Comparative Analysis of Public and Private Secondary School Teachers’ Level of Work Motivation in Ilorin, Nigeria

Abstract

This study analysed and compared the levels of work motivation among the
public and private teachers in Ilorin metropolis of Kwara State. It adopted
the descriptive survey design. Six hundred teachers selected randomly from
15 private and 15 public secondary schools participated in the study. A
research instrument entitled Teachers’ Self-assessment Motivation Scale
(SAMS) was designed by the researchers to gather data for the study. The
reliability coefficient of the instrument was determined through the testretest procedure and Chrombach Alpha formula, its reliability coefficient
was found to be .87. Results revealed that work motivation among majority
(61.8%) of the teachers was at a moderate level, while 23.7% and 14.5%
of the teachers were at high and low motivation level respectively. Work
motivation among teachers in public schools was higher than among teachers
in private secondary schools. Only 5.3% of teachers in public school were
at the low motivation level compared to 23.7% of teachers in private
secondary schools at the low motivation level. It is obvious from the forgoing
that the work motivation level of teachers in private secondary school is not as encouraging as that of teachers in public secondary schools. In most
private schools lack of incentives such as annual salary increment,
promotion, sponsorship to in-service training, workshops and conferences
plausibly accounted for their low level of motivation. Based on the results,
it was recommended that proprietors of private secondary schools should
endeavor to provide their teachers incentives that teachers in public schools
are enjoying.