Abstract

The study assessed the perception of junior secondary school teacher to their level of motivation in Bo district, Southern Region of Sierra Leone. It adopted a descriptive research design to collect data on a sample size of 298 teachers. Self-administered perception questionnaire on teacher motivation (SAPQTM) was developed on the basis of the objectives of the study. Data was collected and analyzed using descriptive statistics (frequencies, %) and inferential statistics (regression). Results revealed that majority of the respondents were male (73.5) and only few (26.5) were females and very young. According to the results, majority of the respondents, 59.10%, rated their level of motivation as low; this implies that there is a motivation problem of teachers in Bo district that includes pay, material possession, prestige, and positive evaluation from others. The study therefore recommends that government has to be serious about implementing motivating programmes to encourage and improve the level of teachers’ motivation. Development partners and government should devise ways of motivating schools administrators and teachers, so as to compensate them for the extra workloads they are undertaking to manage their schools. Awards could be instituted for better performance. Areas such as school and pupil discipline, teacher performance, pupil attendance and achievement and community and parent participation in school activities should be rewarded to serve as motivation. The Sierra Leone Teachers Union (SLTU) must be seen advocating for medical, housing, and transportation allowances for teachers and finally, teacher education institutions must do more research on factors influencing teachers’ motivation in secondary schools.

Key words: Perception, junior secondary school, teachers, motivation, Sierra Leone.