1.1 Introduction
The teaching profession previously was accorded with respect, honor and dignity. This enviable profession was a sort of motivation to many teachers. Also not only afford life career and permanent membership but also renders services to the public. It has code of ethics; the code of ethics for teachers is contained in the handbooks of the Nigeria union of teachers. while motivation can be brought about by adequate remuneration, fringe benefits and recognition. A quality teacher is one who has a positive effect on student learning and development through a combination of content mastery, command of a broad set of pedagogic skills, and communications/interpersonal skills. Quality teachers are life-long learners in their subject areas, teach with commitment, and are reflective upon their teaching practice.
As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Research hypothesis and questions, Limitations of the Study and Definition of technical terms.
1.2 Background of Study
Education is largely a matter of a learning process that involves interactions between teacher and learner. When this process works well, real learning takes place. In the past, academic performance was often measured more by ear than today. Teachers' observations made up the bulk of the assessment and today's summation, or numerical, method of determining how well a student is performing is a fairly recent invention. Grading systems came into existence in the United States in the late Victorian period and were initially criticized due to high subjectivity. Different teachers valued different aspects of learning more highly than others, and although some standardization was attempted in order to make the system fairer, the problem continued.
Today, changes have been made to incorporate differentiation for individual students' abilities, and exploration of alternate methods of measuring performance is ongoing. The tracking of academic performance fulfills a number of purposes. Areas of achievement and failure in a student's academic career need to be evaluated in order to foster improvement and make full use of the learning process. Results provide a framework for talking about how students fare in school and a constant standard to which all students are held. Performance results also allow students to be ranked and sorted on a scale that is numerically obvious, minimizing complaints by holding teachers and schools accountable for the components of every grade.
Performance in school is evaluated in a number of ways. For regular grading, students demonstrate their knowledge by taking written and oral tests, performing presentations, turning in homework and participating in class activities and discussions. Teachers evaluate in the form of letter or number grades and side notes, to describe how well a student has done. At the state level, students are evaluated by their performance on standardized tests geared toward specific ages. Many people emphasize the importance of good teachers, and some policies are designed to promote teacher quality.
Research using student scores on standardized tests confirms the common perception that some teachers are more effective than others and also reveals that being taught by an effective teacher has important consequences for student achievement and based on a set of achievements students in each age group are expected to meet. Many factors contribute to a student's academic performance, including individual characteristics and family and neighborhood experiences.
But research suggests that, among school-related factors, teachers matter most. When it comes to student performance on tests, a teacher is estimated to have two to three times the impact of any other school factor, including services, facilities, and even leadership. Teachers at all levels of the education system should be adequately trained, respected, remunerated, and able to participate in decisions affecting their professional lives and teaching environments. When teachers are enabled to do their job effectively, their students are enabled to learn effectively. A well-motivated teacher always completes the tasks set for him, even when such tasks or assignments are difficult or seem uninteresting
Motivation involves a number of psychological factors that start and maintain activities towards the achievements of personal goals and refers to reasons that underlie behaviour that is characterized by willingness and volition. Motivation in education can have several effects on how students learn and their behavior towards subjects matter, Ormord (2003).
Motivation of teachers and students in the teaching and learning process can direct behavior towards particular goals, leads to increase effort and energy, enhances cognitive processing, increases imitation of and persistence in activities, determines 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 and, as a result, they are more productive. Therefore, it means that motivated teachers are determined to give their best to achieve the maximum output (qualitative education).
Therefore, in Nigeria where the research was carried out, the activities that was conducted is to know the Impact of Motivation of Teachers on Student Academic Performance.
1.3 Statement of Problems
Investigation revealed that the problem will investigate into the salary of teachers and how often their salaries are paid in companies with other workers in the public sectors whether there are adequate facilities, including laboratory equipment, textbooks, adequate finance and conducive environment for teacher to carry out their job. Whether the nature and structure of job can act as a motivating factor and also what are the attitudes of teachers as regard remaining in the profession.
1.4 Aim and Objectives of Study
The aim of the study is to examine the Impact of Motivation of Teachers on Student Academic Performance. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:
- To find the extent to which government pays salaries as at when due to the teachers;
- To find out the extent to which promotion of teachers at and when due influences teachers performance; and
- To find out the extent which such programs like seminars, conference and workshops that are conducted for the teachers can enhance their performance in the class.
1.5 Research Questions
The study came up with research questions so as to be able to ascertain the above stated objectives. The specific research questions for the study are stated below as follows:
- To what extent does irregular payment of teachers' salaries affect teachers' performance on their work?
- To what extent do seminars, conferences and workshops for teachers influence teachers' performance?
- To what extent does inadequate promotion of teachers affect teachers' performance in the classroom?
- To what extent does negligence of teachers' welfare affect teachers' performance in the classroom?
1.6 Research Hypothesis
In order to pursue the objective of this study, the following generalized statements have been designed to guide and aids in obtaining the result for the experiment to be conducted. For this work, the null hypothesis will be represented with H0 while the alternative hypothesis will be represented with hypothesis H1.
Hypothesis One
- H0: There is no significant relationship between teacher's motivation and their job performance.
- H1: There is a significant relationship between teacher's motivation and their job performance.
Hypothesis Two
- H0: There is no significant difference between public and private school teacher's performance.
- H1: There is a significant difference between public and private school teacher's performance.
Hypothesis Three
- H0: There is no significant difference in motivation in both public and private school teachers
- H1: There is a significant difference in motivation in both public and private school teachers
Hypothesis Four
- H0: There are no differences in motivation and performance across individual demographics.
- H1: There are differences in motivation and performance across individual demographics.
1.7 Significance of Study
The relevance of the study will help in finding possible ways in which motivation can influence productivity or 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 significant in the following ways:
- When teachers are being motivated, the society/ government will benefit immensely in the sense that the teachers put in their best, the students will contribute properly to the economic growth and development of the nation and the welfare of its citizens.
- 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 family responsibilities.
- Students will benefit equally when teachers are motivated because the research will enable them to enhance and improve their performance.
- The teachers also benefit a lot when 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.
This study will be of immense benefit to other researchers who intend to know more on this study and can also be used by non-researchers to build more on their research work. This study contributes to knowledge and could serve as a guide for other study.
1.8 Scope of Study
The scope of the research is focused on the Impact of Motivation of Teachers on Student Academic Performance. The study will cover some selected secondary schools in Surulere Local Government Area in Lagos State.
1.9 Limitations of the Study
During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:
- Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
- Establishment Policies: Establishment policies posed a serious limitation as most staffs are not ready to release information needed for this project work. There were lots of information needed from the staffs of this establishment to enhance the study which took them time to release or they did not release at all for security purposes, hence the scope was reduced.
- Research material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
- Frequent power failure: This made the researcher append more money on fuel to ensure sustainable power.
- Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).
1.10 Definition of Terms
Teacher: A person whose job is teaching, impact knowledge in an individual.
Student: A Person who is studying in school.
Performance: How well or badly you do something.
Motivate: A reason why somebody does something or behaves in a particular way.
School: A place where learners are educated.
Classroom: A room where a class of children or students is taught.
Academic Achievement: This deals with making headway in school.
