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EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT TEACHER MOTIVATIONAND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF CHILDREN IN EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT

ACASE STUDY OF NAKASONGOLA DISTRICT

CHAPTER ONE

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 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.

The academic performance of  children in Early childhood which is measured by having the Early literacy skills which includes, knowing all the letters in the alphabet by sight and sound, vocabulary acquisition, phonological awareness, sentence construction, print awareness, helps prepare children in ECD for the more rigorous reading instruction in elementary school (Education, 2010).

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.

Statement of the problem

Motivating teachers by providing them with necessary facilities like instructional materials in classroom, accommodation facilities and paying teachers good and timely salary lead to better performance among learners in ECD (Sooter, 2013). Nakasongola district is one of the poorest performing district in Uganda and the ability of children to enroll from ECD to primary school is very poor. More to that almost 40% of children in ECD Nakasongola district, do not know how to Articulate words well and they are not well conversant with alphabetic principles, these has thus worsened the academic performance of Nakasongola in the upper classes due to poor ECD performance (Wentzel, 2017). The poor performance in Nakasongola district ECD schools has thus puzzled the district officials as to whether low motivation of teachers is the reason for poor performance.

While there has been many studies conducted to establish the causes of poor performance in ECD in Uganda Masaazi, Ssentanda, & Ngaka, (2018). There is still little information on the influence of ECD teachers’ intrinsic motivation on the academic performance of children. Different studies have tried to relate teacher motivation and academic performance (BlackWalker, Fernald, Andersen, DiGirolamo, & Devercelli, 2017), however none of them clearly identifies the relationship between availability of ECD teaching resources and academic performance of children. In order to ensure that there is better academic performance extrinsic motivation of the teachers has to be taken care of by the stake holders. However few studies like that of Mertala, (2019), have tried to examine the effects of ECD teachers’ extrinsic motivation on the academic performance of children. This finding however falls short of examining the influence of ECD teacher motivation on academic performance of children in early childhood development.

It’s against this background that this study intends to investigate into the influence of ECD teacher motivation on performance of children in early childhood development with specific reference to Nakasongola district.

Purpose of the study

To examine the influence of ECD teacher motivation on academic performance of children in early childhood development.

Objectives of the study

1. To determine the influence of ECD teachers’ intrinsic motivation on the academic performance of children.
2. To investigate the relationship between availability of ECD teaching resources and academic performance of children.

• To examine the effects of ECD teachers’ extrinsic motivation on the academic performance of children?

Research questions

1. What is the influence of ECD teachers’ intrinsic motivation on the academic performance of children?
2. What is the relationship between availability of ECD teaching resources and academic performance of children?

• What are the effects of ECD teachers’ extrinsic motivation on the academic performance of children?

Scope of the study

This section includes the content, geographical, time scope.

Content 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-districtto 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.

Limitations and delimitations

Some respondents may fear to give information during the study fearing that this may cause them to lose their jobs. However, this will be solved by the researcher assuring the respondents that the information give in strictly for academic purposes and no one else will read it.

Due to the busy nature of the ECD teachers they may not get enough time to fill in the questionnaire, however this will be solved by the researcher by budgeting for time appropriately and only meeting them at the time when they do not have lessons.

The researcher may also face the challenge of not getting all the respondents in one day however the researcher will solve this by strictly ensuring that he communicates to the respondents and ensuring that he keeps the appointment to ensure that he gets all the respondents at their work place.

Theoretical frame work

This study will use Herzberg two factor theory, Frederick Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory indicates that there are two sets of factors in deciding employees working attitudes and level of performance, named Motivation & Hygiene Factors (Robbins, 2009).

Motivation Factors are Intrinsic Factors that will increase employees’ job satisfaction. Motivational factors include; recognition, sense of achievement, responsibility and meaningfulness of work, while Hygiene Factors are Extrinsic Factors to prevent any employees’ dissatisfaction.

Herzberg furthered that full supply of Hygiene Factors will not necessarily result positive satisfaction for long-term. But if these factors are absent at workplace, then they lead to dissatisfaction. The hygiene factors symbolized the physiological needs which the individuals wanted and expected to be fulfilled and these included; Salary, Company Policies and administrative policies, Fringe benefits, Physical Working conditions, Interpersonal relations. Herzberg indicates that in order to increase employees’ performance or productivity, Motivation factors must be addressed.

The Two-Factor theory implies that the managers must stress upon guaranteeing the adequacy of the hygiene factors to avoid employee dissatisfaction. Also, the managers must make sure that the work is stimulating and rewarding so that the employees are motivated to work and perform harder and better. This theory emphasizes upon job-enrichment so as to motivate the employees. The job must utilize the employee’s skills and competencies to the maximum. Focusing on the motivational factors can improve work-quality.

Using Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, Herzberg theory is not universally applicable, as its assumptions about human nature are in many cases inaccurate. In addition, most of the management practices developed from these assumptions may fail to motivate individuals to work for attaining the organizational goals.

Herzberg’s theory is not very clear as the factors leading to satisfaction and dissatisfaction are not different from each other, therefore it is difficult by analyzing the theory to differentiate between satisfaction and dissatisfaction factors to employees in a specific job.

Herzberg also assumed a correlation between satisfaction and productivity. But the research conducted by Herzberg stressed upon satisfaction and ignored productivity, the theory’s reliability is uncertain. More to that employees usually will blame dissatisfaction on the external factors such as salary structure, company policies and peer relationship.

However Herzberg will be useful to this study as it explains that there are both intrinsic and extrinsic motivational factors this will enable the study be in position to identify the intrinsic and extrinsic factors in the school setting and facilitate the explanation to the factors that lead to poor motivation among the ECD teachers in Nakasongola and therefore provide the factors that need to be improved to enable the teachers enhance better academic factors among the learners in Nakasongola District.

Conceptual frame work

Statement of the problem

Developed by the researcher; adopted from Signh, Malik and Signh (2016).

• The conceptual frame work above indicates that the independent variable Teacher motivation has the following key dimensions; intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation and teaching resources however they affect the dependent variable academic performance in the following ways; Articulation of words (correct pronunciation), Sentence construction (structure), Phonemic awareness, Alphabetic principle and Comprehension.

.

The conceptual frame work above also indicates that the independent and dependent variable are all affected by the following intervening variables; Job security; Government policy; Culture and Family responsibility.

Operational definition of key terms

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.

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. 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 behavior, gives direction to behavior and underlines the propensity for perseverance.

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