Teacher Motivation : issues and challenges facing School Management Teams (STMs) in motivationg teachers

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate teacher motivation and the issues and challenges facing school management teams in motivating teachers. The study was guided by research questions, namely: What is the nature and scope of teacher motivation'? What is the relationship between leadership and teacher motivation? What are the challenges that the SMT members face when motivating teachers? How could teachers be assisted to regain their passion regarding their educational work? quantitative (survey) method was employed to gather information from the SMTs. particularly the principals of schools. deputy principals and the heads of departments on the role of SMTs, the interrelationship between them and their subordinates. challenges encountered in motivating teachers, and SMTs' views on the recognition or excellence in teacher performance. A quantitative data analysis programme was used to analyze the quantitative data. The statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS version 16.0) was utilised to compute frequency distribution, standard deviations, percentages, means and ANOVA. Open-ended qualitative data were subjected to theme analysis involving a simple identification and summarization of key themes. The findings revealed that the respondents have a feeling that there is no co-operation among teachers: there are many criticisms against the Developmental appraisal System (DAS) and some teachers have no interest in the motivation process. It is recommended that the Department of Education should endeavour to change teachers attitude towards their career. to strengthen and build healthy relationships amongst teachers. and to find better ways of developing teachers generally. One of the conclusions drawn from the study is that the negative attitude of most teachers is a barrier to motivation. The other is that the developmental strategies that are implemented are not achieving their objectives because not all SMT members know their responsibilities as managers, and communication is still a problem in schools as it is not flowing the way it is expected.