Merit Research Journal of Education and Review

227-249

Authors: Seniwoliba A. J and Nchorbono A. D.

Motivation is crucial for organizations to function; without motivation employees will not put up their best and the company’s performance would be less efficient. The situation is even more serious in developing countries where working conditions are unattractive. The upper west region is also bedevilled with low level of education, poor infrastructure and poor road network and for that matter northern Ghana has been the concern of many people, especially of northern exaction. The reasons for this situation are partly due to the slow progress in the development of the north. It is in view of this that this study seeks to assess the role of motivation on employee performance in the public sector with particular reference to employees of the University for Development Studies (UDS) at its Wa Campus in the Upper West Region. The case-study approach was adopted for the study with both qualitative and quantitative techniques such as stratified sampling and accidental sampling techniques were employed. Key informant interviews and questionnaires were the methods of data collection for the study and SPSS software was used to analyze data collected from the field. The study found that, motivation packages for the staff of UDS Wa Campus were inadequate. This was evident in the non-availability of residential accommodation and transport for staff. Though senior members enjoy professional allowance, book and research allowance, free medical care, off-campus allowance and entertainment allowance they complained that the amount involved was insufficient. However, on the part senior and junior staff, it is only free medical care they benefit from. Monetary rewards and a conducive-working environment were the preferred form of motivation for workers revealed by the study. The effects of poor motivation on work performance on the Wa Campus were absenteeism, low output and high labour turnover. The study therefore, recommends that management should liaise with GETFUND and other donor agencies such as Habitant International to build residential accommodation for staff and institute end of year awards ceremonies to motivate staff. Keywords: Motivation, employee work performance, human resources, work environment, incentives

208-226

Authors: Seniwoliba A. J.

Aristotle a renowned educationist once said that "those who want to teach must cease not learning." This quotation is quite relevant for the implementation of the Quality Improvement in the Primary Schools (QUIPS) programme. This sterns from the fact that a lot of barriers were identified from the education reforms in 1987 stretching from poor education systems, inadequate trained teachers, lack of infrastructure and equipment, outdated and worn out textbooks poverty and hunger in the sub-Sahara Africa which Ghana is included. The study seeks to assess the impact of the QUIPS programme in terms of teacher performance and pupils’ progress, types of interventions of the QUIPS programme, school environment and lessons learnt from the QUIPS programme for policy formulation. This cannot be achieved without a comprehensive layout of how the data would be gathered. The study focused on the fifth group of selected schools dubbed ‘Cohort V schools’ found in five districts of the three northern regions. The districts include; Lawra, Builsa, Savelugu/Nanton, West Mamprusi and Bole. Five schools were selected from each district summing up to twenty-five schools for the implementation of the programme. The study population was all teaching staff and Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) Executives in the twenty-five school communities. Questionnaire, structured interviews and general observations were used during School-Based in-service Training programmes in the various school communities and reviewed activity reports from the communities. Microsoft Access, Excel Word packages 2007 version were used to enter the data and made analysis. One major finding was that pupils cannot be expected to make appreciable gains within a two-year intervention period in the absence of accelerated programmes in literacy and numeracy. Pupils throughout Ghana were performing far below development expectations in English reading and mathematics. Two years of CRS/QUIPS interventions was simply not enough time to remedy this deficiency. Though there has been an increase in community advocacy for and contribution for quality basic education, the coverage was limited. The study therefore recommends that communities should be involved in school health; feeding, water and sanitation and introduce income-generating activities as an entry point for adult literacy. When they are well established, they would then be able to take good care of their wards. Keywords: quality education, school communities, programme, reforms, barriers, CRS/QUIPS

203-207

Authors: Ogbemudia Magdalene Ifeoma and Prof. Julie U. Ibiam

This study investigated the efficacy of Jolly Phonics Instructional Strategy on the writing ability of junior primary pupils’ in Uyo Senatorial District. In this study two variables were considered which constitute the basic skills of Jolly Phonics Instructional Strategy. The two variables considered were blending of letter sounds (for reading) and identification of letter sounds in words (for writing). Sample sizes of 169 pupils obtained from four public primary schools in Uyo Senatorial District were used. Non-randomized pre-test- post-test control group research design was used for the study. The instrument used for data collection was Children Reading Activity Test (CRAT). The analysis of Covariance was used to analyse the data. The results obtained from the study at 0.05 level significance showed that blending of letter sounds (for reading) and identification of letter sounds in words (for writing) had significant effects on the writing ability of junior primary pupils in Uyo Senatorial District. Recommendations were made. Keywords: Jolly Phonics, Junior primary, Efficacy, Uyo Senatorial District.

197-202

Authors: Essel Charles and Koranteng Christian

Performance can be related to factors such as learning styles, students’ background, tutors years of experience, and number of contact hours. Due to the complexity of the associated factors, it is not an easy task to predict performance. The students of the Department of Architecture, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana have the notion that colleagues who are admitted at odd academic years perform better than those at even years. To investigate this assertion, a pilot study was organised to evaluate the assertion. Moreover, results of architectural design studio grades of first year students (859) from the year 2000 to 2012 formed the focus of observation. Mean grades, maximums, minimums, percentage grades and standard scores were calculated. The output results indicated that the assertion of odd enrolment year having a better performance was found to be baseless. However, mean scores of mean maximum studio grades were slightly higher (0.4%) in odd years. Moreover, more students (57%) were found to do better in even enrolment years considering a base grade of 64%. Students in smaller classes performed best and this result was found to be significant. School authorities are to plan for smaller class sizes to maintain good performance at architectural design studios. Keywords: Students, Performance, Architecture, Design Studio

181-196

Authors: Seniwoliba A. J.

Undoubtedly the most precious asset of every society or organization is its human resource. For human capital to spawn appreciable impact on the socio-economic development, investment in education, training, learning, health and nutrition of people are essential. This reality implies that teachers occupy a central role in the social and economic development of their societies. Despite this role, knowledge about what motivate and satisfy teachers within the education industry is limited. This study therefore, sought to contribute to the sketchy knowledge about the underlying factors that are important to teachers, those that motivate and satisfy them and those that cause them to leave the teaching profession. To investigate the concerns therefore, a sample size of 178 respondents from seven (7) Public Senior High Schools in the Tamale Metropolis were interviewed using self administered questionnaires reaching 143 males and 35 female teachers. The main finding of the study is that salary, working conditions, incentives, medical allowance, security, recognition, achievement, growth, students' indiscipline, school policy and status were found to be the ten most important factors of motivation to teachers that could enhance, retain or cause them to leave. There was also the general perception of inequity among teachers when they compare themselves with their colleagues with the same qualifications, experience and responsibilities in non-teaching organizations and therefore feel unfairly treated as professional teachers. They were equally dissatisfied with their pay compared to their inputs (skills, ability, and work load) as espoused by Adams’ equity theory of motivation. The paper recommends that participatory management decision making processes should be adopted to help resolve the issues emanating from the research particularly relating to the “intrinsic” de-motivating factors which could be addressed by the top management of most Senior High schools. Keywords: Ghana, Human capital, Motivation, Job-satisfaction, Education, Teaching profession, Senior High School