The effect of quality of work life of teachers in rural areas on teacher performance: a study of selected rural secondary schools of Petauke district.
Date
2016
Authors
Daka, Maureen
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Zambia
Abstract
The study was done to establish the effect of quality of work life of teachers in rural areas on teacher performance: A study of selected rural secondary schools of Petauke District. The research problem was that the quality of work life of teachers was influenced and affected by the remoteness or underdevelopment of their work stations which led to low performance levels in rural areas. The general objective was to establish the effect of quality of work life of teachers in rural areas on teacher performance in rural secondary schools. The specific objective was to identify the aspects of quality of work life that affected teachers in rural areas of four selected rural secondary schools. The other was to investigate the impact of low quality of work life of teachers on teacher performance in four selected rural secondary schools of Petauke District. The other was to establish possible remedies to be applied in order to improve teachers' quality of work life in four selected rural secondary schools.
Descriptive statistics revealed that most of the teachers were affected with aspects to do with accommodation, water supply, physical condition of the school, teaching and learning materials, distances from the town, allowances and promotions which were researched and analysed. Consequently, there was a risk of having teacher attrition and quality education would be compromised in rural areas. A descriptive survey design included both qualitative and quantitative methods. Data was collected using structure interview guides, questionnaires and focus group discussion guide. A study sample of 74 respondents, 50 teachers, 8 ^ Administrators, and 16 focus group members was surveyed. Contrary to the expectation, 50% I of the teachers strongly agree that they were not affected by shortage of power supply due to the fact that despite them being in rural areas, teachers enjoyed power supply because their schools were along the power grid. Data collected was presented using percentages, frequency distribution tables and other descriptive statistics such as mean, and standard deviation. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was also used. This information was displayed by use of bar charts, graphs and pie- charts. The overall view was that indeed teachers' performance was affected by quality of work life in rural secondary schools. The recommendations were that the local administrators were to address issues of incentives, extra allowances, teaching and learning materials, work with local parents to build more houses, MOE to address issues of allowances and salaries, other stakeholders like the council to address issues of road network and drill enough bore holes in rural schools.
Description
Master of Education in Educational Management
Keywords
Rural schools--Teaching--Zambia. , Education, Rural—Zambia.