Extrinsic motivation and teachers’ performance in government aided secondary schools in Uganda a case of Kayunga district, Uganda.

Abstract

By 2023, there were nine government aided secondary schools in Kayunga district. The researcher carried out this study in six out of those nine government aided secondary schools in the district. The study was based on three Research questions namely; 1. What is the relationship between remuneration and teachers’ performance in Government aided secondary schools in Kayunga district 2. How does work environment influence teachers' performance in government-aided secondary schools in Kayunga District; and 3. What is the influence of recognition on teachers’ performance in government-aided secondary schools in Kayunga District. The performance of teachers was measured by basing on their key roles namely preparing for lessons, classroom teaching, assessing students’ academic work, guiding and counselling students, as well as engaging students in extracurricular activities. Extrinsic motivation was limited to only three aspects namely remuneration, work environment and recognition. A cross sectional survey design with qualitative and quantitative approaches was used to collect data from 153 teachers who filled the questionnaires to report on their performance and extrinsic motivation. Five heads of department, two head teachers and five teachers were interviewed orally. The findings were that 1. Remuneration statistically significantly influences teachers’ performance in government-aided secondary schools in Kayunga District; 2. The working environment has a statistically significant relationship with teachers’ performance in government-aided secondary schools in Kayunga District; and 3. There is no significant influence of recognition on teachers’ performance in government-aided secondary schools in Kayunga District. The researcher concluded that teachers in the government-aided secondary schools of Kayunga district perceive themselves to be hard working as measured basing on their key roles of preparing what to teach, real classroom teaching, assessing the work of their students, guiding and counselling students, as well as engaging students in extracurricular activities. This good performance of theirs is highly influenced by the remuneration they are getting and the perceived good working environment. Although they are not highly recognized, that does not stop them from working hard. By basing on what was found out in the study, the researcher recommends that teachers should put in more efforts to increase their productivity. Although their performance is good, it is not to the maximum. Therefore, the Ministry of Education and Sports should increase the salary of teachers of Art subjects to be equal to that of Science teachers. Secondly, the government should inject more money in the government aided secondary school to improve the working environment such as buildings, library, computers, and etcetera. Thirdly, politicians, religious leaders and the government should sensitize the masses and head teachers on the value of classroom teachers so that they can be highly recognized The researcher concluded that teachers in the government aided secondary schools of Kayunga district perceive themselves to be hard working as measured basing on their key roles of preparing what to teach, real classroom teaching, assessing the work of their students, guiding and counselling students, as well as engaging students in extracurricular activities. This good performance of theirs is highly influenced by the remuneration they are getting and the perceived good working environment. Although they are not highly recognized, that does not stop them from working hard