TEACHERS’ MOTIVATION AS CORRELATES OF STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT IN PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN ANAMBRA STATE

Abstract

The study investigated teachers’ motivation as correlates of students’ academic achievement in public secondary schools in Anambra State. Two research questions guided the study and two  null hypotheses  were  tested  at .05  level  significance.  The  study  was  a  correlational research  design.  The population  of the  study  comprised  19,048  senior  secondary  school students in form 2 (SS2) in 263 public secondary schools in six Education Zones in Anambra State. The sample of 425 SS2 students was used for the study. Stratified and simple random sampling  technique  was used  to draw the sample  of the study.  The  instruments  for data collection  were  researcher-structured  questionnaire  titled:  Teachers’  Motivation Questionnaire (TMQ) and Students’ Academic Achievement Scores (SAAS)”. The instruments were subjected  to face and construct  validation  using three experts.  The reliability of the instrument were determined using Cronbach Alpha Coefficient method and the average coefficient for PCQ is 0.81 considered reliable and suitable for the study. Pearson Product Moment Correlation was used for the study. The study revealed that teachers’ fringe benefits (r = .735; p = .000) and teachers’ payment of salaries (r = .572; p = .000) positively and significantly  relate  to  students’  academic  achievement  in  public  secondary  schools  in Anambra State to a high extent. The study concluded that teachers’ motivation positively and significantly  correlates  to students’ academic achievement  in public secondary  schools in Anambra  State. Based on  the findings,  the study recommended  among others that school authorities  should  ensure that good fringe benefits, better salary structure, teamwork  and work environment are adequately  provided and maintained  for teachers for improved  job performance and students’ academic achievement in public secondary schools.