Abstract
This study focus on influence of teachers’ welfare on students academic performance in some selected secondary schools in Ishielu Local Government Area of Ebonyi State. Four purpose and research questions guided the study. The population of the study is made up of 100 teachers drawn across the six (5) schools selected for the study. Simple random sampling technique was used to select the number of schools used for the research, while 100 teachers were used as the sample size due to its researchable size. At the same time instrument used for the data collection was questionnaire. The response on the questionnaire item were used to answer the research questions and mean scores of ratings of the item were computed and used as a guide in analyzing the data. The findings of the study shows that teachers welfare influence student academic performance to a high extent. The educational implications and recommendations which were based on the findings were made and consequently limitations and suggestions for further study were clearly highlighted; Summary and conclusion were also stated
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background to the Study
Education has been recognized as the fundamental basis on which any nation could function effectively. Its socio-political and economic depends solely on the qualitative education given to her citizen. Any nation that wants to be recognized as a developed country must build its human resource firmly. Hence, a country is said to be developed if the majority of her populace is highly educated Therefore, those that impact the needed knowledge or those that build or mould the character should be attainted and motivated adequately, knowing that their welfare is the key to performance and improvement. Hence, it is believed that a motivated teacher always complete the tasks set for him, even when such task is diicult or seen uninteresting. Teachers are a central actor in the learning process that takes place in schools, and teachers are the power tools for improving quality education through eective classroom practices in secondary schools (Davison, 2011). Attitudes and eectiveness can vary depending on the incentives they face. Pay structure is potentially an incentive-tool in the hands of the education policy maker, and merit pay proposals have important recently been discussed in several countries and applied in some. However, the issue of whether linking teachers pay to student performance is an eective means of improving that performance has been contentious in educational debates. According to Geeta and Francis (2010) that causality is established as running from higher wage to improved student achievement, the relationship is open to alternative interpretations. One is that a positive impact from wages onto achievement reflects the fact that higher wages likely attract better quality people into the pool for applicants for teaching jobs. A second interpretation is that higher pay raises achievement by raising the eort of existing teachers. In terms of the eiciency wage theory, better paid teachers are likely to work harder in order to increase the chance of retaining their more valuable jobs. The paper will test these alternative explanations of the wage eect on student achievement. According to Patrick and Jane (2013), Teacher incentive is the idea that has been received with divergent views. The proponents of teacher incentive programmes believe that teacher incentives are meant to boost teacher motivation and eectiveness resulting in high productivity and increased pupil performance. On the other hand, opponents of the idea argue that monetary incentives, especially of small amounts, tend to crowed out intrinsic motivation and lead to inferior outcomes (Jacob, 2011). One hypothesis, as explained by Hanushek (2010), maintains that rewarding teachers for students achievement gains will improve student achievement by attracting more eective teachers to the field or improving the eectiveness of existing teachers. According to brain (2011) Education is one of the most important avenues through which governments can address concerns of economic growth and equity.
Human capital plays a substantial role in the economic growth of nations (Topel 2012) and, in the past two decades, skill biased technical change has increased the returns to schooling, exacerbating wage inequality between the most and least educated members of our society (Katz and Murphy 2010). At the same time, cognitive ability has become an increasingly important determinant of labor market success in this country. Aware of the importance of education, economists have spent considerable eort examining what factors aect academic achievement. There is a large literature on the importance of financial resources in determining educational outcomes.’ However, researchers have paid considerably less attention to remedial programs designed to improve the performance of low achieving students, including summer school and grade retention (Eide and Showalter, 2011). In Nigeria, Mathematics is a compulsory subject up to secondary school level. During the last couple of years, performance in Mathematics in National examination has dropped significantly and this has been a major concern for the society. The West Africa Examination Council has continued to raise concerns over the poor performance in Senior Secondary Certificate Examination. Many teachers have le teaching in public schools for greener pastures in better paying private schools as a result of lack of motivation and incentives needed. Students in most public schools are disadvantaged in that the classes are overcrowded and they do not have adequate learning facilities. In some instances, they lack adequate textbooks and laboratory equipments. This is in sharp contrast to private schools where the numbers of students are few as there are adequate facilities and the teachers are willing to go an extra mile to ensure that the students perform well in examination but the willingness to go an extra mile to ensure good students performance may be frustrated when there is no motivation and encouragement to the side of the teachers. Although, it is believed that the reward for the teachers is in heaven, but there is no doubt about the fact that if the limited or no motivation for the teachers in terms of incentives and innovation it may drastically reduce their morale which may in turn have a negative impact on students performance. The few teachers on the government payroll are poorly remunerated as a result most of them take up part time employment or private business enterprise in order to make ends means. This greatly reduces their commitment to the teaching (which demands for sacrifice). However, lack of motivations for the teachers may influence their dedication to teaching work. Poor performance of student in mathematics may also be as a result of teachers not being dedicated to their duties which may in turn have eects on students academic goal setting which apace aect individual who has set lower goals for themselves(Aremu, Ayotola, 2000). The role of teachers in national building and natural development cannot be washed away -Anibeze- Vanguard Newspapper 2012 – page 12 gives priority to teachers welfare.
