Teacher Motivation and Incentives in Sub-saharan Africa and Asia

This paper focuses on teacher motivation and incentives in low-income developing countries (LICs) in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. In particular, it assesses the extent to which the material and psychological needs of teachers are being met. This includes overall levels of occupational status, job satisfaction, pay and benefits, recruitment and deployment, attrition, and absenteeism. Unfortunately, despite the importance and complexity of these issues, there is very limited good quality published information. Given the limited duration of this assignment (20 days), it was only possible to collect basic data on teacher pay and conditions of service. More research on teacher motivation and incentives is therefore urgently needed. Occupational status Occupational status depends on the 'public valuing' of the competence, role and overall contribution of a particular occupation to individual and societal welfare. Occupations that have attained 'professional status' share a common set of characteristics including a high level of education and training, a strong ideal of public service with an enforced professional code of conduct, and high levels of respect from the public at large. Teachers in most LICs are 'semi-professionals' mainly because of their relatively low levels of education and training vis-à-vis professional occupations such as doctors, engineers and lawyers; Also, the sheer size of the teaching force militates against 'professional' exclusivity. Teaching has become 'employment of the last resort' among university graduates and secondary school leavers in many countries. Consequently, teachers often lack a strong, long-term commitment to teaching as a vocation. Finally, teachers are paid considerably less than the mainstream professions. It is widely argued that that the status of teachers in most countries, both developed and developing, has declined appreciably during recent decades. However, the forces that are resulting in the 'de-professionalisation' of teachers are probably more pronounced in LICs. These include protracted economic and social crisis in many LICs, increasing diversification of the teaching force with increasing reliance on less well-educated and qualified teachers with lower job security, generally lower standards of teaching, feminisation, and dramatic declines in declines in the standard of living of teachers. Teacher motivation Work motivation refers to the psychological processes that influence individual behaviour with respect to the attainment of workplace goals and tasks. The received wisdom among occupational psychologists is that 'pay on its own does not increase motivation'. However, pecuniary motives are likely to be dominant among teachers in those LICs where pay and other material benefits are too …