The Motivational Challenges of Teachers in Junior Secondary Schools in Agbor, Ika South Local Government Area of Delta State

This paper investigated and identifies the key factors influencing teacher motivation in in Junior Secondary Schools in Agbor, Ika South Local Government Area of Delta State. The study aimed at identifying the motivational challenges of Junior Secondary School teacher in Agbor, Ika South Local Government Area of Delta State. The paper adopted the qualitative research approach a descriptive research design and sampled ten (10) teachers selected from five schools with two teachers selected from each school. Primary data was used in the study and data was collected using interviews and the data was analyzed using thematic analysis based on the objectives and research questions of the study. The paper concluded that the current motivational techniques used by the ministry of education and the Nigerian education service are ineffective. The paper concluded that, intrinsic motivations like teachers enjoy teaching as a profession that gives them great deal of satisfaction, teaching giving teachers recognition and respect, teaching giving teachers a sense of control over others and teaching making teachers more useful in the society increase the moral of teachers to a lower extent. The paper also concluded that, extrinsic motivation such as teachers receiving low salaries, lack of free accommodation, lack of prompt payment of salaries, lack of recognition and difficulty in getting financial assistance in difficult times does not increase teachers’ moral to a large extent. The paper also concluded that, the motivational techniques used by the Nigerian education service in Agbor, Ika South Local Government Area of Delta State include the fact that, teacher promotions are based on the number of years of teaching in the school and not on performance, teachers are not rewarded for putting in extra efforts in teaching, headmasters/mistresses punish teachers when they go wrong and teachers are not allowed to take part in key decision making. The paper concluded that, teachers are not motivated by the motivational techniques used by the Nigerian Education Service and in addition, teachers do not also feel the urge to remain teaching in their various schools because of the existing motivational used in their schools. The paper recommended that, the ministry of education of Nigeria should to immediate steps to implement actionable and immediate solutions including recognition of good work done, payment of competitive salaries and involvement of teachers in decision making. To improve on motivation and reduce teacher dissatisfaction and improve job morale, the study recommended that both the Agbor, Ika South Local Government Area of Delta State, Nigeria education service and the ministry of education should make efforts to find out what motivate each teacher since different teachers have different backgrounds, personal attitudes and expectations and efforts must be made to provide such motivational needs to all teachers in the Agbor, Ika South Local Government Area of Delta State.