Investigating factors that influence the work performance of primary school teachers in the Mxenge circuit.
Date
2018
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Abstract
Teachers are important in society because of the roles they play in teaching,
counselling and other duties in their day-to-day work. Reports of deteriorating standards
of professional conduct, including serious misconduct, poor preparation of teaching
materials, especially lesson plans, lack of continuous pupil assessment, absenteeism
and general poor professional performance have been published. The work of teachers
is linked to Work Performance, which is under threat. This study seeks to answer the
questions: what factors influence the Work Performance of primary school teachers,
how and why do these factors influence the Work Performance of these teachers. The
study adopted an interpretivist, mixed methods, case study research design. Twenty
primary school teachers who were sampled using probability sampling, completed
questionnaires. Six teachers who were purposively sampled completed interviews.
Quantitative data analysis involved statistical analysis methods of number counts and
percentages. Qualitative data analysis used content analysis with the development of
themes. The data analysis reveals that there are a number of factors that influence the
Work Performance of primary school teachers. These factors include overcrowded
classrooms, lack of facilities, lack of resource materials, teacher’s mental health and
stress, including workload factors, extra-curriculum involvement and the placement of
teachers at schools. The study therefore recommends that the Department of Education
Managers and School Management should consider providing appropriate focused
training and development initiatives for teachers, teaching resources, effective workload
scheduling and the appropriate placement of teachers.
Description
Master’s degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.