PROFESSIONAL IMAGE AS CORRELATE OF JOB SATISFACTION OF TEACHERS OF BUSINESS STUDIES IN PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS
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ABSTRACT
The study investigated Professional Image as a Correlate of Job Satisfaction of Teachers of Business Studies in Public Secondary Schools in Enugu State, Nigeria. Five research questions were answered and five null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The population for the study consisted of 746 teachers of Business Studies in the six education zones of Enugu State. The sample size for this study was 244 teachers of Business Studies Multi-stage sampling technique was used for the study. Correlation research design was used to generate data for the study. The instrument used for data collection was bi-polar questionnaire to elicit information for the study. The instrument was face validated by three experts, all from Department of Business Education, Faculty of Vocational and Technical Education, University of Nigeria, Nsukka. To determine the reliability of the instrument, a trial test was conducted on 20 teachers of Business Studies in Anambra State. Cronbach Alpha reliability test was used to determine the internal consistency of the items of instrument, and this yielded a reliability coefficient of 0.78 for Teachers Professional Image and 0.79 for Teachers Job Satisfaction. The questionnaire was administered by the researcher with the help of six research assistance one from each education zone in Enugu State. The returned copies were consequently used for data analysis. The data collected for the study were analyzed using Pearson Product Moment for the research questions and Multiple Linear Regression Analysis was used to test the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The study concludes that irrespective of location, gender, sex, experience and qualification, the salary of business studies teachers in public secondary schools in Enugu State should be enhanced so as to increase their level of attitudes towards their job. The study recommended that the Enugu State Ministry of Education should work towards the remuneration and prompt promotion of teachers. Also recommended was that Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN) should work towards ensuring that teaching is professionalized and as competitive as other professions and among others. The study therefore, suggested that the same studies should be carried out in the areas of Private Secondary Schools in Enugu State, while similar studies should be carried out in Adamawa State, Abia State and Benue State respectively.
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CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
Business Studies teachers are in regular interaction with students in secondary schools during teaching and learning process. The general perception of the public is that these teachers are dissatisfied with the condition of service in the teaching profession. This may be as a result of a variety of factors such as level of payment, promotion system, quality of working conditions, leadership and social relationships, the job itself and tasks in the job. Teachers of Business Studies are the stronghold of the subject and it is believed that they perform better when promotions, entitlements and allowances are provided promptly by the employer leading to job satisfaction for the profession.
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Profession refers to an occupation with trained personnel in specific discipline. Morrish (2000) defined profession as a desirable occupation with an implication of intellectual training and mental expertise. A profession according to Taylor, Gerald and Robbet (2005), refers to competent individuals that render essential services to the society based on their level of training. The authors further reported that a profession is any prestige holding occupation that renders an essential social service with a systematic body of knowledge, requiring long academic and practical training. In the view of the authors, those in the profession enjoys high degree of autonomy and enforced conditions of service, possess a code of conduct prescribed by members and for themselves governed by a representative organization as well as makes provision for development. A profession can be defined as an occupation that requires some specialized training and some sort of certification, and it is self-regulating, as well as having some standard of behaviour for members (Ogunlade, 2007). In the context of this study, a profession refers to a paid occupation that requires prolonged training, for certification with recognized and positive social status such as teaching profession.
Teaching profession is an occupation that exclusively comprises of trained individuals in pedagogy and specific disciplines to make them competent to impart knowledge and skills to learners in established setting (Anadi, 2010). The author further posited that the teaching profession is capable of competing on equal terms with other professions if higher standard of entry, qualification, adequate remunerations, wages and status are provided. Teaching profession, according to Amache (2005), involves greater social responsibilities, great sense of valve and long period of preparation, regulated scheme of payment, reward for service rendered, as well as great reward for the interest of occupation. Teaching profession also relates to pedagogical and ethical dimensions, such as providing scaffold for the development of students’ rational capabilities and individual empowerment. Teaching is a social as well as a professional activity. Within the context of formal education, teaching causes the child to learn and acquire the desired knowledge, skill and desirable ways of living in the society (Raynolds, 2008). Hence, Ogunlade (2007) sees a person who is given the responsibility to teach a course of study as a teacher.
A teacher is a trained and competent person who imparts knowledge, skills and attitudes to learners in an organized institution. The Federal Republic of Nigeria, FRN (2008) explicitly uses the nomenclature “teacher” to designate one who imparts worthwhile knowledge and skills to learner. These levels of education have brought about different calibers of teachers with varying social status in such a way that upward mobility in the occupation becomes obvious; primary school teachers aspire to teach in secondary school and later in tertiary education. Okute and Agomuo (2010) defined teacher as a facilitator of learning; that helps students realize their full potentials educationally, emotionally, and socially. Teachers are always facing the continuous changes in the school context including that of business studies.
A business study is a subject taught at the secondary school level to prepare students for the business world (Crews & Stitt-Gohdes, 2002). (Obi, 2005) stated that business studies prepare students for business career to enables those in that career become more efficient and advanced to business positions. Business studies as a discipline is that type of education that inculcates in the recipients attitudes, knowledge, skills, values that are required in the business world (Ezeani, 2012). Business studies inculcate communication skills, marketing, office practice, office management, entrepreneurship skills and computer technology among others with the help of business studies teachers.
Teachers of business studies refer to trained, certified and licensed personnel in business studies that are mandated to transmit knowledge, attitudes and skills to learners. In the context of this study, business studies teachers help students understand the basic skills and knowledge needed to become gainfully employed and productive members of the society. However, irrespective of the special training and skills possessed by business studies teachers, their professional image in the society remains very low. The public perception of teachers of business studies especially in Nigeria is such that teaching profession is all comers occupation that has helped to render the image of the teachers’ to disrepute irrespective of gender.
Gender refers to male or female as distinct social groups. Oshegbani (2000) asserted that in teaching profession male and female teachers have different views with regard to teaching profession and its image in the society. The author further asserted that male teachers are more conscious of their professional image than females. However, there are areas especially at the primary school level where female teachers are found to be more sensitive to professional issues and purpose either as individuals or groups. Okeke (2006) opined that gender differences in teaching professional image are not consistent across school levels. Similarly, gender differences in job satisfaction have been examined in different studies. According to Ndubisi (2012), there is little evidence for differences in professional image and job satisfaction between male and female teachers; the differences hinged on the circumstances of the individual workers. However, evidences abound that female teachers are more significantly satisfied in their job than males while males are more concerned about their professional image than job satisfaction.
Professional image deals with how a person perceives oneself in relation to others towards the profession. Professional image, according to Clark (2003), is the formal acknowledgement of an individual’s professional status and right to practice in accordance with lay down standards subject to regulatory control. Kerby (2005) defined professional image as that profession that has high remuneration and commands respect from the society. In this study, professional image refers to personal appearance, behaviour, manners in line with the generally accepted conduct, effective communication and mode of dressing as perceived by the public. Most often, the professionals have concerns about their profession based on public acknowledgement. Dorsey (2009) remarks that teachers themselves are affected by their conditions of service, place of residence, physical fitness, medical care, commitment to duty and the expectations set by education authorities. Teachers’ personal welfare also focus on factors that affects their well being or living conditions, salary, physical health, school environment, self-confidence and work demands which are important for job satisfaction in relation to their conditions of work.
Conditions of work include what is in the immediate surroundings of an individual that influences the livelihood. Mike (2010) explained conditions of work to include quality and quantity of resources, teaching and materials, adequacy of classroom furniture, timetable, teacher–students ratio as well as office and work place. Oswald (2012) opined that conditions of work are made up of two major components physical and psycho-social. Psycho-social component of the conditions of work refer to issues that affect the social well-being of staff in an organization. According to the author, the physical conditions of work are that which affects teachers in an institution from interacting or performing tasks. Some surrounding features in office environment, such as lighting, temperature, free air movement, among others suggest that these elements of the physical environment influence employee’s attitudes, behaviours, satisfaction, performance and productivity. Therefore, conditions of work of business studies teachers includes teaching and material resources, quality equipments, teaching time table, teacher-students ratio, administrative and supervisory support in addition to policy on vacation and sick leave that help to promote teachers job satisfaction. It therefore means that good conditions of work could be attractive and supportive for better job performance.
Attractive and supportive conditions of work encourage and retain teachers in teaching profession. Whether urban or rural area, if the conditions of work are (attractive/supportive), the teachers will put in their best and perform to their satisfaction. However, in most cases, teachers in urban setting appear to enjoy more favourable conditions of work than their counterpart in the rural area. Nwancho (2008) observed that the business studies teachers in the urban setting appear to enjoy better conditions of work than those in the rural area because of the availability of portable water, electricity, access roads, supply of better teaching facilities and equipment to schools. The author further stressed that most teachers normally prefer to work in the urban than in rural areas because of the presence of the social amenities mentioned above. Sometimes, business studies teachers in the rural areas are subjected to situations in their conditions of work that affects them not only in their instructional delivery but also in their standard of living. This no doubt, affects business studies teachers teaching activities and job satisfaction.
Teaching is an activity that requires the teacher to set a goal and plan on how to achieve the set goal in a teaching-learning process. Tichenor and Tichenor (2005). asserted that for the teacher to effectively achieve set objectives, he/she takes into consideration the need to understand differences among the students. Individual differences affect teachers teaching methods, use of instructional resources, giving of assignment and continuous assessments. Adedeji and Alaniyan (2011), also pointed out that other contributing factors to teachers’ job satisfaction include school culture, school size, and good relationship with students, colleagues and community in addition to opportunities for career growth.
Teaching profession requires continuously training and retraining to make teacher relevant to current trends and technology in their activities. Ogunlade (2007) observed that knowledge is dynamic and so professionals including business studies teachers need to be provided with the opportunities for embracing innovations in the profession. The professional according to the author can be updated through seminars, conferences, workshops and as well as in-service in subject areas or discipline. This will increase the job performance of the teachers and enhance their professional status in the society thereby leading to greater job satisfaction and relationship with their colleagues, students, school authority and the host community.
The teachers’ job is such that requires the ability to relate well with the people in contact. Human relations help the teacher to interact with the people around him/her in school. Sithole and Solomon (2014) stated that the pattern of relationship of the teacher with the principal, staff, students and the community is a key factor in ensuring the success of teachers in their teaching activities as well as job satisfaction in their work place whether married or single or, in the urban or rural area. Ezewu (2000) opined that in some areas, married teachers prefer to remain in rural setting than in the urban while single prefers to be in the urban area. According to Ezewu, cost of living appears to be cheaper in the rural than in the urban and that rural environment provides opportunities for interested business studies teachers to invest in agricultural activities and at their leisure time. This on its own helps to provide teachers with job satisfaction as the interaction and relationship with the host communities gives them sense of belonging. On the other hand, business studies teacher who are single seems to be more interested in urban setting where they will be exposed to various social amenities especially with opportunities for improving their career growth through engaging in distance education as a source of enhancing their job satisfaction.
According to Ololube (2007), Job satisfaction represents a combination of positive or negative feelings that workers have towards their work. Much of job satisfaction in teaching comes from exercising professional judgment in order to meet the diverse needs of students. Zhu (2013) defined job satisfaction as a kind of pleasant or positive state, which grows in the process of evaluating an individual’s work experience. Consequently, Sloane and Williams (2000) concluded that the achievement of the objectives of the school is, largely dependent on the teacher’s feeling and attitude towards the job. It is possible that the teacher’s satisfaction from their job results in their commitment and dedication to work, which is a catalyst for achievement of objectives. Salim, Nasir, Arip and Mustapha (2012) stated that high esteem has forced teachers into a hectic and busy schedule which has made them to experience high level of stress, unhappiness and job dissatisfaction. The teachers of business studies need to have a re-think in order to come out of job dissatisfaction in public secondary schools across Enugu State.
Public Secondary schools are government owned post-primary institutions of learning for young persons with age range between 10 to 20 years old. Zinth (2005) defined that secondary school as any school with building, equipment, courses of study, class schedules, enrollment of students ordinarily in grades 7 through 12 or any portion thereof, and staff meeting the standards established by government. National Policy on Education (FRN, 2008) defined secondary education as the education children received after primary school and before the tertiary education. Secondary schools are divided into junior and senior secondary schools. The junior secondary school is both pre-vocational and academic in the content of its syllabus. Ibelegbu (2013) reported that secondary education is the school for young people between the ages of 11 and 18 established by government. In the context of this study, public secondary school is one owned by government (Federal or State) government.
In Enugu State, teachers of business studies in public secondary schools complain of poor salary, allowances, entitlements, welfare and delay in promotion, low self-esteem in the society, and difficulty in gaining in-service and poor conditions of work. Considering the economic recession faced by Nigeria, including Enugu State with high cost of goods and services accompanied with irregular payment of monthly salaries posed more problems on business studies teachers. These situations have created job dissatisfaction among teachers of business studies thereby giving a negative image to the teaching profession. Therefore, it is necessary to determine the relationship between professional image and job satisfaction of business studies teachers in public secondary schools.
Hence, the relationship between the image of teaching as a profession and the satisfaction teachers derived from the profession needs to be studied. It is against this background that the researcher seeks to find out the professional image as a correlate of job satisfaction of teachers of business studies in public secondary schools in Enugu State, Nigeria.
Statement of the Problem
Teachers are expected to be satisfied, highly respected and admired by the larger society as they perform their duties in public secondary schools. The reverse is, however, the case as many teachers want to resign from the teaching profession for other highly paid and respected jobs. According to the teachers interrogated during the preliminary visit, the researcher got to know that the teachers’ desire to resign is prompted by the poor handling of their entitlements and allowances, poor conditions of work, welfare, delay in promotion, low self-esteem in the society and high teacher-student ratio. Others are the inability to grant chalk, newspaper and health allowances as done in many other professions like medicine, law and engineering among others. These complaints are true indices of poor professional image that can often lead to job dissatisfaction among teachers.
Invariably, most teachers of business studies lack confidence on the employer’s ability to take care of their needs and entitlements. The teachers of business studies have held several negotiations with the government to meet up with their demands, yet no much impact has been felt. The teachers during the preliminary visit informed the researcher that they have even used industrial actions to buttress their struggles which have negative impact on the students but low response has been seen from the government. The attitude to work among teachers of business studies becomes poor, perhaps due to poor payment of their benefits. For that reason, the teachers have resorted to seeking for other means of livelihood such as trading, hawking and even resigning. The problem of this study was therefore, to investigate the relationship of professional image and job satisfaction of teachers of business studies in public secondary schools in Enugu State. Therefore, the researcher seeks to fill this gap among teachers of business studies to correlate professional image with job satisfaction in public secondary schools.
Specifically, the teachers’ of business studies personal welfare and job satisfaction, conditions of work and job satisfaction, teaching activities and job satisfaction, career growth (opportunities) and job satisfaction in addition to interpersonal relations and job satisfaction in public secondary schools in Enugu State Nigeria need to be ascertained.
Purpose of the Study
The main purpose of this study was to determine professional image as a correlate of job satisfaction of teachers of business studies in public secondary schools in Enugu State Nigeria. Specifically, the study sought to determine:
- the relationship between the personal welfare and job satisfaction of teachers of business studies in public secondary schools in Enugu State.
- the relationship between teaching activities and job satisfaction of teachers of business studies in public secondary schools in Enugu State.
- the relationship between teachers’ working conditions and job satisfaction of teachers of business studies in public secondary schools in Enugu State.
- the relationship between career opportunities and job satisfaction of teachers of business studies in public secondary schools in Enugu State.
- the relationship between interpersonal relations and job satisfaction of teachers of business studies in public secondary schools in Enugu state.
Significance of the Study
Teaching profession may not operate without qualified, committed, experienced and effective educators. Teaching itself is geared towards service to humanity. Qualitative education and acquisition of professional skills are credited to well organize schools with effectively motivated and satisfied tutors. The study would be significant in its positive contribution and impact to teaching profession and practice not only in Enugu State of Nigeria but the entire nation.
The study has both theoretical and practical significances. Theoretically, the study is anchored on Maslow’s Theory of Needs that emphasizes the satisfaction of needs in a hierarchal order. The theory would contribute in authenticating the assumptions and the functionality of the theory in the field of education. Practically, the study would be beneficial to teachers of business studies, Ministry of Education, Parents, Nigerian Union of Teachers, Nigerian Teachers’ Registration Council, Students and Researchers.
The findings of this study would be of benefit to teachers of business studies. Teachers of business studies would be involved in decision making body especially those ones that affect their personal welfare packages and job satisfaction such as increase in remuneration, prompt promotion, provision of in-service training, basic structural amenities, and well ventilated and equipped staff rooms, among others. This would help them to establish the need to be motivated and attain job satisfaction.
The Ministry of Education would also benefit from this study hence its findings would help the organization deal well with the conditions of work of teachers of business studies and job satisfaction in order to strengthen them. The study would help the Ministry of Education who has the mandate of ensuring that teaching is fully professionalized and as competitive as other professions, to establish the factors militating against the actualization of its mandate with a view to evolving suitable measures that will bring teaching at par with other profession.
Parents would benefit from this study since their children’s educational success is largely contingent upon the commitment, dedication, efficiency and effectiveness of the teaching which apparently have a link with teaching activities and job satisfaction. It has been noted that no educational system can rise above the caliber of its teachers hence the feeling of teachers’ of business studies towards the teaching can affect the standard of education and the overall performance of students.
The findings of this study would sensitize indeed the Nigerian Union of Teachers and the Nigerian Teachers Registration Council to determine among other things the extent to which career growth (opportunities) and job satisfaction affects the behavioural tendencies of teachers of business studies. This is because they will be guided through empirical information made available by this study to seek for avenues of improving teachers of business studies either through seminars, in-service training, workshops among others; and to seek for government sponsorship with evidence to improve teachers for the benefit of the students. The findings of this study would be of great benefit to the students of business studies as any improvement in the professional competence of their teachers will help them acquire more knowledge and skills in the content of the curriculum instructions through effective teaching by the teachers.
Finally, the result of the study when published in journals would provide researchers with empirical evidence in related areas on professional image and job satisfaction not covered by the present study. This could be practicalized by making copies of this work available in schools and public library in Enugu State.
Research Questions
The following research questions were answered by the study:
- What is the relationship between personal welfare and job satisfaction of teachers of business studies in public secondary schools in Enugu State?
- What is the relationship between teaching activities and job satisfaction of teachers of business studies in public secondary schools in Enugu State?
- What is the relationship between teachers working conditions and job satisfaction of teachers of business studies in public secondary schools in Enugu State?
- What is the relationship between career opportunities and job satisfaction of teachers of business studies in public secondary schools in Enugu State?
- What is the relationship between interpersonal relations and job satisfaction of teachers of business studies in public secondary schools in Enugu state?
Hypotheses
The following null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance:
Ho1: There is no significant relationship between the mean ratings of teachers’ of business studies in urban area and teachers’ of business studies in rural area on personal welfare and job satisfaction of the teachers’ in public secondary schools in Enugu State.
Ho2: There is no significant relationship between the mean ratings of male teachers’ of business studies and female teachers’ of business studies on teaching activities and job satisfaction in public secondary schools in Enugu State.
Ho3: Significant relationship does not exist between the mean ratings of single teachers’ of business studies and married teachers’ of business studies on their conditions of work and job satisfaction in public secondary schools in Enugu State.
Ho4: Significant relationship does not exist between mean ratings of highly experienced teachers’ of business studies and less experienced teachers of business studies on career growth (opportunity) and job satisfaction in public secondary schools in Enugu State.
Ho5: There is no significant relationship between the mean ratings of teachers’ of business studies with degree certificate and teachers of business studies with NCE certificate on the human relations and job satisfaction in public secondary schools in Enugu State.
Scope of the Study
The study would determine the relationship between teachers’ of business studies personal welfare, working conditions, teachers teaching activities, career opportunities and interpersonal relations, and job satisfaction in public secondary schools in Enugu State. The geographical coverage of the study was delimited to all the teachers of business studies in all the public secondary schools in Enugu State. Enugu State is in the South-East geo-political zone of Nigeria and is made up of six education zones including; Agbani, Awgu, Enugu, Nsukka, Obollo-Afor and Udi.
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