In coding the responses, it is evident that principals have implemented many strategies as shown in table 4.1, to get their teachers to perform their duties at a maximum level in the profession. The question was posed to the principals on their perspective of the term teachers’ motivation. The following statements were mentioned by principals on their view on the topic of teachers’ motivation.
As with all motivation, I think most of it comes from within. I know it might be possible to demoralize teachers and to make them lack their own inner motivation if the leader or principal of the institution is not sensitive in providing teachers with what they need to be able to do a good job then, principals can demoralize the teachers.
To me the term teacher’s motivation focuses on the fact that we need to support these teachers, and as leaders our supervision role is to ensure that these teachers get all the support that they need. And as administrators we motivate them to do the best possible job but this is an area of concern.
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It’s a term that I believe as principal I have to be responsible for because with any other thing the person in charge of an institution is responsible to make sure that the people who work with them are motivated that they want to come to work and do the task that are assigned to them.
All principals agreed that motivating teachers whether stimulating them intrinsically or extrinsically is a very important task for them because every individual is different, and what might motivate one person might not motivate the other. In addition principal eleven (11) also said that “we need to get to learn who we are dealing with, and where they are coming from” because in doing so principals and teachers are working together to meet a common objective. Principals are therefore, charged with the task of ensuring that they motivate teachers to go the extra mile in carrying out their responsibilities. As principal ten (10) stated “motivating teachers is something that should be done on a regular basis by all administrators or managers of those who work with them.” This means that it should not be done whimsically but consistently so that the school will be successful in achieving it goals.
On the completion of coding and categorizing, table 4.1 shows that one of the most frequently mentioned strategy used by all principals is (S1) “meeting the needs of the teachers.” That is supplying the resources needed to get the job done in order for teachers to be motivated to do their job. Nevertheless principals made it clear that they try to do their best in supplying resources but it is very difficult because “resources require finances and sometimes you cannot get everything you want,” mentioned principal five (5). The data reveals that money is always limited which is “especially evident in government schools,” as mentioned by principal fourteen (14). This reality hinders other strategy that principals would like to apply, for example giving more (S8) monetary incentive to teachers and benefit package. In cases such as this two things happen as mentioned by principal four (4):
Firstly, some teachers then become demoralize because they believe that they are not well equipped for the job; and secondly, very good teachers leaving the system because there is no attractive benefit to gain form being in the teaching profession.
Due to the lack of limited financial resources and wanting to keep teachers motivated to stay in the profession, it was evident that principals have no other option but
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to take on additional duties of doing fund raising to supplement these scarce financial resources since this was not mentioned in the literature review. But all this is done with the assistance and the inclusion of teachers helping and increasing their responsibilities to accumulate extra funds to run the institution.
Table 4.1 Summary findings on strategies used by principals in secondary institutions to motivate teachers
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Participant Motivational strategies
Principals (S1) Meeting the needs of the teachers*
(S2) Planning professional development workshops*
(S3) Recognition for hard work*
(S4) Support teachers*
(S5) Social gatherings*
(S6) Make teachers a part of decision making*
(S7) Staff retreats*
(S8) Monetary rewards (S9) Assign leadership role
(S10) Teachers paying half of the tuition for their child attending the institution
(S11) Create a staff fund account (S12) Being respectful to teachers (S13) Creating a buddy system (S14) Creating a bonus system
Note: *This indicates that these strategies were mentioned by all principals.
S This symbol means strategy.
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Apart from meeting the needs of the teachers another common response declared by all principals was (S2) “planning professional development workshops.” As principal five (5) stated,
When teachers lack that structure, and when events such as professional
development opportunities are ignored for teachers, I think it becomes a routine that they just report to work and teach their class. It’s like they just do what they can instead of doing the best that they can.
Therefore having these sessions which are centered on collaborative teaching, team building, classroom management etc. is fundamental in educating our teachers and in preparing them to be effective teachers in managing their classroom when it comes to discipline and time. Also planning sessions in team building helps, as one principal identified that “it actually showed that we had a lot of strengths here because the staff is rich with talent and creativity but we don’t know it sometimes because people hold their talents like I am not going to share this,” utter principal seven (7).
The third common response was (S3) recognition which can be done in all forms such as issuing certificate, written recommendation, verbal appraisal etc. and these various forms of recognition can be done at numerous events such as at school assembly, staff meeting, newspaper, website, graduation ceremony, social gathering etc. As one principal pointed out that “recognition is always a good way of showing teachers that you are working and we see,” reply principal seven (7), and went even further to say that this strategy can be perceived as a positive way to building teachers motivation. Principal one (1) also claimed that “the highest form of motivation for any individual is the recognition that they will get from a job well done.”
However besides the strategies that are mentioned above, principals use several other common strategies such as (S4) supporting teachers in every possible way for example encouraging teachers to pursue further studies; help resolving issues that concerns students and teachers; spiritual support; and nurturing teachers psychological well being; And all this support given to teachers as clearly stated by principal five (5)
“gives them a sense of ownership in the school because they feel supported by the institution and which very often make teachers stay at the institution for years.”
Principals also hold (S5) social gathering activities such as Christmas parties, birthday gathering, educational trips or just an informal setting where teachers would just
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meet and socialize. This is another strategy used to motivate teachers because principals believe that they should have a balance environment. Its not “just about work, work, work, we also try to balance a play time in it,” says principal three (3).
Another strategy used is (S6) making teachers a part of decision making process because it makes them feel that they are part of the institution and the solution.
However, as one principal pointed out, decisions are made at three levels, these being, managing authorities, principal and vice principals, and lastly by teachers. Because of being on the lowest tier sometimes teachers are not apart of the decision which cause teachers sometimes “not fully in support of or be in agreement,” says principal four. In addition (S7) Staff retreat is another well-known way to motivate teachers and is done at least once per year by all schools. This time is use to try to get centered in God which helps and also rejuvenate them when they return to school.
Seven other strategies were used as listed in table 4.1, but were not refer to by all principals (S8) monetary rewards, (S9) assign leadership role, (S10) teachers paying half of the tuition for their child attending the institution, (S11) create a staff fund account, (S12) creating a buddy system and (S14) creating a bonus system. However most principals mentioned that they would love to give monetary reward for good performance by teachers but the truth of the matter is the finance is not available. And as principal six (6) said “I realize that if you give people and incentive and the rewards of money, whether or not you like it, money makes the world go round.”
On the contrary even with all these abundant strategies used by principals they are still face with the problem of how to go about maximizing the motivational level in their institution. Principal eleven (11) also indicated that,
You help teachers as best as you can to motivate them and yet there doesn’t seem to be that gratitude, it doesn’t seem to be the appreciation or there doesn’t seem to be that level of commitment, says principal eleven (11).
In spite of all these similar and different strategies used among principals in secondary institution in Belize, it is interesting to find out that they are still searching for the best strategy to motivate their teachers to commit to the profession and to their duties in education.
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Perception of teachers and member of MOE on principals’ motivational strategies
Teachers were asked the question if they were strongly motivated to do their work at school and most of them respond “yes” that they were motivated at their institution, while some teachers said “no.” The reason as expressed by one teacher for not being motivated in that institution “because there are times when we do not get full support from administration and staff.” Teachers also confirm that principals have used countless motivational strategies in motivating them such as the ones mentioned in table 4.1. In addition teachers also pointed out that they were treated fair, being recognized, given respect and valued, and given support. However a data emerge from the findings, it was amazing to hear that the teachers believe that some principals are not consistent with their strategies used. In an example teachers mentioned that (S3) recognition will be offered sometimes and in other instances it will take a long period of time for it to be offered again. Teachers were asked the question “what would you like to see done by your principal to motivate teachers?” The following were the comments made by teachers in response to the question:
1. Become more familiar with staff on a professional level.
2. Ensure that salaries are paid on time.
3. Be considerate to teachers when planning the amount of school activities for the year.
4. Applaud teachers’ efforts.
5. Support teachers.
6. Respect decisions.
7. Give rewards.
One teacher even made the comment “that principals need to get courses on how to go about treating individuals so that they will be better equipped to motivate teachers and meet the goals of the school.” While another mentioned that “principals will be good leaders if they are able to separate their personal and professional lives when they are at their workplace”.
A participant from the MOE mentioned that,
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The office plays an important role in the delivery of secondary education, we do not deal only with complaints of students being kicked out of school or suspended but we look at how we can improve the teaching staff, whether we provide reports on a monthly basis from these principals that are in charge of the school and if any problem arises they will go in and investigate the issue because all schools are answerable to the Ministry of Education.
In spite of all the affiliation with secondary institutions in trying to make education at its best there is still the key issue of teachers’ motivation. The MOE participant even said that with all the recognition given to teachers, for example a lump sum of money is given for long years of service and the “Teacher of the year” award there is still the dilemma of teachers’ lack of motivation in some institution. The member of Ministry even went further to mention the reasons to the problem, and it was startling to hear that,
I think one of the problem is that maybe our principals or our leaders in those schools some how do not have vision, foresight maybe they did not do some courses in business management to understand how to motivate your staff. If principals had leadership ability in this area and understand how it works then teachers would be “contented and happy and I mean production will just soar through the roof.
We have these problems because it is like animal farm some are more equal that others there are some people who can do the world and it is like administration is blind and then somebody can do the same and it’s like the world is coming to and end.
Another factor that the participant said was a contributor to the problem is that
“we don’t have the ideal individual, the right individuals who have the skills to lead.”
The participant even added that this can be observed when individuals are hired for the position of a principal without going through the proper procedure. Examples cited are:
being hired because of having some attachment with a member in the Ministry of
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Education; another is where local managers see a person as a good role model for students because he or she goes to church every Sunday, and lastly is the number of years a teacher works in an institution which can be seen as seniority.
From the information gathered from the teachers and the member of MOE they both seem to believe that yes they can see the effort made by principals to motivate teachers. But still it is interesting to know that they voice the same opinion that some principals’ still fall short of that leadership ability because of the selection process in hiring them for the position. The participants voiced that it is important for principals to take some management courses in order to be effective leaders. And in management courses it mentioned that one of the most important functions of leaders is to motivate your employees so that the institution can meet the mission and vision.
Discussion
Principal’s responses in Table 4.1 reveal that they employ many strategies in achieving the goal of motivating teachers to improve their performance in the workplace.
As principal four mentioned, “Teachers’ motivation to me is where you try to look at the best possible ways and tries to identify those ways in which you can try to build in your teachers the passion that you need to see for teaching.” Among these various strategies utilized, there are seven common strategies that are applied among principals in secondary education. These are as follows: (S1) providing resources needed for the job, (S2) planning professional development workshops, (S3) recognition for hard work, (S4) support for teachers, (S5) social gatherings, (S6) making teachers a part of decision making and lastly (S7) staff retreats.
It is well recognized in Belize education system that teachers are charged with the duty of educating and molding the lives of Belizean students so that they can be functional in the society. However as principal ten (10) stated, “if teachers are not motivated then it will impede the quality of teaching and even more so the quality of learning, and all stakeholders will be affected in education.” As a result it can be seen that as a principal in secondary education, it is imperative to motivate teachers to fulfill one of the most important role in accomplishing the goal of the institution. As mentioned by Robbins and Judge (2007) that elevated intensity is improbable to lead to favorable
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performance outcomes except if the effort are channeled in a direction that will benefit the institution.
On the contrary looking at the information gathered from principals on the question about describing their role in the institution the data illustrate that principals have multiple roles to play. Nurse, counselor, parent(s), accountant and others are additional roles added to their substantive position of an instructional leader with the responsibilities of achieving the mission and vision of the institution. Ramsey (2005) also indicated that principals have one thing in common today they are overload. Although principals are supplemented with the assistance of two vice principals, there is only so much these two people can do in facilitating to see that all objectives of the school are met. Because of the additional roles of principals it becomes obvious that they are bombarded with numerous assignments. The result of this is that sometimes important issues are not dealt with promptly especially when it comes to motivating teachers as mentioned by participants; and this prompt service should be an important function of principals if they are to improve teachers’ morale and performance.
If the principal’s primary aim is to aspire to maximize the level of motivation at their institution then it is vital for principals to divert more attention to the needs of their teachers. Nevertheless in doing so principals ought to study each individual person because as stated in the literature review, each individual are unique and have different needs and behavior (Harvard Business School Press, 2005). Therefore what motivate one person may not motivate the other in the same way. This sentiment is echoed by principal three (3) on the differences between teachers,
I do a lot of things to a large extent and I don’t think that I have been successful 100 percent. I don’t even think that I am successful in motivating them 50 percent.
So I get to the conclusion that dammed if you do, dammed if you don’t and all I have to do is administrate work with those of the few who seemed motivated of the crowd and get as much as I can from those people.
But looking at this statement it shows that principals are concentrating more on the ways of motivating that individual and less attention on identifying the needs of the person. As mentioned by Apter (1982), that Maslow’s theory states that it is important to understand what level of hierarchy that individual is currently on and focus on satisfying
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the needs at or above that level. This may be the rationale why some principals are still struggling with the crisis of motivating some teachers, that is because they do not pay keen attention to the needs of that individual teacher and selecting the right motivator for that individual. Instead they are applying the strategies across the board. This also led up to principals ignoring undependable teachers and therefore relying on teachers that are
the needs at or above that level. This may be the rationale why some principals are still struggling with the crisis of motivating some teachers, that is because they do not pay keen attention to the needs of that individual teacher and selecting the right motivator for that individual. Instead they are applying the strategies across the board. This also led up to principals ignoring undependable teachers and therefore relying on teachers that are