Influence of Staff Motivation on Academic Achievement of Secondary School Students (in Biology Subject)
Chapter One
PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
The purpose of the study is to examine the influence of staff motivation on the academic achievement of biology students in some selected secondary schools in Ikeja Local Government Area of Lagos State.
Other specific objectives of the study include to find out
- Whether motivation has a significant influence on academic performance of adolescents in schools.
- Whether there is a significant difference in the academic achievement of students who are motivated and those who are not.
- whether there is a significant influence of motivation on the social adjustment of adolescents in schools.
- Whether there is a significant gender difference in academic performance of students due to motivation.
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
The concept of student motivation on academic performance
Motivation is a process that begins with a deficiency that is psychological or a drive aimed at satisfying a goal (Okumbe, 1998). So it can be said that motivation is made up of needs (deficiencies) that bring up drives (motives) that then assist in acquiring the incentives (goals). Motives are action-oriented while incentives do isolate a need. To Marques (2010) motivation can be said to be what is required for people to perform better in any activity .Every educator needs to be concerned about motivation. It is a quality that students, teachers, parents and members of the community must have if education system is to prepare young people adequately for the challenges and demands of the coming century. How these various categories of individuals generate and utilize motivation differs to a great extent. For students motivation is necessary for learning to take place, parents need to be motivated to follow up on the academic performance of their sons and daughters, teachers need it to ensure all aspects of their schools continue to improve. It is the role of the school administrator to initiate and nurture motivation among the various categories of individuals that participate in the educational process. Motivation must be rewarded, increased and sustained at all levels. However the school administration must not neglect their own, like other participants of the educational process they have to find ways to stay motivated in the midst of obstacles, distraction and what appears to be universal indifference. Academic achievement/ performance is the outcome of education, the extent to which the student or institution has achieved their educational goals. Academic achievement is generally measured by examinations or continuous assessment test. Individual variation in academic performance have been linked to differences in intelligence and personality. For the entire past century academic performance has become the gatekeeper to higher learning institutions, defining career paths and individual life trajectories. Hence large quantity of psychological research has concentrated on pinpointing predictors of academic performance with intelligence and efforts coming out as major determinants. Today academic performance continues to be understood as a precise proxy for aptitude and is a core determinant of career paths and status achievement even though some doubt its value ( chammore-premuzic & furnham, 2010) Academic performance is vital to understanding the development of today’s well known psychometric “tool” : the intelligence test. Because academic performance was thought to mirror individual differences in ability, it became the top criterion for intelligence tests(Chamorro-premuzic, 2006) Alfred Binnet(1857-1911) developed the pioneer intelligence test to identify children who were challenged by the school curriculum and their academic performance. Future ability tests continued to be validated by educational achievement as accurate measures of intelligence. Indeed if an intelligence test failed to account for individual differences it was not regarded as a meaningful measure of intellectual capacity(e.g Bolton 1892) The association between cognitive ability and academic performance persists across educational levels although it tends to decrease in more advanced academic 9 settings due to differential range restrictions. To concur with this research recently has assessed the degree to which individual differences in academic performance can be explained by personality factors.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
INTRODUCTION
In this chapter, we described the research procedure for this study. A research methodology is a research process adopted or employed to systematically and scientifically present the results of a study to the research audience viz. a vis, the study beneficiaries.
RESEARCH DESIGN
Research designs are perceived to be an overall strategy adopted by the researcher whereby different components of the study are integrated in a logical manner to effectively address a research problem. In this study, the researcher employed the survey research design. This is due to the nature of the study whereby the opinion and views of people are sampled. According to Singleton & Straits, (2009), Survey research can use quantitative research strategies (e.g., using questionnaires with numerically rated items), qualitative research strategies (e.g., using open-ended questions), or both strategies (i.e., mixed methods). As it is often used to describe and explore human behaviour, surveys are therefore frequently used in social and psychological research.
POPULATION OF THE STUDY
According to Udoyen (2019), a study population is a group of elements or individuals as the case may be, who share similar characteristics. These similar features can include location, gender, age, sex or specific interest. The emphasis on study population is that it constitutes of individuals or elements that are homogeneous in description.
This study was carried to examine a influence of staff motivation on academic achievement of secondary school students (in biology subject). Selected secondary schools in Lagos form the population of the study.
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS
INTRODUCTION
This chapter presents the analysis of data derived through the questionnaire and key informant interview administered on the respondents in the study area. The analysis and interpretation were derived from the findings of the study. The data analysis depicts the simple frequency and percentage of the respondents as well as interpretation of the information gathered. A total of eighty (80) questionnaires were administered to respondents of which only seventy-seven (77) were returned and validated. This was due to irregular, incomplete and inappropriate responses to some questionnaire. For this study a total of 77 was validated for the analysis.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Introduction
It is important to ascertain that the objective of this study was to ascertain influence of staff motivation on academic achievement of secondary school students (in biology subject). In the preceding chapter, the relevant data collected for this study were presented, critically analyzed and appropriate interpretation given. In this chapter, certain recommendations made which in the opinion of the researcher will be of benefits in addressing the challenges of staff motivation on academic achievement of secondary school students (in biology subject).
Summary
This study was on influence of staff motivation on academic achievement of secondary school students (in biology subject). Four objectives were raised which included: Whether motivation has a significant influence on academic performance of adolescents in schools, Whether there is a significant difference in the academic achievement of students who are motivated and those who are not, whether there is a significant influence of motivation on the social adjustment of adolescents in schools and Whether there is a significant gender difference in academic performance of students due to motivation. A total of 77 responses were received and validated from the enrolled participants where all respondents were drawn from selected secondary schools in Lagos. Hypothesis was tested using Chi-Square statistical tool (SPSS).
Conclusion
The research study was able to conclude that motivational techniques used on students have some degree of influence on their academic performance. What brings about academic motivation in students is sustained task management that is ensuring that they remain interested in their studies. Learning like any other human behavior is nor random. It occurrence is strengthened if there is some reward or feeling of satisfaction that accompanies it schools that perform well are known to have unique characteristics some of which are obvious while others are not. One characteristic that stands out is the attitude that both the students and the teachers have towards not just academics but school life as a whole. Such group of characteristics have been termed “correlates of an effective school”.
Recommendation
1)This study focused mostly on extrinsic motivation and the conclusion being that the motivational methods indeed have a positive impact. However the durability of extrinsic motivation is temporary and is affected by several factors. A potential area of further research would be to find out how these techniques can be sustained for longer.
Intrinsic motivation being inbuilt is known to be more reliable. Therefore future research should focus on how exactly it relates to academic performance. Since self motivation is a personality trait it can be beneficial to discover how it can be nurtured in those individuals who have it.
Academic performance being integral to future career prospects, it is also crucial for researchers to come up with how curriculum content can be delivered in a more stimulating way. This is because currently even teachers find the syllabus a bit cumbersome and this contributes to lack of interest by the learners. Therefore further research should touch on making learning to be fun and relevant.
References
- Ackers, J and Hardman, F Classroom interaction in Kenyan primary schools (Unpublished ) 2001
- Anderman B Eric.M. Griesinger, Motivation and cheating during early adolescence, Journal of Educational psychology,2001 Bandura.A. Self –efficacy defined Encyclopedia of human behavour volume 4, New York academic press, 1991
- Caroline F Mansfield, Motivational goals during adolescence Murdoch University,1998 Chammoro-Premuzic. , Cognitive ability, self assurance and personality 41 ISSN 0160-2896, 2012
- Cirila- Peklaj, Students motivation in relation to success University of Ljubjana, Slovenia, 1997 David Topur. , Parental involvement in student academic performance J Prev Interv 183-187
- Dagett.WR . , Successful schools from research to action plans 5 th world conference on educational sciences, 2005
- Dweck C.S . , Motivation processes affecting learning American psychologist 41.1040 Edith Wagner . , Motivational factors of academic achievement Babos-polyei University, 2012
- Elison JA . , The development of a scale to assess different student orientations towards grades, University of Tennese, 1980 Frank Pajares . , An overview of social cognitive theory Emory University, 1995
- Githua BN & Nyabwa R A. , Effects of advance organizer during instruction of secondary
- Cochran-Smith, M. (2001). “Constructing Outcomes in Teacher Education: Policy, Practice and Pitfalls.” Education Policy Analysis 9(11). http://epaa.asu.edu/epaa/v9n11.html (retrieved October 11, 2007). [15]
