Teachers Work Motivation Levels in Teaching at Public Secondary Schools in Melo Koza Woreda, Ethiopia

: This study examines the teachers’ work motivation level and its critical determinants in public secondary schools. The study was carried out using a convergent parallel mixed method design. 75 secondary school teachers participated in this study. Quantitative data were collected using five-point Likert scale questionnaires, while qualitative data were collected through a semi-structured interview with five participants. The quantitative data were analyzed using both descriptive statistics and inferential statistics such as frequency and percentage were used to analyze background data


Introduction
Motivation can be described as a process by which an individual's internal energies are directed towards various goals and objectives in his environment.According to Omebe, motivation can be defined as those conditions such as praise, rewards, and promotion, among others that arouse the interest of teachers in performing their duties diligently [16].On the same vein, Onyeachu defined motivation as anything that encourages an individual to perform his or her duty in an expected manner [17].This corroborates the view of Ofoegbu who defined motivation as a force that would reduce tension, stress, worries, and frustration arising from a problematic situation in a person's life [15].
Furthermore, according to Srivastava and Bhatia motivation initiates, guides, and maintains human action to attain a certain goal [18].They contend that motivation is also a collection of mechanisms that awaken, stimulate, guide, and uphold human behavior in the direction of obtaining particular objective.The factors that push people (teachers) to do their duties in the fields of teaching and learning with delight are referred to as motivation, in accordance with the definitions given above.
Indeed, the issue of teacher motivation has received considerable attention in mainstream educational debate in recent decades.It has become an important aspect of teacher efficacy and professionalism given the teacher's responsibility for imparting knowledge and skills to learners.On one level, teacher motivation is related to a long list of variables, including whether or not an enabling environment exists and whether or not teachers are equipped to conduct their responsibilities effectively.Davidson noted that, at the basic level, teacher motivation is linked to how teachers feel they are being treated and to the way they perceive their own working and living conditions [5].
Moreover, teachers are arguably the most important group of professionals for our nation's future.Michaelowa, in her study on the analysis of the key determinants of teacher Milkiyas Asso Goshu: Teachers Work Motivation Levels in Teaching at Public Secondary Schools in Melo Koza Woreda, Ethiopia motivation in the context of developing countries, found that large class size, double-shifting, rural location, high educational attainment, and active parental involvement negatively correlated with teacher job satisfaction in these countries [12].She further found that the level of communication between teachers and school managers had no statistically significant impact on teacher job satisfaction.
According to Bennell and Akyeampong research on teacher motivation in Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia, teachers in many Sub-Saharan African countries are being asked to change radically their teaching practices at a time when the majority of them are increasingly demotivated [1].The study shows that the major problems of poor motivation include teacher deployment, teacher turnover, which results in a high attrition rate, that is occupational attrition (teachers leaving the profession to take up other jobs) and teacher absenteeism.
Nyakundi conducted a study on determinants of teachers' motivation in Public Secondary Schools in Thika West District, Kiambu Country of Kenya and found that job satisfaction, reward systems, professional training and development, and work situational determinants affect employees' motivation [14].
Few studies in Ethiopia have looked at factors that affect teachers work motivation (for example Demeke, Dawit, & Fekede.Demeke studied the factors affecting teachers' work motivation and found that; the teachers were demotivated with the salary pay and absence of incentives, ineffective administration and lack of proper treatment, lack of teachers' participation in school decision making and these made negative impact on teachers' work motivation [7].
Similarly, Dawit focused on the factors affecting teachers' job satisfaction and the rewarding system for teachers [6].The findings indicate that; teachers were more interested in their job performance recognition from different sources, success in the performance of their job, and professional discretion in the school.The salary increases they have received thus far have not enabled them to live stable personal lives.Moreover, a study by Fekede Explored teachers' motivation for teaching and professional development in Ethiopia revealed that low salary and the absence of link between performance and reward as major motivational challenges for teachers [8].
All the research mentioned above, though focused on various factors that affect teachers' work motivation in Ethiopian schools, however did not properly address teachers work motivation levels in teaching at public secondary schools.As a result, the purpose of this study is to investigate the critical determinants of teachers' levels of work motivation in public secondary schools in South nationalities and people's regional state of Gofa Zone Melokoza woreda.To achieve this purpose the researcher employed the convergent parallel mixed method design to answer the following questions: 1. What are the motivation levels of teachers according to their age, gender, professional experience, and education level in public secondary schools in Melokoza woreda? 2. Which of the work conditions, the reward system, and the work itself can best determine a teacher's motivation in secondary schools in Melokoza woreda? 3. How do the secondary school teachers feel about the effect of work conditions, the reward system, and work itself on teacher motivation in Melokoza Woreda?

Methodology
This study employed the convergent parallel mixed method design.According to Creswell, a convergent parallel method is a mixed method design in which qualitative and quantitative data are collected in parallel, analyzed separately, and then merged [4].
The target population of the study comprises all secondary schools in Melo Koza Woreda which is made up of five public secondary schools with a total of ninety three teachers.The sample size was seventy-five secondary school teachers (sixty -five males and ten females) purposely selected from the five schools (Belat, Mashira, Tsila, Koza and Dala secondary schools).
This study employed questionnaire and an interview to collect data from the respondents.The collected data were analyzed separately by quantitative and qualitative research methods and combined using the convergent method.Data collected through questionnaire was analyzed and interpreted quantitatively using descriptive statistics and inferential statistics.Specifically, frequency and percentage were used to analyze background data, and inferential statistics like the t-test, one-way ANOVA, and multiple regression analysis were used to answer the research questions.Furthermore, post hoc tests were performed to further explore where the differences occurred between groups.Whereas the data collected from the interviews was captured and transcribed manually through making notes.The researcher systematized and organized data depending on the degree of variation in responses by the respondents.
The researcher sought expert assistance from a psychology department instructor to assess the content validity of the questionnaires.The instructor evaluated the tool and provided feedback for implementation as the researcher identified errors and corrected them prior to the data collection process.Internal consistence reliability domain was estimated through Cronbach alpha in which a reliability coefficient of r = 0.895 was generated.This implied that the items were sufficiently correlated.

Quantitative Data Analysis Phase
Research Question 1: What are the motivation levels of teachers according to their age, gender, professional experience and education level in public secondary schools of Melokoza woreda?  1 indicates that female and male teacher participants work motivation levels show significant difference (t= -2.071; p<0.05).Thus, the work motivation level of female teachers (Mean = 17.5000) were higher when compared to male teachers (Mean= 14.9692).
In table 2 one-way ANOVA was used to analyse the secondary school teacher participants work motivation levels in terms of age, work experience and education level variables.As a result of the Tukey b test, a significant difference is seen between participants.It was interesting to note that teachers having 31 and above years' of teaching experience had the highest mean (M = 113.500)while the group of teachers having 1to 10 years of teaching experience showed the least mean value (M = 85.5172).
Research question 2: Which of the work condition, reward system and work itself can best determine teacher's motivation in public secondary schools in Melokoza woreda?
This research question is answered by conducting a multilinear regression model was used to determine the effect of work situation, reward system and the teaching itself on teachers motivation.Before starting the regression analysis, the correlation analysis was conducted to examine the linear relationship of these variables.As can be seen in Table 6, the relationship between Work itself and Work environment (r=0.06,p<0.01) is positive and insignificant.While the relationship between reward and work environment(r=0.563,p<0.01), reward and work itself (r=0.547,p<0.01) is positive and significant.Lastly, there is a positive and significant relationship between general work motivation and work environment(r=0.576,p<0.01), general motivation and work itself (r=0.673,p<0.01) and general motivation and reward system (r=0.889,p<0.01).
After the correlation analysis, the regression analysis for the predictive power of work situation, reward system and the teaching itself on teacher's motivation in secondary Melo Koza Woreda, Ethiopia school was conducted.The results are shown in table below.The standard beta coefficients in the table 7: indicate that work condition can explain 23.8% of the variation in teacher motivation holding work itself and reward system constant.The work itself can explain 35 % of the variation in teacher motivation when work condition and reward systems are held constant.In addition, reward systems can explain 56.3% % of the variation in teacher motivation if work condition and work itself are held constant.This implies that reward system made the most significant and positively determines teachers work motivation in secondary schools (β= 0.563, p˂ 0.05).
Qualitative Data Analysis Phase The interview was conducted with five (one teacher from each school) were participated in the face-to-face interview and the session lasted for 25 to 30 minutes.In answering each of the research questions, the interviewer posed a series of questions aimed at creating a mental set for participants around the research questions.
Research Question 3: How do the secondary school teachers' feel about the effect of work condition, reward system and work itself on teachers' motivation in Melokoza Woreda?
This research question is answered by the qualitative interview results as presented below.
Based on the focus group interview, different factors were pointed out by the participants.The influence of factors on secondary school teachers teaching motivation can be categorized into three main themes.Such as work conditions, reward system and the work itself.To maintain the confidentiality of the participants, letter with number coding were used (for participant teacher one, T2 for participant teacher two, T3 for participant teacher three, T4 for participant teacher four and T5 for participant teacher five).
Theme 1: Work condition Regarding teacher's opinion on the factors that influence the teacher's work motivation, one of the issues mentioned by the participants was work conditions.A pleasant school environment relaxes teachers and provides them with mental satisfaction, which motivates them to carry out their teaching and learning processes effectively.One of the interviewees reported that; "The school is physically not attractive enough to retain teachers.I always feel discomfort ad demotivated, if you ask me the reason why?, because there is no refreshment facilities for teachers, at least during the tea break, which we need, I must take a break, drink coffee, and wait until the next class period starts."(p2) In supporting this idea, one of the interviewees reported that, "In my view I did not take the school as a secondary school, there are problems in terms of school facilities that are basic for teachers and students.I like playing football to get refreshed, but where is the field or play ground?In addition, playing tennis also motivates me, but where are the facilities?That is why I stated that the school does not appear to be a secondary school" (p.3).Further one of the interviewee reflected that, "I want to work in a good school and share my knowledge with my students, so the school needs to be wellequipped."School facilities must be adequate for optimal student performance as well as professional development opportunities for teachers."(p1)Another issue influencing teachers' motivation is a lack of laboratory equipment and facilities.They explained that teachers had to teach students practical subjects such as physics, chemistry, and biology in laboratories.However, there is shortage of necessary chemicals and equipment to teach those subjects.One of the interviewees mentioned this, saying, "The age of this school is not more than ten years.There are no enough facilities to teach practical subjects, particularly physics, biology and chemistry.I am demotivated to teach my subject, because the activities included in most of the contents are practice based" (p4) Theme 2: Reward systems Another issue mentioned by the participants regarding the factors that influence secondary school teachers work motivation was the reward system.Under this theme, they stated that absence of recognition for better performance, a feedback system, lack of appreciation and acknowledgement for good achievements was affected teachers' teaching motivation.During the interview, one of the participants reported that, "I can assure that I did not get any feedback either positive or negative from my school regarding my job; so how can I be motivated in my teaching?"Lack of feedbacks for best performances at the end of a good job is a serious problem and not practical at this school" (p4) Similarly, one of the interviewee reported that teachers work motivation could be increased by the reward and appreciation that they earn for their better achievements, which need money by saying; "I believe appreciations and rewarding teachers is an important factor that motivates teachers.That is why giving appropriate value as well as acknowledgment for an employee motivates him/her for further work" (p5) Another participant complained on the absence of teacher professional development issues.Teachers perceive professional growth as an important element that helps teachers to develop their skill and upgrade their general knowledge.One of the interviewees mentioned this, saying, "I believe teachers should grow in their profession.If  Participants also emphasized that the teaching profession is the least preferred profession in Ethiopia.This participant stated that the teaching profession is not only suffering from a failure to attract better candidates, but it is also unable to retain the skilled and knowledgeable teachers in the profession.

Discussion
The current study looked at the levels of work motivation of secondary school teachers in Melo koza woreda.In this context, the research consists of quantitative and qualitative sections.In accordance with the convergent method, the research data were analyzed separately and combined.There were seventy participants in the quantitative part of the study, whereas the qualitative part of the study was conducted with five participants, and the content analysis method was used.
The quantitative findings on teachers' work motivation level by age revealed a significant difference (F = 114.530;df = 3,71; p <0.05).As a result, participants aged 20-25 years (x = 6.7778) have less motivation, participants aged 31-35 years (x = 17.2000), and participants aged above 36 years (x = 17.8000) have a high level of work motivation.This finding matches with the responses given by the interview participants, as they stated that age matters in teachers' work motivation because, when teachers get mature in their professions, everything becomes simple and familiar.Wellmatured teachers can have the ability to cope with challenges and can have the ability to decide on issues effectively.This implies that as the age of the teachers in their teaching profession increases, their level of work motivation in their profession also increases.These findings echo the findings in the literature, which have shown that there is a great difference between young and old teachers in their level of motivation by Virk, Chhabra, and Kumar [19].Older teachers appear to be more motivated than younger teachers, and motivation improves with increasing age in a U-shaped curve according to Herzberg's theory.
The findings of the quantitative data analysis show that the work motivation levels of secondary school teachers differed significantly by gender (t = -2.071;p< 0.05).This was confirmed by the fact that the work motivation level of female teachers (x̅ = 17.500) was higher when compared to male teachers x ̅ = 14.9692).Further, this result contradicts the answers given by the interview participants.They expressed that there is no difference in the motivation levels of teachers based on gender.Because they are engaged in the same profession, the payment earned from the profession is similar, the administrative level or district they are serving is the same, and they also teach at secondary school levels.This finding is contradicted by Yemisi which showed that there was no significant difference in the motivation of male and female, untrained and trained, and experienced and inexperienced teachers [20].Again, the current study's findings contradict those of Khan, who discovered that there was a significant difference in the overall work motivation of male and female teachers in government senior secondary schools, but no significant difference in the overall work motivation of male and female teachers [11].This implies that these contradictory findings warn the researcher about drawing any generalizable conclusions regarding the gender effects of work motivation level.Therefore, interpretation of the findings of each study should be made within the boundaries of the sample population for the gender variables.
Regarding the motivation levels of teachers according to their professional experience in public secondary schools, the quantitative findings reveal that the work motivation levels of the teachers significantly differ according to their professional experience (F = 21.882;df = 3.71; p< 0.05).Thus, it was seen that teachers having 31 or more years of teaching experience had the highest mean value (M = 113.500),while the group of teachers having 1-10 years of teaching experience showed the least mean value (M = 85.5172).A similar finding was reported during the interview session by participants.They stressed that there are differences due to career structure, classroom management strategies, and salaries they are paid.This demonstrates that as teachers' teaching experience grows, so does their work motivation.
The study found that there was a statistically significant difference in motivation according to teacher educational level variables (F = 51.135,df = 2, 72; p < 0.05).Thus, a significant difference is seen between participants with a diploma education level (x ̅ 75.4776) who) show less motivation and those with a master's education level (x ̅ = 115.0)who show higher level of work motivation.This finding is consistent with the responses given by the interview participants in the qualitative phase.It was reflected that the salary difference depends on level of education; the diploma teachers are less paid than the degree teachers.They also stressed the status of teachers in society and how the respect they get in the school community is different due to their educational levels (the lower the level of education, the less respect they get).This implies that the lower the level of education, the less teachers' motivation to work, and the higher the level of education, the greater teachers' motivation to work.
Another goal of the study was to determine which of the reward system, work itself, and work situation can best determine a teacher's motivation in Melokoza woreda secondary schools.The quantitative findings reveal that work conditions account for 23.8% of the variation in teacher motivation, holding work itself and the reward system constant.The work itself can explain 35% of the variation in teacher motivation when work conditions and reward systems are held constant.In addition, reward systems can explain 56.3% of the variation in teacher motivation if work conditions and work itself are held constant.This implies that, of the three variables, the reward system made the most significant contribution and positively influences secondary school teachers' work motivation (= 0.563, p< 0.05).However, the findings show that the three variables worked together to determine the work motivation of secondary school teachers.In the qualitative phase of the interview, the participants stated that a conducive school environment helps teachers be relaxed and gives them mental satisfaction, which in turn motivates them to conduct their teaching and learning processes effectively.But, because the schools are not physically attractive enough to retain teachers, a shortage of laboratory equipment and facilities to teach students practical subjects such as physics, chemistry, and biology in laboratories is another problem that influences teachers' motivation.These findings, in line with the study by Chimombe conducted on the effect of the school environment on teacher motivation, attest to the fact that a school environment that is not conducive to teaching may lead to low motivation and hence underperformance [3].
Another consistent response expressed by the participants regarding the factors that influence secondary school teachers' work motivation was the reward system.They stated that the absence of recognition for better performance, a feedback system, and a lack of appreciation and acknowledgement for good achievements affected teachers' motivation to teach; in addition, participants complained about the absence of teacher professional development issues that affected teachers' ability to develop their skills and upgrade their general knowledge.These findings coincide with a study on the differences among levels of employees in terms of rewards by Nambasa, who observed that rewards such as sickness payments, contributory pension schemes, free life insurance, and medical and housing allowances are equally important for the motivation of teachers [13].The current results, however, again substantiate the research carried out by Gudu et al. school administration that embraces democratic principles, undertakes frequent assessment and evaluation of teacher performance, and gives timely feedback helps motivate teachers [9].
Further, the findings gathered from the interview theme confirm the quantitative findings in that there is a lack of satisfaction in the teaching profession, which negatively affects teachers' motivation to do their job in secondary schools.The participants emphasized that the underpayment of the teaching profession, the absence of positive and friendly relationships among school communities, a lack of in-service training opportunities, and a lack of smooth communication and cooperation among school communities were the major problems.The current results, in agreement with the research carried out by Adelabu on teachers' motivational issues, demonstrate that they are undermotivated and dissatisfied with their living and working circumstances, with the main causes being low pay access when compared to other professionals, low status in society, mass promotion, lack of career advancement, a high teacherto-student ratio, a poor work environment, and insufficient fringe benefits [2].Again, in terms of a healthy and harmonious relationship, this study's findings are consistent with those by Kamau and Ruth, who found that motivating factors for teachers include collegiality, a sense of belonging, music, and workloads that are balanced [10].Besides, Yip argued that an isolated environment demotivates an individual and spreads negativity [21].In general, these findings imply that the most important factors that determine teachers' work motivation are ranked as follows: the reward system (56.3%), the work itself (35%), and finally the work environment (23.8%) of the secondary schools in the study area.

Conclusions and Recommendations
According to the results of this research, in which the work motivation levels of secondary school teachers were investigated with a mixed method convergent parallel design, the work motivation levels of the participants were found to significantly vary depending on the variables of age, gender, education level, and professional experience.This was seen by the fact that female teachers had higher levels of work motivation than male teachers did, and on the other hand, teachers' levels of work motivation increased with an increase in other variables such as age, educational level, and profession experience.
According to the quantitative and qualitative findings, the variables of work environment, reward system, and work itself all played a role in determining secondary school teachers' work motivation.However, out of the three factors, the reward system had the greatest impact and significantly influenced teachers' motivation at work in secondary schools.
Based on the findings of the study, school principals are recommended to create a safe school environment by providing facilities such as refreshment centers and sports fields and creating a collaborative school environment.
The woreda education office should fulfill important laboratory facilities for practical subjects in order to make the teaching-learning process more practical and thereby develop teachers' interest in and motivation for their profession.

Table 1 .
t-test statistics on work motivation level of participants by gender.

Table 2 .
One-way ANOVA value for teachers work motivation by age, work experience and educational level.

Table 2
indicates that the work motivation levels of the teacher's significantly differ according to age variables (F= 114.530; df=3,71; p<0.05), the work experience (F=21.882;df=3,71; p<0.05) and Educational level variables (F= 51.135, df=2,72; p<0.05).Since the overall F do not show which group differs from which group significantly, a post hoc analysis of mean difference was carried out using tukeys b method because of unequal n with in the groups.

Table 3 .
Post hoc Tests for age variables of teachers.

Table 4 .
Post hoc Tests for education level variables of teachers.

Table 5 .
Post hoc Tests for work experience variables of teachers.

Table 6 .
Correlation coefficients among work situation, reward system and the teaching itself on teachers motivation.

Table 7 .
Multi-Linear Regression Coefficients for predictive variables.