Assessing teacher motivation and its outcome on performance in public basic schools in East Gonja District of Ghana

Abstract

The study explored the extent and adequacy of motivation within the Ghana Education Service (GES) and its effect on teaching. The population for the study was all teaching staff in the East Gonja District. A Survey design was used in the study and a questionnaire developed by the researchers was administered to teachers in 25 schools out of 69 zoned schools giving a 36% representation of the entire population. Random sampling method was used to select four teachers from each of the selected schools to give a total of 100 respondents. The study revealed that promotion, salary increment, cash rewards and study leave with pay were motivating factors to teacher performance. The study also unraveled poor management commitment to teacher performance, and finally, the relationship between years of experience and job satisfaction depicted that teachers with more years of teaching experience were more motivated and satisfied than the youth. It is recommended that management pays attention to factors that motivate teachers so as to improve performance and also give some form of incentives/appreciation to especially longer serving and industrious teachers.