their behaviour towards subjects matter Ormord (2003). Motivation of teachers and students in teaching and learning process can direct behaviour towards particular goals, leads to increase effort and energy enhance cognitive processing, increase initiation of and persistence in activities, determine what consequences are reinforcing and it can also lead to improved performance. Orphlims (2002) is of the view that motivated teachers always look for better ways to do their teaching job, they are more quality oriented and are more productive. Therefore, it means that motivated teachers are determine, to give their, best to achieve the maximum output (qualitative education). Motivation can be in the form of regular payment of salary, fringe benefit, such as allowance, bonus on the job training, promotion of the teachers, provision of good working environment, maintaining high degree of relationship and improving the teachers general well being. Hence, any teacher that enjoys the above named items is band to give all his best in discharging of his duty because, he would derive satisfaction of being a teacher.

In educational sector, motivation plays a great role. When teachers are motivated, this will lead to good performance and high productivity to the sustain of the national growth and development and also, the welfare of its citizens at large. According to Alu, Eya, Odo, Ede and Ugwu (2001) education is an ancient enterprise designed to be the vehicle of social change and over development of self, culture and society. Education is a process designed to help all human beings to grows into persons.

In the view of the above the national policy on education (1981), section one paragraph two stated that the Nigerians philosophy of education, therefore is based on the integration of the individual into a sound and effective citizens and equal educational opportunities for all citizens of the nation at the primary, secondary and tertiary levels, both inside and outside the formal school system.

Consequently, the Nigeria policy on education section nine paragraph 57, stated that teachers education will continue to be given a major emphasis in all our educational planning because, no educational system can rise above the quality of its teachers. Therefore, various purposes or aims of teachers education should be inculcated into our schools. It will be necessary for the provision of highly motivated, conscious and efficient classroom teachers for all level of our educational system and also to encourage teachers commitment to the teaching profession.

Also motivation has an effect on the society in various ways for the development of the nation of the hallmarks of the development and economic prosperity while low performance create problem of underdevelopment. Since the future of the country lies with the students, so those students need to be well educated, so that they can be equipped with the knowledge and skills to pilot the affairs of this country.

Therefore, the impact of motivation and academic performance of the students when properly treated, will lead to good performance and high productivity to the sustenance of the national progress.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

It is obvious that professional trained teachers always give in their best in carrying out their duties and responsibilities. However, it is pertinent that teachers activities must be compensated or rewarded as an encouragement as well as enabling them to work harder in order to achieve the main objective of teaching and learning. The absent of motivation has a negative effect in the standard of education in the country as the students are being deprived of the needed knowledge because the teachers are to motivated to impact the needed knowledge. Hence, the problems associated with this negative attitude towards motivation result to this:

Teachers do not give their best, due to o payment or salary by the authority to the teachers students inadequate knowledge as a result of not being taught adequately since the teachers are not motivated to give in their best, Teachers life look deplorable as they are being deprived of their benefit they ought to enjoy and mike them effective as efficient in their teaching job, low standard of education in the country is noted since the qualitative education needed is absential. Society human resources will be lagging since the character and knowledge moulder (teacher) cannot satisfactorily perform his duty.

Therefore, the resultant effect of this problem affects the society at large, since the educational sector cannot produce the desired result as designed in the national policy of education I 2004.

1.3 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

The purpose of this research is aimed at finding out the impact of motivation on teachers performance in the school system. The study specifically tends to;

i. To find the extent to which supervision of instruction influence learning and enhance students academic performance.

ii. To find out the extent to which government regular payment of salaries at and when due to the teachers.

iii. To find out the extent to which promotion of teachers at and when due influences teaching and learning process.

iv. To find out the extent to which such programmes like seminars, conferences and workshops that are conducted for the teachers can enhance their personal academic and professional growth.

1.4 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

It is hope that the final result of this research work will help in finding possible ways, how motivation can influence productivity/performance in teaching and learning process and also improve learning on the part of students. It is important for the researcher to put into consideration, the significance of teachers motivation and academic performance of students.

However, this research will be significance in the following ways:

1. When teachers are being motivated, the society/government will benefit immensely in the sense that the teachers put in their best, the students (youth) will contribute properly to the economic growth and development of the nation and the welfare of its citizens.

2. Parents will also benefit when teachers are being motivated in the sense that the students will be responsible to their parents and also the money spent on them will not be in vein because they will help in carrying out families responsibilities.

3. Students will benefit equally when teachers are motivated because the research will enable them to enhance and improve their academic performance.

4. The teachers also benefit a lot when they positive motivation is given to them in terms of promotion, fringe benefit, salaries are paid at and when due, they will give in their best in the teaching process. And also their standard of living will improve.

1.5 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The study covers some selected secondary schools in Udi Local Government Area of Enugu state.

Moreover, the scope of this study is limited to finding the impact of motivation on teachers performance and the academic performance of students.

1.6 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1. To what extent does irregular payment of teachers salaries affect the teachers performance on their academic desk?

2. To what extent does the conducting of seminars, conferences and workshops for the teachers influence the teaching learning process?

3. To what extent does inadequate promotion of teachers affect them in disposing their duties effectively and efficiency?

4. To what extent does negligent of teachers welfare affect his service (teaching)?

2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter deals with the review of related literature. The review is presented under two broad headings. The theoretical and conceptual frame work, and the empirical studies.

In practical study of this nature, it is obvious to develop sound conceptual and theoretical base that are capable of unveiling the wide concepts situations and similarities in this study. Under the theoretical framework, the literature review is organized under the following sub- headings:

Theories of motivation on learning outcome.

Importance of motivation

The related empirical studies were also carried out under the following sub-headings:

Motivational strategies for teachers

Problems affecting teaching performance

Impact of motivation on students performance.

2.1 THEORIES OF MOTIVATION OF LEARNING OUTCOME

There is a general agreement among psychologists that with a few exceptions, which will be noted, all behaviours are motivated, people have reasons for doing the things they do and that behaviour is oriented towards meeting certain goals and objectives. That is why Freud (1990) and other psychologists like Taylor (1949) generally agreed that man is motivated by the desire to satisfy a number of needs. Some of which he is not consciously aware of differences of opinions exist as to the nature and relative importance of these needs. This is true because there is no doubt that teachers whose financial needs are not satisfied will be psychologically and socially demoralized in his working attitude and this is of immense effect to the performance of such teachers. But when teachers salaries and allowances are paid at and when due, this will reduce the number of teachers truancy which is rampant in the teaching and learning system of secondary schools. Many teachers come into the school only to put his or her name in the attendance register and moves out in pursuit of other business or jobs which will earn him/her a large amount of money to make both ends meet since the salary is small. This attitude makes the students to go home after a whole day with nothing done or either one or two subjects for a day. This lowers the morale of students towards learning. Hence, below comes the lists of some theories of motivation.

MASLOWS THEORY OF MOTIVATION

Maslow (1954) came up with the theory of hierarchy of needs. This is based on clinical supervision and logic. In this theory of motivation, he stresses that individuals are motivated to satisfy several different kinds of needs, which are more proponent than others. Maslows theory states that if a number of features of a persons needs are unsatisfied at any given time, satisfaction of the most proponent ones will be more pressing than that of other.

So Maslow was on the idea that a satisfied needs does not determined behaviour but unsatisfied need. This implies that the teachers behaviour in the classroom is a function of his needs. In other words, his needs influence his behaviour in the classroom in no small measure.

VICTOR VROOMS THEORY OF MOTIVATION

Victor Vroom (1964) in his own contributions advanced the expectancy valence theory. He stated that if individual worker believes that working hard will lead to salary increase, he will intensify his effort and work hard. The theory recognizes that people act only when they have a reasonable expectation that their actions will lead to a desired goal. Victor Vroom called this Expectance theory which places emphasis on performance, nothing that there must be a clearly recognized goal and relationship between performance and outcome. Motivation is a functions of the expectancy of attaining a certain outcome in performing a certain act multiplied by the value of the outcome for the performance.

M(f) = ExV

Where M = Motivation

E = Expectancy

V = Value expected.

Expectancy theory has two outcomes. First, outcome that are highly valued, and have high expectations of being realized will direct a person to make a greater effort in his taste. Secondly, outcome with high expectations, which are less highly valued or even dislike will reduce the effort expected. The significance of this theory is that an administration should take cognizance of the relationship of the first and second outcomes and use them to motivate his subordinates.

MC GREGORS THEORY OF MOTIVATION

Another human relation theorist Mc Gregor (1960) in his work the human side of enterprise, advanced to belief about human behaviour that could be held by different managers. He sees two sets of assumption made by managers about their employees. First is what he calls theory which view man on the following set of principle:

Average human beings have an inherent dislike of work and will avoid it if possible.

Because of this, human characteristics of dislike of work, most people must be coerced, controlled, directed and threatened with punishment to get them to put forth adequate effort towards the advancement of the organization objectives.

The average human being prefers to be diverted, wishes to avoid responsibility, has relatively little ambition and wants security above all. The holders of this vie believe that motivation of workers can be attained through authority and fear and that employees have to be closely watched if result must be obtained.

In summary, this x side of the theory emphasized control and extrinsic rewards. On the other hand, the second assumption called theory y, sees man in a more favourable light. Here workers under this concept of management posses potential that is generally untapped by most working environments.

It has the following assumptions:

The time spent on physical and mental efforts in work is as natural as play or rest.

External controls and the threats of punishment are not the only means for bringing about effort towards organizational objectives.

People will exercise self-direction and self control in the service of objective to which they are committed. Committed to objective is a function of the rewards associated with their achievement. The most important of such rewards is the satisfaction of ego and self-actualization towards organizational objectives.

Average human being learn under proper condition not only to accept but also to seek responsibility.

The capacity to exercise a relatively high degree of imagination, ingenuity and creativity in the solution of organizational problems is widely not narrowly distributed in the population.

Under the conditions of modern industrial life, the intellectual potentialities of the average human beings are only partially utilized. This theory in summary presents it is aspect of participation and concern for workers morals, encouraged managers to begin to delegate authority for making decisions, enrich or enlarge jobs by making them less respective as the way to motivate employees to higher performance.

In conclusion, this theory summarized the employees behaviour using the two sides of its X and Y. As it was stated above, the x side of it emphasized control and extrinsic rewards the y side of it emphasized the managerial concern for workers morals and encouraged manager to begin to delegate authority for making decisions enrich or enlarge job by making them less repetitive as the ways to motivate employees to higher performance.

The educational implication of this theory is that teachers should always be able to effectively exercise control and proper management of their classroom while they teach students with various teaching methods, considering individual differences among learners, environmental conditions, teaching aids etc which will enhance easier learning. And also, while they do these, they should also externally aid faster learning by the introduction of reinforcement, that is giving of rewards to students who perform well in classroom work or examination.

HERBERGS THEORY O MOTIVATION

Herberg established what he called hygiene or maintenance factors and motivators. According to him, here are certain extrinsic factors which by their presence do not increase the workers satisfaction or the job, but there absence may lead to job dissatisfaction and lower productivity among employees. Such extrinsic job conditions were environmental factors over which the employee has limited influence. They include payment, interpersonal relations, organizational policy and administration, supervision and working conditions. These he called hygiene factors or dissatisfier. The significance of this factor is that is does not only rely on extrinsic rewards for motivating employees for higher production but also incorporates in the job itself those ingredients that could help motivate employees.

Though researcher support Herberg, it is not freed of criticism. Critics argued that how he gathered his data is questionable. However, despite that, Herbergs theory is in many ways a gross over simplification as various aspects of the motivations theories clearly show in it. It has made a major contributions in focusing attention on jobs redesign for the purpose of making the work more intrinsically satisfying.

Hence, Herbergs theory have been found to be applicable in the field of education in the following ways:

Motivation is related to leadership, for good leadership sets an example, provides guidance, encouragement and instructions. This can be one of the greatest motivational strategies of all secondary school, which effective principals will use to motivate staff and pupils.

Another feature of motivation of teachers is that if teachers are properly motivated, this can change an otherwise mediocre group into a highly productive team.

Good motivation of teachers is definitely related to morale. In a large organization, high moral is difficult to attain and motivation of teachers is a prime factor in achieving it.

COGNITIVE FIELD THEORY OF MOTIVATION

This theory was popularized by Kurt Lewin. In an attempt to explain the theory, he proposed certain motivational constructs. These are:

TENSION

In an organism, tension is created by disequilbruim within the organism, which the organism wants to release through activities. The activities which help in releasing tension have positive valence and those that have opposite effect have negative valance. Tension induces valence in an organism and valence directs behaviour. Tension continues till the organism attain its goals.

NEED

Two types of need were proposed by Lewin. They are genuine need and quasi need. Genuine needs can come from the physiological conditions of the organism such as hunger, thirsty, shelter etc. Quasi need is tension that arise from intentions, acts of will and other arbitrary commitments of the individual. Every organism has a characteristic structure of needs which create tension thereby making the organism to be activated.

FORCE AND VALENCE

The desirability of an activity is called valence and the tendency to engage in the act is called force. Valence influences choice while force is more useful for speed or persistence of behaviour. Need gives rise to force signifying a valence activity. If the organism has no need, the environment registers no valence and no force is also generated.

In summary, the cognitive field theory of motivation is a direct function of the combinations of tension, need, force and valence.

Hence this theory is applicable in the field of education and also to what happens in the life of a teacher. For instance, like one of the motivational constructs Needs such as hunger, thirsty, shelter etc. the teacher that is characterized with these problems will not perform well in the classroom and in this case the students academic performance will be very low. But when teacher are being motivated such as given housing and transport allowance, when their salaries are paid regularly, when they get car loan and car basic allowance, these will enhance positive attitude towards task and as such improve high performance in the classroom.

2.2 IMPORTANCE OF MOTIVATION

The term motivation is derived from a Latin word movers, which means to move into action. This means that motivation is simply the cause and why of human behaviour. To further-stress on the meaning of motivation, Monday Holmes and Flippo (1980), sees motivation as a process of stimulating an individual to take decision and action in order to achieve a specific desired goal. Morgan, King and Robinson (1984) defined motivation as a state, which individual or animal gingers or derives behaviour towards some specific goals. Furthermore, Herberg (1978) was not far from the perception of motivation from the above view as he defined motivation as the psychological process that arouse, direct and maintain behaviour towards a goal.

Hence, going by the definitions of motivation as x-rayed above, one can simply conclude that efficiency, good performance and high productivity is a direct function of adequate motivation on the part of workers in an organization. And when workers were properly motivated, leading to efficiency, good performance and high productivity, the implication of this is sudden and sustained rise in national growth and development and invariably the general improvement in the welfare of the citizens.

That is why Mayor studies the work habits of the employees at the Hawttone Western plane in the 1920s as recorded by Pugh (1990), and discovered that efficiency in the production process and increased output were been realized when employees were being motivated and the reverse is the case when they were not motivated.

However, in the field of education, the role of motivation cannot be over emphasized. That is to say that motivation plays a very significant role in attaining the overall educational aims and objectives through teaching and learning process. To further buttress this argument, Ormond (2003) sees motivation as a direct behaviour towards attaining a particular goal. Bandura (1997) stated that the use of model to motivate students is recommended because, students may model after the personalities society approves. Huffman et al (1991) sees motivation as a goal directed behaviour. Steers and Porter (1983) viewed motivation as concerned with how human beings are energized, sustained, directed, stopped and the type of subjective reaction presents in the individual whole as all these processes are taking place. As if these were not enough, Ugwu 1997) still on motivation implies that behaviour has an origin, which terminates when the goal of an individual is achieved. And Ekong (2000) emphatically stated that to achieve effective performance in the teaching learning process, the teachers as well as the students must be motivated.

The reasons behind this are outlined bellow:

In the classroom, motivation helps to increase efficiency and adequacy of behaviour. For instance, a motivated child would face his classroom work with zeal and interest. Such a student will always be in school, and carry out the necessary assignment. Motivation of teachers on the other hand, are seen to be working tirelessly in the schools. They prepare their lesson notes at and when due, teaches students, gives assignments, conduct tests, exams and marks, and records them appropriate. Hence, Herzberg (1978)stated that if teachers are properly motivated, this can change an otherwise mediocre group into a highly productive team. Equally, motivation brings about the use good teaching methods in the classroom. This is because, a motivated teacher presents his subjects matter in a variety of ways thereby bringing novelty in his teaching. Example, the use of teaching aids, various illustrations using concrete objects which makes the lesson more interesting, effective and realistic.

Motivation also brings competition and increases learning efficiency on the part of the learners. For instance, if the teacher uses positive reinforcement to reward students who answers questions correctly, or who performs highly in tests or examinations, other students who did not perform well will be challenged and hence encouraged to study harder bring about competition in such classroom.

2.3 MOTIVATIONAL STRATEGIES FOR TEACHERS

Studies on motivational strategies on teachers have shown that teachers by some kind of incentives are recognized as being effective. Incentives are often given in the form of money, that is money can be seen as part of the reward system designed to reinforce behaviour and therefore to motivate people to work towards that goals and those of the organization.

The realization of the goals and objectives of any establishment or organization largely depends on how the workers perceive and react to their jobs, that is attitude which to a great extent determine the output.

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Academic Performance The Impact Of Motivation On ...