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Article

Achieving Quality Education by Understanding Teacher Job Satisfaction Determinants

by
Chux Gervase Iwu
1,*,
Ikechukwu Onyekwere Ezeuduji
2,
Ita Chimezie Iwu
3,
Kenechukwu Ikebuaku
4 and
Robertson Khan Tengeh
1
1
Faculty of Business and Management Sciences, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Cape Town 8000, South Africa
2
Department of Recreation and Tourism, University of Zululand, KwaDlangezwa 3886, South Africa
3
Education Management Solutions, Ibadan 200221, Nigeria
4
School of Economic, Political and Policy Studies, University of Texas, Dallas, TX 75080-3021, USA
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Soc. Sci. 2018, 7(2), 25; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci7020025
Submission received: 21 December 2017 / Revised: 4 February 2018 / Accepted: 5 February 2018 / Published: 8 February 2018
Versions Notes

Abstract

:
The issue of quality education in Nigeria has come up in a number of studies. In particular, the teacher has been identified as a major resource in achieving the very important objective of quality basic education. This comes against the backdrop that teachers are perceived to be in a better position to influence the performance of learners. However, how can they positively influence student performance if they themselves are not motivated? A total of 547 teachers in 23 schools (pre-nursery to senior high schools) in the Ibadan South-West Local Government Area in Oyo state, Nigeria participated in the study. SPSS software version 22 was used for data analysis. Descriptive analysis (mean and standard deviation) was done at the first stage and factor analysis at the second stage. The Kaiser’s criterion technique was also applied to determine the factors (components) to be retained for the factor analysis. Only factors with an Eigen value of 1.0 or more were retained for analysis. Kolmogorov-Smirnov’s and Shapiro-Wilk’s tests of normality were also used to test if the generated components (factors) are normally distributed, and the p-values of less than 0.001 for all the components indicated no normal distribution. Overall, the results suggest that teachers’ pay or salary, growth opportunities and responsibilities attached to work are the top three job characteristics variables that contribute to teacher job satisfaction.

1. Introduction

A common adage among teachers in Nigeria is “our rewards are in heaven”. This is viewed by many as an indication that teachers are only appreciated by God. A further interpretation is that they desire appreciation for the work they do. This “cry” for recognition signifies a desire for acknowledgement, which may be considered as an unmet need. An unsatisfied need may have the capacity to unleash either physical or psychological discomfort that leads the individual to find ways of satisfying the need and possibly lessen the discomfort. A teacher’s unmet need may lead to the resolve to leave the profession or attend to his job with reckless abandon. Teachers are instrumental to the nurturing of the future leaders of society. The work that they do is arguably fundamental to the development of any society. Therefore, appreciating the work that they do by every member of society can strengthen their upkeep. We add that the needs of teachers can only be attended to if the responsible stakeholders—government, school governing councils, and communities—are made aware of them.
For some time now, within basic and secondary education, there have been reports of poor pass rates, low throughput rate, and insufficient infrastructure. These often manifest in a dissatisfied band of teachers. Reports of this nature are common in sub-Saharan Africa (Richardson 2014). The worst hit based on most accounts is Nigeria (Adesulu et al. 2015). The case of Nigeria is mostly fuelled by a number of factors namely a continuously downward economy (Edet 2014), bad governance (Ogunnubi and Okeke-Uzodike 2016), a pervasively high scale of dilapidated infrastructure (Iwu and Iwu 2013), a massive disregard of the teaching profession by successive governments who refuse to pay teachers’ salaries (see Abayomi et al. 2015; Teacher Solidarity 2016; Ololube 2006) and several other factors. These factors often drive Nigerian teachers to seek alternative means of livelihood (Akyeampong and Bennell 2007) which we argue will lead to high rate of teacher absenteeism, inability to adequately prepare lesson materials and consequently ill-prepared classes. To shine a light in this supposedly gloomy picture of the Nigerian teacher’s current state requires a number of elements. Several studies have pointed in the direction of a willing and committed government program of action that takes into consideration the relevance of basic and secondary education, the need for empowered and motivated teaching staff and well-equipped schools. Many other studies (such as Oyeleke 2012) have argued nonetheless that “effective teaching can only occur when teachers promote excellence and are motivated to perform at a high level”. This study assumes this position however not necessarily excluding the significance of the other factors. This is because we firmly believe that teachers are primarily resourceful in leading socioeconomic growth. We also insist that for a country such as Nigeria to make reasonable progress, there is a need for a band of teachers who are determined, empowered and happy with their jobs. Thus, we join other researchers in echoing the need to determine the major obstacles as well as enablers of work motivation of teachers in Nigeria. Based on the foregoing, the three research questions posed by this study are:
  • What are the major job characteristics dimensions that enable work motivation?
  • What are the major obstacles dimensions that inhibit work motivation?
  • What are the levels of relationships between enabling job characteristics and inhibitor dimensions towards work motivation?
Answers to the research questions will hopefully further interventions which address not only teacher morale and satisfaction but also the entire teaching profession as it is trusted to groom future generations of Nigerians who are looked upon to lead a country that has experienced suppressed economic growth. In this instance, we regard this study as one of the avenues for alerting stakeholders of the intrinsic and extrinsic needs of schoolteachers in Oyo State of Nigeria. Moreover, this study makes a sound addition to the literature on schoolteacher job satisfaction.

2. Theoretical Foundations

2.1. Definition of Quality Education

There is very little agreement among practitioners and policy makers on what constitutes quality education (Halliday 1994). However what is clear is that in basic education, quality is measured by learning outcomes. Basically, teachers are expected to teach according to curricula and assessments are therefore based on those. This goes to show that for teachers to perform according to the set curricula, they ought to be generally pleased with the job. That said, our understanding of quality education is consistent with that provided by UNICEF (2000). According to UNICEF, quality education encompasses the realization of a well-rounded child who is ready to learn and take part in activities that are designed to inculcate new experiences in an environment that is safe and healthy.

2.2. Job Characteristics and Work Motivation

Work redesign is increasingly considered an effective strategy for improving both productivity and quality of work among employees. This is not surprising considering the fact that numerous researches have revealed a significant relationship between job characteristics and work motivation (Fried and Ferris 1987; Hackman and Lawler 1971; Gupta and Subramanian 2014; Hadi and Adil 2010; Padaki 1984; Safiullah 2015; Sultan 2012). Furthermore, research has also shown the relationship between motivation and job performance respectively (Deci and Gagne 2005; Champagne and McAfee 1989). Consequently, a lot of attention is currently directed towards creating richer understanding on the relationship between job characteristics and work motivation, and how such impact on employees’ productivity and organizational outcomes.

2.3. Theories of Work Motivation

Literature is replete with numerous theories of motivation. According to Safiullah (2015), some of the major approaches that have enhanced the understanding of human motivation include: Herzberg’s two-factor theory, Maslow’s need-hierarchy theory, Vroom’s expectancy theory, Skinner’s reinforcement theory and Adams’ equity theory. However, the Job Characteristics Model (JCM) has been identified as the bedrock of employee motivation models for organizations (Ramlall 2004). The model serves as a means of “conceptualizing traditional jobs as well as the utility of certain aspects of work in achieving positive outcomes, such as motivation and satisfaction” (Hackman and Oldham 1975; Batchelor et al. 2014). The tenets of JCM suggest that the makeup of a job often results in intense psychological states that impact employees’ motivation, productivity, and satisfaction (Hackman and Oldham 1975). The model identifies specific job attributes such as autonomy, variety, feedback, task significance, challenge and task identity, which help employees in achieving certain psychological states (knowledge of results, responsibility for work outcomes, and meaningfulness of work), and such states enable self-produced, encouraging responses that buttress sustained energies at good performance (Wright 2001). Therefore, one can argue that the existence of these job attributes helps to advance worker motivation and job satisfaction. In short, evidence of the soundness of the JCM model can be found in the seminal works of Fried and Ferris (1987), Wall, Clegg and Jackson (Wall et al. 1978) and Renn and Vandenberg (1995).
There is also the Job Demands–Resources (JD–R) model, which emphasizes the effect of job resources in enhancing employees’ motivation. The JD–R model is a “heuristic and parsimonious model that specifies how job demands and job resources can lead to either employees” job burnout or work engagement’ (Schaufeli et al. 2009). The “model assumes that whereas every occupation may have its own specific working characteristics, these characteristics can be classified into two general categories: job demands and job resources” (Bakker and Demerouti 2007). The main thrust of the model is that job resources have the propensity to enrich motivational process whereas job demands may provoke anxiety or undermine one’s wellbeing (Bakker and Demerouti 2007; Bakker et al. 2004; Schaufeli and Bakker 2004). Job demands are the physical, social, psychological or organizational features of a job that are executed with physical and/or psychological efforts or skills and are consequently linked with some physiological and/or psychological costs (Bakker and Demerouti 2007). According to Jones and Fletcher (1996), the concept “job demands”, refers to those things that ought to be done to ensure that a task is successfully completed.
According to Bakker and Demerouti (2007), job resources is a concept used to describe the physical, social, psychological or organizational aspects of a job which facilitate the achievement of work goals, the reduction of the negative effects of job demands and the associated psychological and physiological costs thereby encouraging employee development. Although these resources may not be sufficient, on their own, for dealing with job demands, yet they are very crucial (Bakker and Demerouti 2007). As noted by Schaufeli et al. (2009), employees are motivated by the availability of resources which enable the successful completion of tasks thereby leading to employee growth in the organization as well as the provision of learning and development opportunities. Various studies have provided evidence in support of the JD–R model (Bakker et al. 2003a, 2003b; Schaufeli and Bakker 2004).

2.4. Factors Affecting Employee Motivation

Considering the significance of employees’ motivation to the actualization of organizational goals, each organization has the responsibility to create an enabling environment that will boost work motivation and satisfaction while reducing burnouts and frustrations among workers. However, achieving this enabling environment will require proper understanding of the various factors that affect work motivation.
Numerous researches have been carried out on factors affecting workers’ motivation (Hossain and Hossain 2012; Gupta and Subramanian 2014; Njambi 2014). Gupta and Subramanian (2014) undertook a study to identify major factors affecting employees’ motivation in a Vietnamese Construction Consulting Company. The in-depth study which surveyed 135 employees revealed that salary, training system and workload were the principal factors affecting workers’ motivation. Another study by Njambi (2014) pointed out factors such as achievements, work itself, recognition responsibility, salary structure, employees’ advancement, employees feeling of appreciation, and the employee perception of their jobs. Six broad categories of motivation factors emerged from Hossain and Hossain’s (2012) study. These include work itself and environment; the company itself and matters; supervisor relations; recognition; pay and benefits; and development and growth. This UK study also revealed that non-financial factors have a significantly higher effect on employee motivation than financial factors.

2.5. Factors Which Affect Job Satisfaction

Teachers are expected to perform a variety of responsibilities. These include, but are not limited to role modeling, mentoring and nurturing, supporting students (Iwu and Iwu 2013) and generally enabling socio-economic development (Iwu et al. 2017). Playing these roles places enormous burden on the average teacher and could reduce the quality of a teacher’s offering. Literature therefore suggests that an improvement in a teacher’s job role will require an insight to the factors that affect job satisfaction. These factors are loosely regarded as a “complex summation of a number of discrete job elements” (Robbins et al. 2009). Specifically, these factors include the following: the salary the teacher receives, the roles performed by teachers, and growth opportunities. Others include the effect of supervision and extent of co-worker relations. According to Richardson (2014), these factors adversely impact the quality of a teacher’s offering especially in sub-Saharan Africa.
In Nigeria for instance, Akyeampong and Bennell (2007) report that because of the meager income of teachers, majority of them go in search of second income sources. Elsewhere, in Turkey, supportive co-workers are considered very helpful in moderating the challenges of dealing with students (Al-Mutairi et al. 2017). In the same breadth, the “emotional state of leaders has a significant impact on the emotional climate of a team and therefore their performance output. Stressed leaders not only lose their self-awareness and social awareness, which are key to emotional intelligence competencies, but also trigger their staff’s stress response” (Cameron 2011). Considering that teachers have to play multiple roles in their school environments, they also confront a severe lack of infrastructure. In fact, Undie and Nike (2016) found that as a result of dilapidated infrastructure, teachers struggle to do their work properly. Overall, the desire for career growth and opportunity for development was found to be a predictor of job satisfaction among younger teachers in a study commissioned by IPRASE (Trento) (Guglielmi et al. 2016).

2.6. Summary

This review has shown that employee motivation is influenced by a multiplicity of factors interacting in complex ways. While the JCM focuses on the job aspect, the JD–R model emphasizes the influence of job resources and job demands on employees’ motivational process. Moreover, many motivational factors were identified and such can be broadly classified into: work itself and environment; the company itself and matters; supervisor relations; recognition; pay and benefits; and development and growth. While considerable efforts have been channeled into creating an understanding of the factors enhancing motivation, little is known about factors that can inhibit work motivation. This study aims to bridge the lacuna by further identifying the major job characteristics dimensions that enable work motivation while at the same time pointing out the major obstacles dimensions that inhibit work motivation. Moreover, the study will investigate the level of relationships between enabling job characteristics and inhibitor dimensions towards work motivation. Details of this as well as the methodology are contained in the next section.

3. Materials and Methods

The study employed the quantitative method. The consideration was based on, among others, the large population that needed to be covered. Initially, the schools that participated were identified and contacted via email. In line with the strict ethical standards, appointments were set in order to determine the appropriate contact persons for consent purposes. Data collection commenced once the requisite authorizations were obtained.
A structured respondent-completed questionnaire, with mostly close-ended questions was administered on a total of 547 teachers in 23 schools (pre-nursery to senior high schools) in the Ibadan South-West Local Government Area in Oyo state, Nigeria. This research required quantified information to address research questions. Veal (2011) posits that questionnaire surveys are ideal to generate quantified information. Schools to be targeted were selected using a simple random sampling approach. 456 usable questionnaires were received from teachers, yielding about 83% response rate. The questionnaire content consists mostly of job characteristics variables related to employee motivation, and obstacles to teaching and learning objectives. The variables used in the questionnaire were extracted from previous empirical studies (such as Cameron 2011; Johnson et al. 2012; Kerr-Phillips and Thomas 2009; Koch 1998; Luthans 2002; Skalli et al. 2008; Wushishi et al. 2014). Variables were measured along a 5-point Likert scale (1—extremely unimportant/ never; 5—extremely important; always).
SPSS software version 22 ((IBM Corporation 2013), Armonk, NY, USA) was used for data analysis. Descriptive analysis (mean and standard deviation) was done at the first stage and factor analysis, at the second stage. According to Williams et al. (2010), there are to two types of factor analysis. These are confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and exploratory factor analysis (EFA). Exploratory factor analysis, on the one hand, aims to explore main dimensions so as to develop a theory from multiple items, while confirmatory factor analysis, on the other hand, is mostly applied to test a proposed theory based on past information (Williams et al. 2010). This study used exploratory factor analysis as it is exploratory in nature. Factor analysis supports the researcher to identify factors that underpin variables, where low-scoring coefficients are eliminated to avoid distorting results. Factor analysis therefore facilitates the development and update of research theory (Williams et al. 2010). This study applied the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) method to extract factors, reducing data volume for making prediction possible (Hair et al. 2010).
The Kaiser’s criterion technique was applied to determine the factors (components) to be retained for the factor analysis. Only factors with an Eigen value of 1.0 or more were retained for analysis (Conway and Huffcut 2003; Pallant 2007; Williams et al. 2010). Factor analysis on the job characteristic variables for work motivation yielded two components having Eigen value scores of above 1 with 49.60% and 13.66% of variance explained from components 1 and 2 respectively (63.26% cumulative variance). Factor analysis for the obstacles to teaching and learning goals also yielded two components having Eigen value scores of above 1, with 54.81% and 12% of variance explained from components 1 and 2 respectively (66.81% cumulative variance). Factors which score low Eigen values (less than 1) do not necessarily contribute in explaining the variance in variables and are therefore often overlooked in identifying and grouping high-scoring variables together (Pallant 2007).
The reliability of the components generated by PCA was tested using Cronbach’s Alpha. Gliem and Gliem (2003) posit that using Cronbach’s Alpha is recommended to determine the internal consistency of the scales in examination, where Cronbach’s Alpha reliability coefficient ranges between 0 and 1. Commonly, a cut-off point of 0.5–0.7 is used for Cronbach’s Alpha values (Nunnally 1978; George and Mallery 2003; Bühl and Zöfel 2005), where a low Alpha score may be due to a few items or poor interrelatedness between items in analysis (Tavakol and Dennick 2011). This study considered a Cronbach’s Alpha level of 0.7 and above to be acceptable for factor extraction.
Kolmogorov-Smirnov’s and Shapiro-Wilk’s tests of normality were used to test if the generated components (factors) are normally distributed, and the p-values of less than 0.001 for all the components indicated no normal distribution. Hence, Spearman’s Correlation tests were used subsequently instead of Pearson’s Correlation tests, to test for component relationships (Pallant 2007; Hair et al. 2010).

4. Results and Discussion

Table 1 shows that, at 95% confidence interval, teachers’ pay or salary, growth opportunities and responsibilities attached to work are the top three job characteristics variables contributing highly to work motivation. However, it should be noted that all the variables in this table are viewed important or very important to work motivation.
The result in Table 1 is consistent with similar studies on Nigeria. A study in the North West district of Benue State reported that participants were furious over non-payment of salaries that they said lowered their morale to pursue teaching responsibilities. Interestingly, they (Ijov et al. 2016) also noted that paying salaries on time had a way of invigorating the teachers. This suggests to us that while there is a negative perception over non-payment of salaries, it was even worse if the salaries came very late. Tafida, Clement, and Raihan (Tafida et al. 2015a) suggested the following as strategies for retaining teachers in Katsina State: credible prospects for promotion, meaningful salary increases, improved working conditions and recognition for the challenges of the job of teaching which necessitate the provision of fringe benefits. We argue that in the absence of these important work attributes, teachers will not be motivated to perform their tasks satisfactorily.

Obstacles to Teaching and Learning Goals

Table 2 shows that, at 95% confidence interval, lack of research resources, lack of recognition or reward, and lack of teaching resources are the top three obstacles contributing highly to teachers not reaching teaching and learning goals in schools. Non-transparent work culture, institutional bureaucracy and cultural barriers are rarely perceived by teachers as obstacles to reaching teaching and learning goals.
A study by Tafida, Clement and Raihan (Tafida et al. 2015b) noted “lack of appreciation for job well done by the government”; “inadequate electricity to operate equipment”, and “too much workload not commensurate with pay packets” as the major factors why the teaching profession in Nigeria suffered serious brain drain. Interestingly, a study by Ozcan and Zabadi (2015) in Abuja, Nigeria reported the concerns of teachers over the deplorable state of public schools leading many teachers to either seek employment in private schools or seek greener pastures overseas. There is no doubt that these are important job attributes that influence teacher motivation in Nigeria.in their absence teachers are highly likely to experience dissatisfaction and unmotivated. As our study has shown, there are grounds to argue for the elimination of the obstacles to the realization of teaching and learning goals.
A factor analysis (PCA used for factor extraction) was done on job characteristics variables for work motivation, to determine if there are some underlying (latent) factors to be described by the variables. This analysis yielded two latent factors (components/dimensions) influencing work motivation (Table 3).
The factor analysis conducted identified two significant job characteristics’ dimensions that can significantly lead to work motivation among teachers. These are “primary work conditions” and “secondary work conditions”. These factors or dimensions were self-named by the authors and contain variables or items which are closely related. Primary work conditions have been so labeled based on the findings that suggest that they intensely influence work motivation than the secondary work conditions. Moreover, the results here are consistent with previous studies. For instance in a related study, Mtyuda and Okeke (2016) found that deplorable work conditions and the difficulty in thoroughly performing their roles and responsibilities almost always push teachers to consider leaving the profession. Working in dilapidated conditions and the inability to enforce rules (as is the case in some reported cases) lowers teachers’ morale and significantly impact the level of esteem. After all, Ololube’s (2006) study warned that physiological, social, security, self-actualization and self-esteem needs are highly sought after by teachers and in their absence may significantly lower job performance of Nigerian teachers.
From the results, “primary work conditions” are more important to achieving work motivation than “secondary work conditions” (see combined mean values in Table 3).
A factor analysis (PCA used for factor extraction) was done on obstacles’ items to achieving teaching and learning goals, to determine if there are some underlying (latent) factors to be described by the variables. This analysis yielded two latent factors (components/dimensions) inhibiting teachers’ achievement of teaching and learning goals (Table 4).
The factor analysis conducted on obstacles limiting teachers in achieving teaching and learning goals, identified two significant obstacles’ dimensions. These are “team focus and resources barriers” and “organizational culture and structure barriers”. These factors or dimensions were self-named by the authors and contain variables or items which are closely related. The labeling of these dimensions enjoy the support of Jacobs and Roodt (2008); Mullins (2007) as well as Castro and Martins (2010) whose characterizations of organizational culture point in the direction of the organization serving as a place where members feel and experience a sense of belonging, unencumbered by unnecessary bureaucracy, and inadequate support systems. In fact, Castro and Martins refer to the need for task clarity on the basis of divergent interests of stakeholders while Mullins acknowledges that people’s needs and expectations at work differ and therefore job demands must be matched with the requisite resources devoid of ambiguous task structures.
From the results, “organizational culture and structure barriers” are deemed more serious obstacles by teachers in achieving teaching and learning goals than “team focus and resources barriers” (see combined mean values in Table 4).
As stated in the research method section, statistical tests of normal distribution were performed on the new variables (“primary work conditions”, “secondary work conditions”, “team focus and resources barriers”, and “organizational culture and structure barriers”). It was found that none of the variables are normally distributed; hence Spearman’s Correlation test was used to check for correlation among these variables.
Results in Table 5 indicate that there is no correlation between the job characteristic—“secondary work conditions” and the obstacle—“organizational culture and structure barriers”. All others are significantly correlated (all p-values < 0.001). Results can be clearly interpreted as follows:
  • Respondents who agree that the job characteristics items in “secondary work conditions” are important to work motivation also agree that the job characteristics items in “primary work conditions” are important to work motivation;
  • Respondents who agree that the items in “team focus and resources barriers” are obstacles to teaching and learning goals also agree that the items in “organizational culture and structure barriers” are obstacles to teaching and learning goals;
  • Respondents who agree that the job characteristics items in “secondary work conditions” are important to work motivation disagree that the items in “team focus and resources barriers” are obstacles to teaching and learning goals;
  • Respondents who agree that the job characteristics items in “primary work conditions” are important to work motivation disagree that the items in “team focus and resources barriers” are obstacles to teaching and learning goals;
  • Respondents who agree that the job characteristics items in “primary work conditions” are important to work motivation disagree that the items in “organizational culture and structure barriers” are obstacles to teaching and learning goals.

5. Conclusions

The issue of quality education in Nigeria has come up in a number of studies. In particular, the teacher has been identified as a major resource in achieving the very important objective of quality basic education. This comes against the backdrop that teachers are perceived to be in a better position to influence the performance of learners. However, how can they positively influence student performance if they themselves are not motivated? This is one of the numerous factors that compound the education crisis in Nigeria.
We acknowledge that an enormous body of work exists in which teacher job satisfaction has been examined. The tenacity of research in the area of teacher job satisfaction indicates a recognition of the need to (1) continually debate the necessity of teachers; (2) unpack the myriad issues that pervade the teaching profession; and (3) shine light on the negative socioeconomic impact that a deplorable teaching fraternity heaps on a nation. Thus, we join the bandwagon of researchers that echo the need to ascertain the major obstacles as well as enablers of work motivation of teachers in Nigeria. In Nigeria, all the studies that have been conducted to gauge the level of job satisfaction of teachers have realized almost similar results. Overall, the results usually point in the direction of the following: dilapidated infrastructure, derelict work environment, often undesirable work conditions, a demotivated workforce, a neglected learner body leading to poor pass rates and the increasing itch to exit the profession. Other issues that have emerged in many of these studies are the crass lack of opportunity and support for career enhancement, low and often irregularly paid wages, and a demoralized teaching team. The associated set backs are many and not limited to high teacher turnover, high learner dropout, unemployable graduates, financial losses to parents and concomitant lowering of socioeconomic development of Nigeria. Our study has also found similar results. In addition, one can sum this up by saying that the implications of the findings of this study are self-evident. For starters, these conditions do not only affect teacher morale and satisfaction, but they also cause grave physiological, psychological, social and economic stress on both the teachers and those around them. The pressure resulting from these affect the output of the entire education ecosystem. With poor pass rates learners spend much longer time to access higher levels of education. In addition, often when they do, they struggle to cope with the amount of work required.
Despite being classified as a strong economy, Nigeria’s reality is starkly dissimilar. In fact, one of the most serious problems facing Nigeria is unemployment. Socioeconomic consequences of unemployment include poverty, prostitution, armed robbery, kidnapping and general insecurity in the country (Emeh 2012). Even as rundown as the profession seems, there are several people accessing the profession on a daily basis. The question that needs addressing, among others, is are they accessing the profession for the right reasons? The right reasons in our view should include a determination to participate in grooming leaders of the future. Interestingly, some studies such as Ehusani (2002) and Ozano (2013) suggest that entry into the profession in Nigeria is easy and as a result the profession serves to fill in the gaps for those jobseekers who are eager to attest to some work experience. To address these lingering issues thus requires a sustained engagement through research that helps to unpack these issues and possibly proffer solutions. In the case of Nigeria, perhaps a reformist approach encompassing poignant policies that not only address these issues but also truly convenes committed approaches to fixing the decline in schools. Some of these approaches may include a review of teachers’ working conditions, the provision of and access to opportunities for career enhancements, and improved and regular pay. We also call upon other researchers to consider further exploration that goes beyond the corridors of the classroom and extends into other areas of self-esteem and support networks to possibly identify other unfilled higher-level needs.

Author Contributions

Chux Gervase Iwu and Ita Chimezie Iwu conceived the study. Ikebuaku collated data and contributed literature along with Tengeh. Ezeuduji designed and analyzed the data. All authors contributed to writing and editing all sections of the paper.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Table
Table 1. Descriptive results—important job characteristics and job attributes that support motivation.
Table 1. Descriptive results—important job characteristics and job attributes that support motivation.
Descriptive Statistics.95% Confidence Interval
ConstructsNMin.Max.MeanStd. DeviationLower LimitUpper Limit
Supervision/leadership to work motivation442153.971.0713.8704.070
Job title/status to work motivation445154.080.9673.9904.170
Recognition and reward to work motivation447154.180.914.0964.264
Interpersonal relationship to work motivation446154.190.8024.1164.264
Work conditions to work motivation446154.260.9274.1744.346
Job security to work motivation448154.340.854.2614.419
Duties/responsibilities to work motivation449154.380.6744.3184.442
Growth opportunities to work motivation448154.460.6844.3974.523
Pay/salary to work motivation447154.50.6064.4444.556
Valid N (listwise)430
Scale: 1 (extremely unimportant); 2 (unimportant); 3 (neutral); 4 (important); 5 (extremely important).
Table
Table 2. Descriptive results—Obstacles to teaching and learning goals.
Table 2. Descriptive results—Obstacles to teaching and learning goals.
Descriptive Statistics95% Confidence Interval
ConstructsNMin.Max.MeanStd. DeviationLower LimitUpper Limit
Non-transparent work culture423152.031.1461.9212.139
Obstacles relating to institutional bureaucracy428152.21.1362.0922.308
Cultural barriers435152.271.1932.1582.382
Lack of mutual cooperation and pleasant environment444152.51.2312.3852.615
Communication barriers449152.511.1732.4012.619
Obstacles relating to multiple stakeholders divergent goals441152.551.2072.4372.663
Multiple task overload442152.611.3962.4802.740
Inadequate infrastructure448152.671.2292.5562.784
Relating to quality/skills of new intakes440152.691.1762.5802.800
Lack of teaching resources443152.851.1962.7392.961
Lack of recognition/reward446152.881.5192.7393.021
Lack of research resources441152.881.3162.7573.003
Valid N (listwise)355
Scale: 1 (never); 2 (rarely); 3 (occasionally); 4 (often); 5 (always).
Table
Table 3. Factor analysis—job characteristics versus work motivation.
Table 3. Factor analysis—job characteristics versus work motivation.
Job Characteristics DimensionsItemsFactor LoadingCombined Mean±SD Cronbach’s AlphaVariance Explained (%)
‘Secondary work conditions’Supervision/leadership0.8704.210.6780.83149.60
Job title/status0.788
Interpersonal relationship0.731
Recognition and Reward0.601
Growth opportunities0.557
‘Primary work conditions’Pay/salary0.831
Job security0.765
Work conditions0.6754.440.5420.75113.66
Duties/responsibilities0.546
Extraction method: Principal Component Analysis; Rotation method: Varimax with Kaiser Normalization; Rotation converged in 3 iterations; Scale: 1 (extremely unimportant); 2 (unimportant); 3 (neutral); 4 (important); 5 (extremely important).
Table
Table 4. Factor analysis—Obstacles to teaching and learning goals.
Table 4. Factor analysis—Obstacles to teaching and learning goals.
Obstacles DimensionsItemsFactor LoadingCombined Mean±SDCronbach’s AlphaVariance Explained (%)
‘Team focus and resources barriers’Lack of recognition/reward0.8682.3450.9170.92454.81
Multiple stakeholders divergent goals0.789
Lack of teaching resources0.781
Lack of research resources0.779
Multiple task overload0.763
Quality/skills of new intakes0.658
Lack of mutual cooperation and pleasant environment0.649
‘Organizational culture and structure barriers’Institutional bureaucracy0.8242.7121.0530.77812
Non-transparent work culture0.795
Inadequate infrastructure0.711
Communication barriers0.671
Cultural barriers0.661
Extraction method: Principal Component Analysis; Rotation method: Varimax with Kaiser Normalization; Rotation converged in 3 iterations; Scale: 1 (never); 2 (rarely); 3 (occasionally); 4 (often); 5 (always).
Table
Table 5. Correlations between job characteristics and obstacle dimensions.
Table 5. Correlations between job characteristics and obstacle dimensions.
Secondary Work ConditionsPrimary Work Conditions Team Focus and Resources BarriersOrganizational Culture and Structure Barriers
Spearman’s rhoSecondary work conditionsCorrelation Coefficient10.368 **−0.259 **0.005
p-value (2-tailed) 000.920
N450450448448
Primary work conditionsCorrelation Coefficient0.368 **1−0.626 **−0.384 **
p-value (2-tailed)0 00
N450450448448
Team focus and resources barriersCorrelation Coefficient−0.259 **−0.626 **10.642 **
p-value (2-tailed)00 0
N448448452452
Organizational culture and structure barriersCorrelation Coefficient0.005−0.384 **0.642 **1
p-value (2-tailed)0.92000
N448448452452
**—Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

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Iwu, C.G.; Ezeuduji, I.O.; Iwu, I.C.; Ikebuaku, K.; Tengeh, R.K. Achieving Quality Education by Understanding Teacher Job Satisfaction Determinants. Soc. Sci. 2018, 7, 25. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci7020025

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Iwu CG, Ezeuduji IO, Iwu IC, Ikebuaku K, Tengeh RK. Achieving Quality Education by Understanding Teacher Job Satisfaction Determinants. Social Sciences. 2018; 7(2):25. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci7020025

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Iwu, Chux Gervase, Ikechukwu Onyekwere Ezeuduji, Ita Chimezie Iwu, Kenechukwu Ikebuaku, and Robertson Khan Tengeh. 2018. "Achieving Quality Education by Understanding Teacher Job Satisfaction Determinants" Social Sciences 7, no. 2: 25. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci7020025

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