Addressing teacher demotivation in public secondary schools: a case of selected schools in Lusaka District

Abstract

Motivation as a concept, is an essential element, which if well executed could enhance performance and commitment among teachers, especially in public secondary schools. While teacher motivation is of paramount importance, it had been observed that, several teachers working in public secondary schools in Lusaka District were highly demotivated. In this regard the researcher sought to address factors responsible for teacher demotivation in the ten selected public secondary schools of Lusaka District and provide workable strategies to reduce demotivation among teacher. In view of this, an Applied Research Design with a mixed method approach of an equal status was sequentially employed. In addition, the research was guided by Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory of Job Satisfaction. Two instruments of data collection were used to gather primary data. A survey questionnaire was used to collect quantitative data in the first phase of the research and a Focus Group Discussion was employed to collect qualitative data in the second phase of the research. The quantitative data was analysed using the Chi-square test and the Pearson Correlation at the 5 percent confidence level and the qualitative data was analysed using Thematic Analysis. A total of 250 respondents were selected by a simple random technique to participate in the study. The findings of the study were that: female teachers, younger teachers aged between 20 and 29, Master’s Degrees holders, teachers who saved between 31 and 40 years and Section Heads were the highly demotivated teachers. In addition, the study discovered that: lack of recognition for teachers’ good performance, inadequate conditions in which teacher worked from (such as inadequate teaching and learning materials, inadequate infrastructure and high teacher pupil ratio), poor management style, poor professional status, inadequate remuneration, in adequate training and development programmes and poor interpersonal work relationships, were the factors responsible for teacher demotivation. The study therefore, recommended a number of motivation enhancing strategies to be employed in order to reduce teacher demotivation, among these strategies were that: promotions should be based on merit, improving working conditions by expanding the school infrastructure especially the classrooms to reduce the teacher pupil ratio which stood at 85 pupils to one teacher, Head teachers to be more: (democratic, friendly, objective and impartial), eliminating negative publicity to improve teachers’ professional status in society, improving teachers’ salaries, increasing funding for in-service and specialised training and decentralising decision making. The study also recommended that a similar study be conducted in other districts and provinces of Zambia in order to find a lasting solution to teacher demotivation especially in public schools. Key Words: Teacher, Teacher Demotivation and Public Secondary Schools.