Demographic Factors and Perception of Teaching Profession by Secondary School Teachers
CHAPTER ONE
Purpose of the study
The purpose of this study is to investigate the Demographic factors influencing teachers’ teaching profession in Yenagoa LGA, Bayelsa State.
Objectives of the study
- To determine how remuneration affects the effectiveness of teachers in secondary schools
- To establish how age of teachers affect the effectiveness of teachers in secondary schools
- To assess the extent to which the level of training of head teachers in financial management affect effectiveness of teachers in secondary schools
- To determine how gender affects the effectiveness of teachers in secondary schools
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
Introduction
This section covers past literature on Demographic factors influencing teachers’ teaching profession. It equally covers the theoretical framework and conceptual framework and shows the gaps to be filled by the study.
Effect of teachers’ remuneration on teachers’ effectiveness in secondary schools
Effective teachers are those who achieve the goals which they set for themselves or which have been set for them by others such as ministries of education, legislators and other government officials and school administrators. Effective teachers must possess the knowledge and skills needed to attain the goals, and must be able to use that knowledge and those skills appropriately if these goals are to be achieved (Borich, 1992).
Teacher remuneration is the salaries and benefits offered to teachers for their teaching work. Changes in teacher pay are likely to affect education quality though two mechanisms: by influencing the efficiency of the school and by affecting teacher quality (Loeb, Susanna & Page, 2000). They intuition suggested that higher teacher pay may improve the efficiency of schools by reducing teacher turnover. Kingdon (1996) in a study in America suggests that teacher turnover can have a disruptive impact on student achievement by diverting LGA resources to the hiring process, weakening teacher collaboration, and eroding the bond or level of trust between students and teachers. He noted that increases in teacher salary could have an immediate negative impact on teacher turnover, thereby increasing a school’s efficiency.
Rivkin, Hanushek and Kain (2005) noted that Australia has a lot of respect for its teachers, and it shows. Teachers are compensated quite well for their work, and the government has established a number of programs to help them continually improve and grow on the job. Resultantly, teachers often work collaboratively and are very effective. Clotfelter, Ladd and Vigdor (2006) added that while there are many ways to improve teacher effectiveness, one popular strategy is to raise teacher salaries. This is as evidenced by a study on the same in California which showed that raising teacher salaries make difficult positions more attractive by providing a compensating differential for characteristics of the job that may be less desirable (Strunk & Zeehandelaar, 2011).
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Introduction
This section focuses on the research design, target population, sample size and sampling procedure. It also has research instruments, validity and reliability of the instruments, data collection procedure and data analysis and presentation.
Research design
A research design shows which individuals will be studied; as well as when, where and in which context (Oso & Onen, 2005). Descriptive survey research design was used in this study because the subjects were observed in a completely natural and unchanged natural environment without influencing them. This implied that it was more likely to get the true nature of the variable under study. In addition, the research design provided a means to contextually interpret and understand the Demographic factors influencing teachers’ effectiveness. It also helped in measuring the respondents’ attitudes, opinions, habits or any of the variety of education or social issues in a large population.
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA ANALYSIS, DISCUSSION AND INTERPRETATION OF FINDINGS
Head Teachers’ Demographic data
The study sought to find out the sociodemographic data as regards the headteachers’ ages, genders and work experience with a view of relating the information to the demorgraphic factors influencing teachers’ teaching profession.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Summary of the study findings
The study found out that most of the teachers considered the remuneration levels as not adequate to ensure optimum productivity. This was by way of 90% of the teachers agreeing that remuneration affects teaching profession. This was a high percentage taking into account that only 10% of the teachers felt that remuneration had no impact on their profession. The extent to which remuneration affected the teachers’ teaching profession was 22% to a moderate extent, 60% to a great extent and 18% to a very great extent. The teachers decried the fact that they had to engage in side jobs and businesses to supplement their incomes owing to the low remuneration levels. They argued that this greatly impaired their effectiveness in productivity as they did not the capacity to give undivided attention to their professional callings and obligations to the pupils.
Most of the teachers considered the headteachers as not having the requisite training in financial management which was up to the required levels and standards to ensure prudent management of the institutions and a conducive environment to guarantee effective delivery on the part of the teachers. The teachers were of the opinion that headteachers training in financial management affected their teaching profession with 21% agreeing while 79% were of the opinion that it did not. The extent to which teachers believed that headteachers’ training in financial management affected their profession was to a moderate extent at 13%, to great extent at 30% and to a very great extent at 57%. On the other hand the headteachers considered themselves to have the skills requisite for running and manning the institutions which was a heavy contrast to the position of the teachers and LGA Quality Assurance Officer who equally considered the headteachers training in financial management as very wanting and not to the required standards to effectively manage the physical, human and financial resources in the institutions.
Conclusions of the study
The study had the following conclusions:
The study concluded that remuneration levels were a critical factor which heavily constrained the teachers in terms of their capacities of being effective and having an assured capacity to optimally meet their obligations in terms of delivery at work. This is because the teachers spent most of their times thinking about means of how to supplement their incomes owing to inadequacies at the expense of researching and planning for their professional activities. This was thus confirmed as a critical factor heavily constraining and impairing teacher teaching profession.
The study concluded that age in most institutions in the LGA were inadequate. This was a factor which came out strongly as heavily impacting negatively on the ability of the teachers to be effective in their core duties. It is a factor beyond the ability of the teachers and they are left to just manage with the situations as they are and innovate on how to meet the capacity constraints and realize their teaching profession. This is a challenge on the part of the teachers in that instead of concentrating and working towards achieving their professional obligations, they were left to innovate and think outside the box as to how to meet the shortfalls in capacities.
Recommendations of the study
The study recommended
That the teachers remuneration levels should be reviewed by the government with an aim of motivating their performance to enhance their teaching profession. The provision for responsibility allowances by the treasury will make teachers a more committed lot taking into account that teaching is a very challenging profession and it is a calling which is not for the faint-hearted. The teachers will take pride like other professionals once they realize that their efforts are recognized because many at times they go out of their way and sacrifice for the wellbeing of the learners under their charge. Motivation in the form of performance tokens paid to teachers whose classes excel in the national examination by the government and other stakeholders in the education sector would also serve as a way of pegging remuneration on performance. This would greatly motivate teachers to go an extra mile and work hard to realize the tokens and take pride in their achievements;
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