6.3 Motivation

In this section: - The importance of motivating teachers - How to motivate teachers

• Introduction to Motivation
• Best Practice: How to motivate teachers for high performance

Introduction to Motivation

 

High teacher performance is not just about competencies. It is as much about being motivated to teach school children, excel as a teacher, develop teaching competencies and be part of the school team.

Salary and benefits are motivating factors and are subject to negotiation between government, employer and employee representatives, such as the SLTU. However, there are other tools available for motivating teachers, which can be applied directly on an everyday basis by TSC, school authorities and school leaders to promote high teacher performance in schools.

Best Practice: How to motivate teachers for high performance

 

Motivation is a wide field and has become a discipline in its own right within the fields of organisational development, management and learning. The following provides a few simple and easily applicable guidelines which can be applied by school authorities and school leaders to motivate teachers for high performance within the school environment.

• Make teachers aware of the importance of their work to the development of the country and the future of schoolchildren – be concrete and specific – do not apply slogan-like phrases that the teachers already know and have heard many times before.

• Always be fair and unbiased and avoid any kind of favouritism. Bias, lack of equality and favouritism in the workplace act as poison to engagement, team- work and motivation

• Reward excellent performance, initiative, and creativity by showing appreciation, interest and encouragement.

• Delegate responsibilities to individuals and teams in order to promote independence, confidence, commitment and a sense of responsibility

• Always take a constructive stance. Do not overdo criticism of not-so-good performance and never reproach a teacher in public or in front of the students. Invite the teacher to the office and suggest improvement in a friendly, constructive manner.

• Ensure a good work-climate and work environment at the school and make a real effort to achieve it. Details are available elsewhere in this manual.

• Provide support and guidance to teachers both professionally and personally.

• Care about teacher wellbeing and job-satisfaction and address deficiencies by initiating improvements.

• Encourage initiative and creativity in teaching which make the work fun for both teachers and pupils while enhancing effective learning at the same time.

• Promote teamwork amongst teachers. This gives social fulfilment and at the same time enhances the quality of teaching, school planning, extracurricular activities, etc. Teamwork may comprise common school planning, extra-curricular activities, community orientated activities or engaging pupils in assignments across subjects.

• Stimulate professional development through encouraging subject interest; organising academic events; providing links and access to self-studies, literature and newsletters; providing opportunities for research and academic pursuits like writing articles and engaging in newsletters; facilitating learning and development and participation in conferences; and allocating space for and encouraging participation in professional associations, communities of practice, and in other ways. 

• Organise social events at the school to promote a sense of belonging to a family. This might include sports events, dance, music and theatre performances, events with parents, celebrations, etc.