ECD TEACHER MOTIVATION ON ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF CHILDREN IN EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT
ACASE STUDY OF NAKASONGOLA DISTRICT
INTRODUCTION
Introduction
Presented under this chapter is the background to the study, problem statement, general objectives, specific objectives, research questions, scope of the study, significance of the study, definition of key words and conceptual frame work.
Background of the study
Pagani, Fitzpatrick, Barnett, & Dubow, (2010) indicates that better academic performance of children in ECD is essential to enable them develop key skills like numeric and verbal which is imperative to them when they enroll to high levels of Education. World bank report, (2018) indicates that children who had better academic performance in Early childhood were very productive to the country and in return contributed to the economic growth.
In analysis of Lantin American students, the research indicated that Cuba which invests much resources per capita (Overall, 12.8% of GDP) in early childhood Education has ripped a lot this is indicated by the fact the Cuban children have better reading and writing skills than their counterparts in Venezuela and Brazil (Carnoy, Gove, & Marshall, 2007).
The Stellakis, (2018) indicate that when the teachers are well motivated in terms of being given good salary, proper accommodation allowance and protection of their jobs this led to better academic performance among the children. Zafarullah, & Pertti, (2017) indicates that better academic performance among children in ECD is essential and has the potential to to spur the future technological and scientific development of the countries and therefore countries in EU are encouraged to increase their expenditure on the ECD programs, on the same note OECD, (2019) also further indicates that countries with high expenditure in Early childhood Education by motivating the teachers well have achieved better academic performance among the children and this has improved the development of these countries.
Duncan, & Magnuson, (2013) indicates that many initiatives by some developed countries have been adopted to enhance the academic performance of children in ECD for example Norway invests a significant amount of resources into early childhood education, amounting to 2% of GDP, the highest share of all OECD countries, this investment is mainly in areas of paying teachers good salary to enhance their commitment and motivation to the job this has continuously made Norway as one of the countries with best quality of Education globally on the same note South Korea which had previously neglected Investments in academic performance in ECD which is observed by the fact that although the first private kindergarten was established almost a century ago in Korea, the first public kindergarten was established only in 1976 (Korean Background Report, 2003). Since the early 1980s, early childhood education has developed rapidly and with the increased government investments academic performance has increased tremendously and up to now south Korea is one of the best performing countries in mathematics and science and while Enrolment rates in early childhood (pre-primary education) are among the highest in the OECD, with 89% of 2-year-olds and 90% of 3-year-olds enrolled in 2014, this has been made possible by the government expenditure of 0.5% of GDP in Early childhood education (pre-primary education) mainly in areas of paying Early childhood teachers decent salaries (OECD, 2015).
Signh, Malik and Signh (2016) also argues that academic performance of children in ECD can only be achieved by paying teachers better salaries, they further indicated that though some governments have not included early childhood teachers in their pay roll countries where Early childhood teachers’ salary and other remuneration is taken as government responsibility like Sweden, Norway and South Korea have witnessed improved academic performance in ECDs.
Similarly, Farooq, Chaudhry, Shafiq and Behanu (2011), asserted that children’ academic performance serves as a bedrock for knowledge acquisition and the development of skills. The poor performance of children in ECD has a long-term negative effects to the country as these children who perform poorly in future become a burden to the country because the country’s resources is spent on taking care of them in their adult age this also has creates the vicious cycle of poverty along the family lines (Ololube, Kpolovie, & Egbezor, 2009).
According to Fafunwa, (2018) though the government of Nigeria started recognizing and funding ECD center after adopting National Policy on Education (1977), ECD schools in Nigeria are fast decaying and the “rot” in the system ranges from shortage of teaching and learning resources to lack of effective leadership and proper motivation of teachers more to that Teachers in ECD are not recognized as very important with this, the ECD teachers are under paid . He pointed out that teachers in Early childhood schools in Nigeria were unhappy, frustrated, uninspired and unmotivated. Lenz-Taguchi, (2010) further indicates that the school environment is dotted with dilapidated buildings equipped with outdated equipment. Teachers at times have to work under the most unsafe and unhealthy conditions. This has no doubt, translated into poor performance of children in Early childhood education.
Javaid, (2009) indicates that if Ghana can increase its expenditure on Early Childhood education by specifically paying ECD teachers well to enhance better academic performance among the children the level of its development in the future will be more than expected. Mustafa & Othman, (2010) state that better academic performance by children in Early childhood education is essential for spearheading the socio-economic development. Indeed, many writers have observed that enhancing better academic performance in Early child hood education is the most effective way to shape the values, attitudes, behaviours and skills which are important for children to be in position to progress in the classes of the upper levels (Isabelo & Silao, 2018).
Ever since the adoption of Early childhood act 1960 in the US, which required government funding of early childhood education by hiring and paying the teachers who can deliver quality education to children at that critical age of 3-5 years, there has been an improved performance among children in schools this is because the government of united states started paying ECD teachers well and to date the US has one of the best education systems in the world , more to that Education Commission of the States, (2007) in the united states indicated that teachers in Early childhood education are to be paid a salary that is above the minimum wage and is attractive enough like other professionals.
The increased better payment of ECD teachers by the government of Taiwan has led to motivation of teachers for instance In Taipei, public Early childhood teacher earns average monthly wages of US, $1,730, while their private counterparts get about US $1,390 each month, the former group is also accorded privileges that civil servants enjoy, including job protection under strict union laws, this favorable working conditions for the ECD teachers has thus made Taiwan one of the top-performing OECD countries in reading literacy, mathematics and sciences with the average student scoring 523.7, compared with the OECD average of 493, placing it seventh in the world and has one of the world’s most highly educated labor forces among OECD countries (Chiu, 2018).
The ECD schools in Kampala district are reported to have a slightly better performance than rural district since children in these schools are able to progress to primary level when they have developed relevant academic skills However poor performance of children in ECD schools has been blamed on a number of factors. Wentzel, (2017) indicates that it is imperative for teachers to be paid salaries and given permanent contract to create a sense of job security to motivate them to enhance better academic performance among children , despite this statement by Wentzel all ECD teachers in Nakasongola district are employed to work in ECD centers verbally without appointment letters in addition to that ECD teachers have very high labour turnover something that shows lack of motivation to the profession. Most ECD teachers also view teaching as a waste of time and some have resorted to riding Boda Bodas as a better option than teaching due to poor pay and lack of job security (Nakasongola district records, 2019). It’s against this background that this study intends to investigate into ECD teacher motivation on academic performance of children in early childhood development.
Theoretical Frame Work
Maslow (1943) cited in Kasenene (2016) argues that physiological needs such as food and water are the primary drives which need to be satisfied before a person can realize any need for a secondary desire. According to Kasenene (2016), Maslow advanced a theory of Motivation in 2012 which argued that teachers will always have the need to teacher after all the physiological needs are gratified.
Maslow therefore concluded that teachers involved in teaching is an attempt by the them to satisfy their basic needs of food and water and therefore if these needs are not meant whatever type of activity that a teacher is doing becomes meaningless.
In this study the ECD teachers since they are not provided with salaries like other employees in the teaching provision, this therefore raises questions on how they satisfy their basic needs which is their first primary motive to working.
This theory also indicates that a human being works very hard to fulfill the basic primary needs of life and unless those needs are satisfied the human being will find it hard to sustain their life and this will generally have an influence to how they conduct themselves in the society and to other human beings.
Further studies by Maslow in human motivation led him to advance the theory of needs based on a hierarchical model as covered by Okumbe (2012). According to Okumbe (2012), there are psychological needs that include hunger, thirst and sleep; the safety needs that include desire for peace, smooth running of the state and stable environment; the love needs that include belonging and affection/social needs; the esteem needs that include power, performance, recognition, status and self-actualization where one achieves what he wants.
This theory therefore is relevant to this study since the ECD teachers in Uganda donot receive monthly salary and yet the government expects them to deliver and be able to enable the children learn and have good academic performance. It is therefore important to base on this theory to understand how the inability to fulfill the basic needs by the ECD teachers affects their ability to deliver quality teaching and in return influencing academic performance of the ECD children.
This theory can be illustrated diagrammatically as seen in figure 2.1.
Figure 2.1: Maslow’s Hierarchical Model of Basic Needs
Source: Okumbe (1998) Educational Management Theory and Practice
All the above needs are summarized into a ECD teachers living conditions which include feeding, sanitation and accommodation basically covering the physiological needs of man. Marslow’s theory of needs based on hierarchical model can be applied in an ECD teachers’ life setting where by hunger, thirst and sleep could have an impact on the wellbeing of a teacher and there by affecting his motivation to teach and later on influencing the children’s academic performance.
Conceptual background
Performance is defined as an observable or measurable behavior of a person or an animal in a particular situation usually experimental situation. This therefore means that performance measures the behaviors or an aspect of a feat that can be observed at a specific period.
Therefore, students’ performance is very important because, it appears to be the major criterion by which the effectiveness and success of any educational institution could be judged.
According to Schmidt, (2017) children academic performance, sometimes called learning outcomes, is defined as the learning standards which are determined according to high-quality education requirements. These quality-learning standards include both content standards which describe what children should know, understand and be able to do, and the performance standards which define levels of children performance pertaining to content.
According to Narad and Abdullah (2016) academic performance is the knowledge gained which is assessed by marks by a teacher and/or educational goals set by students and teachers to be achieved over a specific period of time.
Performance is the act of accomplishing attaining or finishing something that has been accomplished successfully, especially by means of skill, practice or preference. Faught, (2017), defines academic Performance as how the student performs in the examination and how much marks secured from the examination. The total marks earned by the students are considered as academic performance of student.
According to Reiss (2014) motivation means a feeling of enthusiasm, interest or commitment that makes somebody want to work, a reason for doing something or behaving in a certain way. Psychologically, it means the forces determining behaviour, the biological, emotional, cognitive or social forces that activate and direct behaviour. Robinson (2012) motivation is the force that energizes behaviour, gives direction to behaviour and underlines the propensity for perseverance.
According to Heryanto, (2019), motivation is the process whereby goal-directed activity is instigated and sustained. At Early childhood education level children need guidance and counseling, motivation and supervision to enhance their performance and to compete with their peers. Head teachers and teachers‟ motivation has strong effect on the educational attainments of pupils. Motivation has strong effect on educational attainments of the children and helps shape their further improvement.
Early childhood education is any formal learning that takes place before primary school begins
Contextual background
Academic performance of children in ECD schools in Uganda has not been highly prioritized by the government since all the ECD schools are privately owned. The private ownership of ECD schools is also linked to laxity by the proprietors who pay more attention to their profits and do not care about the performance of children (Kisitu, 2009).
Statement of the problem
Officially, in Uganda children aged three to five years are expected to be enrolled in pre-school such that by the age of six they proceed to primary one. Over the years, there has been a question on the academic performance of children in Early childhood schools.
Though ECD schools are usually established in areas whose population earns a high income since this tends to attract the ECD proprietors with an assumption that the parents and guardians will afford fees, the academic performance of the children in these schools is very low as their level of cognitive skills is still poor. ESSAPR, 2015 further indicates that both ECD enrolment and academic performance of children is poor in Uganda. Of an estimated 433,258 children who enroll for ECD centers in Uganda their level of academic children does not meet the expected standard
Black, (2017) indicates that the development of children in the first five years is fundamental for brain development, otherwise they’ll never reach their full potential, this indicates that early childhood education is critical for the mental and academic development of the children, however the academic performance of children in early childhood schools in Uganda is still very poor and the private proprietors since they are profit oriented they have not paid attention to the academic performance of the children.
Mwaura, (2008) indicates that a good number of day-care centers and nursery schools are privately owned and since they are driven by profits very little attention is paid on the areas of teacher motivation and more so the academic performance of children it’s against this background that this study intends to investigate into the influence of ECD teacher motivation on performance performance of children in early childhood development.
Objectives of the study
- To determine the influence of ECD teachers’ intrinsic motivation on the academic performance of children.
- To examine the effects of ECD teachers’ extrinsic motivation on the academic performance of children?
- To investigate the relationship between availability of ECD teaching resources and academic performance of children.
Research questions
- What is the influence of ECD teachers’ intrinsic motivation on the academic performance of children?
- What are the effects of ECD teachers’ extrinsic motivation on the academic performance of children?
- What is the relationship between availability of ECD teaching resources and academic performance of children?
Hypothesis
Ho There is a significant relationship between availability of ECD teaching resources and academic performance of children.
Scope of the study
This section includes the content, geographical, time scope.
The study will concentrate on two variables; Teacher motivation as independent variable and academic performance as dependent variable. It will further expound on Teacher motivation in a areas of; Teachers Accommodation, Salary of teachers and Teaching resource, while on the dimension of academic performance will include; Promotion to the next class, Writing well and Having good spelling ability.
Geographical scope
The study will be carried out in Nakasongola district. Nakasongola District is bordered by apac district to the north-west, Amolatar-district to the north-east, Kayunga-district to the east, Luwero district to the south, Nakaseke district to the south-west, and Masindi district to the north-west. Nakasongola, the main municipal, administrative, and commercial center of the district, is approximately 140 kilometres (87 mi), by road, north of Kampala, the capital and largest city of Uganda.
Time scope
The period of data to be considered for the study will be from 2010 to 2019.
Significance of the study
It is hoped that the findings of this study may be of benefit to different categories of people:
The study is likely to help policy makers to alleviate these disparities of poor academic performance of children in ECD learning centers. The study will try to suggest possible ways of improving academic performance of children in ECD centers.
Secondly, the study may avail information which enables management committees and key officials in ministry of education and sports to develop policies which ensures that ECD learning centers provide teachers with the necessary facilities needed to foster better academic performance for children.
Furthermore, the government can establish a supportive policy framework that creates an environment in which private sector and community ECD initiatives can provide good education to the children to enhance better academic performance.
More to the above, the findings may be used and adapted for a variety of settings to help educators and programme designers overcome the numerous challenges faced in supporting Community ECD programmes. In other words it will act as reference and resource for those who would like to learn more about issues and methods for supporting ECD programming in communities; thus providing a greater depth about the need for providing the ECD teachers with the necessary facilities to enable them provide a quality education that enhance better academic performance for the children.
Finally, this study may prove significant in contributing to the underdeveloped area of research related to the sustainability of ECD in Uganda, and in posing numerous pertinent questions to guide future research; since there is no existing study on ECD teacher motivation on academic performance of children in early child hood.
Definition of key terms
Academic performance: Refers to performance outcomes in intellectual domains taught at school, college, and university.
Child: is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty
To suggest the benefits of teacher accommodation on academic performance of children in ECD
TO Investigate the relationship between salary of teachers on academic performance
To determine the influence of teaching resources on academic performance of children
Conceptual frame work
Statement of the problem
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