MOTIVATION AND TEACHER’S PERFORMANCE IN PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN UGANDA: A CASE STUDY OF SELECTED PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN IGANGA DISTRICT

ABSTRACT

Motivation represents an employee’s desire and commitment, which is manifested in job

performance. That is, job in high motivation (intrinsic) and hygiene (extrinsic) factors leads to

high performance and few complaints among teachers. The purpose of this study was to examine

the Effect of Motivation on Teachers’ Performance in Uganda Education institutions; A Case of

Public Secondary Schools in Iganga District Uganda. A descriptive research design which

incorporated quantitative and qualitative approaches was adopted to investigate motivation

factors that influence teacher’s performance. A survey was carried out with 100 respondents

including ordinary teachers, department teachers and head teachers in public secondary schools

in Iganga District, Uganda. In addition, in depth interviews were carried out with head teachers.

Data was analyzed by using descriptive statistics of SPSS package. The study revealed that the

motivation for persons to join the teaching profession was job security and absence of job

alternatives but salary was a low consideration, The study further revealed that the majority of

teachers were motivated by intrinsic factors, while a small percentage by extrinsic factors despite

the fact that salary was inadequate. Furthermore, although not all extrinsic motivation factors

(such as free meals, regular salary payment, leave of absence, free accommodation and weekly

allowances) were available to teachers, the majority of teachers were concerned more about the

inadequacy of current salary levels to meet their basic needs. The study recommends immediate

increase the salary of secondary school teachers to match increases in the cost of living,

provision of accommodation to teachers and strengthening of supervision. The study also

suggests areas for research and these included but not limiting to investigation of innovative

teachers’ motivation strategies, students’ satisfaction with relation to teachers’ performance and

extension of the same study of other regions in Uganda before generalization of results.