Sulyman, K. O.,1 Aloba, F. M.,2 Abdulrauf, B. I.PhD3 &Alao, B. O.4
1, 2, 3&4
Department of Educational Management, Faculty of Education, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria
Abstract
This study examined job satisfaction as a determinant of teachers’ commitment in basic schools in Ilorin West Local Government, Kwara State, Nigeria. Four hypothesis were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The study adopted descriptive research design of survey type. Stratified sampling technique was used to draw 14(32.6%) upper basic schools and 22(33.3%) lower basic schools out of the 43 and 64such schools respectively in the LGA. Ten teachers were randomly sampled from each of the 36 sampled schools; while the 14 principals, 42 vice principals, 22 head teachers and 36 assistant head teachers in the sampled schools were automatically sampled. This gave a total sample size of 474 respondents. Job Satisfaction Questionnaire (JSQ) and Teachers’ Commitment Questionnaire (TCQ) were used to collect data for the study. The JSQ and TCQ were validated and tested for reliability. Reliability coefficients of 0.84 and 0.81 respectively were obtained. Pearson Product moment Correlation was used to analyse the data. The findings of the study revealed that there was a significant relationship between job satisfaction and teachers’ commitment in basic schools in Ilorin West Local Government, Kwara State,Nigeria. Based on the findings, the study recommended that Kwara State Government should prioritize effective provision of motivation to basic school teachers to make them develop high sense of job satisfaction which would enhance high commitment to the job; and consequently, discharge their official duties in a way which would enhance students’ academic performance.
Keywords: Job satisfaction; Salary, Promotion, Fringe Benefits and Teachers’
commitment Introduction
Education is an important weapon which every nation needs in order to gain competitive advantage over its colleagues across the universe. As a result of this, the Nigerian government needs to pay adequate attention to all the levels of education, especially the basic level which is the bedrock upon which all other levels are erected. As a way of paying adequate attention to education, government needs to adequately motivate basic school teachers, to make them develop high level of job satisfaction which would enhance their commitment to the job. When
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teachers are not satisfied with their job, their morale and job commitment could be poor, haphazard job performance could set in; and hence, poor students’ academic performance.
Based on the personal observation of the researcher and the information gathered from some basic school principals, vice principals, head teachers and teachers in Ilorin West Local Government Area, Kwara State, Nigeria many teachers at this level of education in the State are not satisfied with their job. This could be as a result of poor treatment which they are receiving from the state government. For instance, in Kwara State, public basic school teachers are owed backlog of salaries. This might be giving them a kind of psychological disturbance which could make them dissatisfied with their job. Also, all the public basic school teachers in the State who have been due for promotion since the year 2018 are yet to receive it. This is another scenario which could bring about job satisfaction. In addition, fringe benefits like health insurance scheme, festive packages, housing loans and a host of others which teachers consider as added advantage on the job are not forthcoming. This incident might also be killing the teachers’ morale; and hence, dissatisfaction with the job.
According to Ogbu (2014), when teachers are not well motivated, they could be found in the state of having poor or lack of job satisfaction; a scenario which would make teachers decide not to dedicate their time to proper teaching of students nor prepare their lessons well enough to impart all necessary knowledge and skills using appropriate methods. Bello and Jakada (2017) opined that, like employees in other organisations, teachers also work so that they can be financially buoyant to satisfy their numerous needs and wants from the salary they receive.
There is a need for government to ensure that a good salary package is provided for teachers, not only to attract them to the job but also enhance their commitment towards effective services delivery which would lead to actualisation of the goals of education.
In the opinion of Akande (2014), receiving a deserved promotion at the right time would help in increasing the commitment of teachers towards discharging their statutory duties in schools effectively. Similarly, Muheeb (2004) argued that, when teachers are deprived their promotions, they would not be happy and it might hinder commitment to the job. Taiwo (2000) asserted that, apart from timely and regular payment of salary and allowances, provision of fringe benefits are also important in enhancing teachers’ job commitment. These include loans, health insurance scheme, leave bonus, retirement benefits and pension plans. From the foregoing discussions, it can be deduced that, job satisfaction is needed to enhance teachers’ commitment. It is against this background that this study examined job satisfaction as a determinant of teachers’ commitment in basic schools in Ilorin West Local Government, Kwara State.
Job satisfaction is highly needed to enhance teachers’ job commitment.
According to Austine (2000), job satisfaction means the extent to which an
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employee’s personal needs, both material and psychological are achieved while performing the task assigned to him or her. According to him, individuals commonly seek job satisfaction. Yousef (2008) stated that job satisfaction and employees’ commitment are related. Employees with poor job satisfaction are likely to exhibit behaviours which are related to absenteeism, lateness, tardiness or thinking of leaving the organization completely. Evans (2005) identified factors such as teacher’s poor salaries and low status, poor working environment and erratic changes in the educational system as factors responsible of teachers’
dissatisfaction to the teaching environment.
Surbhi (2015) defined salary as a fixed amount of money paid to teachers on monthly basis for the services rendered towards the realisation of school goals.
Muhammad-Rafiq (2012) observed that, salary is very important to teachers. As a result of this, teachers’ salary needs to be paid at the right time, to enhance their commitment which is needed to actualise the sated goals. Adair (2009) stated that in educational institution, promotion serves as a strategy for boosting employees’
morale, enhance their commitment and consequently affect students’ academic performance positively. In addition, Tuwei, Matelong, Boit and Tallam (2013) stated that, teachers tend to be more committed and dedicated to their job when there is certainty that they would be promoted timely. Contrarily, if they are not promoted in due course, it might hinder their job commitment. Clement (2008) explained that, fringe benefits mean compensation such as housing loan, medical insurance scheme and car loan and the likes made available for the employees by the employers, in addition to their salaries, to enhance their job commitment.
Olabanjo (2001) opined that, adequate provision of fringe benefits such as housing scheme loans, car loans, subsidization of the health services and in-service training would also help in enhancing teachers’ commitment to the job.
Newstrom and Davies (2002) elucidated that job commitment is the extent to which a worker passionately enjoys his membership in an organisation and readiness to actively participating in realisation of the goals. Job commitment means a situation where by an employee gives all of himself to an organisation while at work. Every organisation has some goals to achieve and for these goals to be successfully achieved, workers must be committed. Crosswell (2006) defined commitment as a high level of attachment to an organisation. It is one of the major professional characteristics of teachers which determine the school success. Job commitment means emotional status of the teachers which determines how they identify with the schools in which they teach.
Oladejo and Abdul Salam (2010) stated that lesson note is a step-by-step schedule of the series of activities which a teacher intends to embark upon during a particular lesson. It entails the general information (that is, the subject, the topic and the class to teach, time to spend for teaching, duration of the lesson, method and instructional materials, and the likes), instructional and behavioural objectives, main body of lesson note which has to do with lesson presentation, evaluation,
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conclusion and assignment. Sinclair (2007) viewed lesson note as a comprehensive description of the course of instruction or learning activities for a particular lesson.
Lesson note is prepared by the teacher to give him sense of direction during the course of imparting knowledge to the students. Agina-Obu(2005) opined that, instructional materials mean concrete or physical objects which provide sound, visual or both to the sense organs to enhance effective teaching and learning process. Isola (2010) elucidated that, instructional materials as the objects or devices which help the teacher impart knowledge to learners in a clearer way which would lead to effective learning. Taylor (2006) defined assessment as evaluating, measuring, and documenting the learning progress and skills acquisition of the students. The purpose of assessing the students is to ensure whether or not the predetermined objective(s) have been achieved. Obalowu (2009) asserted that assessment is used to ascertain the level at which the goal of a particular classroom teaching has been achieved. It is also used to determine the strengths and weaknesses of the students during learning process. David (2008) explained that teaching is an interaction which occurs between the teacher and the students within the four walls of the classroom. Teaching involves making students acquire knowledge and skills which are hitherto considered unknown to them. Dibia (2008) opined that teaching is the process of imparting knowledge to the learners by the teacher. It involves passing information across to the learners for the horizon of their knowledge to increase. In schools, teaching could take place inside the classroom or in some places outside the classroom such as laboratories, fields, library, religious edifices and the likes.
The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between job satisfaction and teachers’ commitment; salary and teachers’ job commitment;
promotion and teachers’ job commitment; and fringe benefits and teachers’ job commitment all in the basic schools in Ilorin West Local Government, Kwara State, Nigeria.
Hypotheses
Ho1: Job satisfaction has no significant relationship with teachers’ commitment basic schools in Ilorin West Local Government, Kwara State, Nigeria.
Ho2: Salary has no significant relationship with teachers’ job commitment in basic schools in Ilorin West Local Government, Kwara State, Nigeria.
Ho3: Promotion has no significant relationship with teachers’ job commitment in basic schools in Ilorin West Local Government, Kwara State, Nigeria.
Ho4: Fringe benefits have no significant relationship with teachers’ job commitment in basic schools in Ilorin West Local Government, Kwara State, Nigeria.
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The study examined job satisfaction as a determinant of teachers’ commitment in basic schools in Ilorin West Local Government, Kwara State, Nigeria. The scope of the study was limited to the public basic schools (that is, pre-basic to basic 9).
The study adopted descriptive research design of survey type. The population of the study was 5,425 respondents comprising all the 3,041teachers, 64 head teachers and 163 assistant head teachers in all the 64public lower basic schools and 1,985teachers, 43 principals and 129 vice principals in the entire 43 public upper basic schools in the Local Government Area (LGA).The sample consisted of 474 respondents made up of 360 teachers, 14 principals, 42 vice principals, 22 head teachers and 36 assistant head teachers in the 14 upper and 22 lower basic schools in the LGA.
Stratified sampling technique was used to group the basic schools in the LGA into upper and lower (that is, pre-basic to basic six and basic seven to basic nine). Simple random sampling technique was used to draw 14(32.6%) upper basic schools and 22(33.3%) lower basic schools out of the 43 upper and 64lower schools respectively in LGA. Ten teachers were randomly selected from each sampled school while the principal, vice principals, head teachers and assistant head teachers of the sampled schools were automatically sampled. This resulted to a total of 474 respondents.
Two researcher-designed questionnaires entitled Job Satisfaction Questionnaire (JSQ) and Teachers’ Commitment Questionnaire (TCQ) respectively were used to collect data for the study. The JSQ was used to collect information from teachers on how they were satisfied with their job in the areas of salary, promotion and fringe benefits paid to them by their employer, while TCQ was used to elicit information from Principals, Vice Principals, Head Teachers and Assistant Head Teachers on how teachers in their respective schools were committed to teaching, utilisation of instructional materials, learners’ assessment and preparation of lesson plan. The JSQ and TCQ were validated by experts and their reliability was ascertained. The reliability coefficients of 0.84 and 0.81 were obtained for the two instruments respectively. Out of the 474 copies of each of the instrument administered 460 representing 97.05% were successfully completed and returned and were used for data analysis. Pearson Product-Moment Correlation Statistic was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. Each hypothesis would be rejected if the p-value is less than the significant level (0.05)but accepted if the p-value is greater than the significant level.
Result
Ho1:Job satisfaction has no significant relationship with teachers’ commitment in basic schools in Ilorin West Local Government, Kwara State, Nigeria
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Table 1: Job Satisfaction and Teachers’ Commitment
Variable N X SD p-value Decision
Job Satisfaction 2.53 0.57
460 0.020 Ho
Rejected Teachers’ Commitment
2.75 0.64 p-value<0.05
Table 1 shows that the p-value (0.020) is less than the level of significance (0.05).
Hence, hypothesis one is rejected. This shows that job satisfaction has significant relationship with teachers’ commitment in basic schools in Ilorin West Local Government, Kwara State, Nigeria.
Ho2: Salary has no significant relationship with teachers’ job commitment in basic schools in Ilorin West Local Government, Kwara State, Nigeria
Table 2: Salary and Teachers’ Job Commitment
Variable N X SD p-value Decision
Salary 2.65 0.55
460 0.040 Ho2
Rejected Teachers’ Job Commitment 2.75 0.64
p-value<0.05
Table 2 shows the p-value (0.040) is less than the level of significance (0.05).
Hence, hypothesis two is rejected. This shows that salary has significant relationship with teachers’ job commitment in basic schools in Ilorin West Local Government, Kwara State, Nigeria.
Ho3: Promotion has no significant relationship with teachers’ job commitment in basic schools in Ilorin West Local Government, Kwara State, Nigeria Table 3: Promotion and Teachers’ Job Commitment
Variable N X SD p-value Decision
Promotion 2.59 0.68
460 0.026 Ho3 Rejected Teachers’ Job Commitment 2.75 0.64
p-value<0.05
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Table 3 shows the p-value (0.026) is less than the significance level (0.05). Hence, hypothesis three (Ho3) is rejected. This shows that promotion has significant relationship with teachers’ job commitment in basic schools in Ilorin West Local Government, Kwara State, Nigeria.
Ho4:Fringe benefits have no significant relationship with teachers’ job commitment in basic schools in Ilorin West Local Government, Kwara State, Nigeria
Table 4: Fringe benefits and Teachers’ Job Commitment
Variable N X SD p-value Decision
Fringe benefits 2.34 0.47
460 0.013 Ho4 Rejected
Teachers’ Job Commitment 2.75 0.64 p-value<0.05
Table 4 shows the p-value (0.013) is less than the level of significance (0.05). Hence, hypothesis four is rejected. This shows that fringe benefits have significant relationship with teachers’ job commitment in basic schools in Ilorin West Local Government, Kwara State.
Discussions
The finding of main hypothesis revealed that there was a significant relationship between job satisfaction and teachers’ commitment in basic schools in Ilorin West Local Government, Kwara State. This implies that, if teachers’ are well satisfied with their job, it would enhance their high level of commitment needed to discharge their statutory duties effectively and reverse is the case. This finding agrees with the view of Ubom (2004) that, Nigerian government always demands a very high measure of commitment from public basic and secondary school teachers. The authors argued that unless teachers are well motivated to develop high level of satisfaction, realising this could be a mirage.
The finding of hypothesis one revealed that there was a significant relationship between salary and teachers’ job commitment in basic schools in Ilorin West Local Government, Kwara State. This means that, if salary is timely and adequately paid to basic school teachers, they would be happy and financially buoyant to take care of their families; and consequently their job commitment could be enhanced. This finding corroborates the view of Agburu (2012) that, salary is very important to teachers and there is need for government to timely and
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adequately pay it. Adequate and timely payment of salaries could boost teachers’
morale thereby harnessing their effective job commitment.
The finding of hypothesis two revealed that there was a significant relationship between promotion and teachers’ job commitment in basic schools in Ilorin West Local Government, Kwara State. This shows that, promotion would increase monthly take home, other allowances and status of teachers; hence, their commitment to the job will be harnessed. This finding is in consonance with the view of Danish (2010) that, teachers are the most significant of all the resources in school schools. As a result of this, they should be given promotion at the right time to make them progress professionally, in order for the government to achieve their sincere commitment to the job.
The finding of hypothesis three revealed that there was a significant relationship between fringe benefits and teachers’ job commitment in basic schools in Ilorin West Local Government, Kwara State. The implication of this finding is that, fringe benefits also serve as a tool which government can use to achieve teachers’ job commitment. Apart from salary and promotion, if government keys into periodic and constant provision of fringe benefits to teachers, their effective job commitment could be actualised. This finding is in tandem with the view of Uzonna (2013) that when it comes to actualisation of employees’ job commitment in an organisation, fringe benefits such as health insurance scheme, leave bonus, loans and a host of other play significant role.
Conclusion
Based on the findings of the study, it was concluded that, if teachers are well satisfied with their job, it would help a lot in enhancing their commitment to the job in the areas of classroom teaching, use of instructional materials, students’
assessment and lesson plan preparation. Specifically, adequately and timely payment of salary would assist in enhancing teachers’ job commitment, timely promotion would enthuse teachers to show great commitment to their job and periodic and regular provision of fringe benefits to teachers is a key factor which would help in harnessing their job commitment.
Recommendations
Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended that:
1. Kwara State Government should prioritise effective provision of motivation to basic school teachers to make them develop high sense of job satisfaction which would enhance high commitment to the job; and consequently, discharge their official duties in a way which would enhance students’ academic performance;
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2. Government should always make adequate and timely payment of teachers’
salary a necessity, to make them financially active to take care of themselves and their families; hence, enhancement of their commitment;
3. Promotion of teachers with financial implications should be done at the right time, to motivate them towards the discharge of their statutory duties with high level of commitment; and
4. Fringe benefits such as housing scheme loan, health insurance scheme, car loans, transportation scheme and others should be made available for teachers, to facilitate actualisation of their commitment needed to achieve the school goals.
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An Investigation of School Climate in Private …
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AN INVESTIGATION OF SCHOOL CLIMATE IN PRIVATE AND PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN DELTA STATE,
NIGERIA
Ajero, J. I., PhD1 & Sule. S. A. PhD2
1Department of Educational Foundation, Ajayi Crowther University, Oyo
2Department of Educational Management, Faculty of Education, University of Lagos
Abstract
Creating and sustaining positive school climate has become a vital factor in modern school management. This is because positive school climate has been found to be an essential ingredient of school effectiveness. This study was driven by the assumption that private schools in Delta state are better managed than the public secondary schools. This assumption could be attributed to many factors, one being the management proficiency in creating positive school climate in these schools. The study was therefore set to examine the difference in school climate of the private and public secondary schools in Delta state, Nigeria. Two hypotheses were tested. The descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study with the population comprising all the teachers in private and public secondary schools in Delta state. The multi-stage sampling procedure involving the cluster, stratified and simple random sampling techniques were adopted and 1,200 teachers were sampled from 679 secondary schools (328 private and 351 public). Data were collected through an instrument titled School Climate Description Questionnaire adapted from John and Taylor (2005). Analysis of the data collected involved the use of the “Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20. Test of hypotheses involved the use of t-test at 0.05 level of significance. The study found that teachers’ social interactions significantly differ in private and public schools.
It also showed a significant difference in principals’ personal involvement and interaction with teachers in private and public secondary schools. Consequently, it was recommended that School principals should develop an open climate characterised by a high degree of trust as well as low disengagement, and that Principals should enhance their personal commitment and interaction expressed through regular effective meetings with staff to discuss progress and problems of students.
Key words: School, Private, Public, Climate.
Introduction
The creation, development and sustenance of positive school climate and conducive learning environment are areas of importance in school management.
Educational managers must understand that a positive learning environment