Investigating factors that influence the work performance of primary school teachers in the Mxenge circuit.

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.