A Study On Work Motivation Of Teachers

Teachers' work motivation is a kind of the steady orientation of mind to meet teachers' needs and to promote them to fulfill the special cause of teaching school and educating people. Teachers' work motivation affects their work enthusiasm directly and then affects their work deeds. So, practicably, studying teachers' work motivation can lay the psychological foundation for inspiriting their courage and at the same time it can help teachers meditate their own daily deeds consciously, and consequently adjust own work deeds to improve education quality. Theoretically, to study teachers' work motivation can help people to know it accurately and then to study it deeply.Different teachers choose teacher profession due to different aims, thus teachers' work motivation shows itself diversely. According to such comprehension, perhaps teachers' work motivation includes multidimensional structure. This study shows that teachers' work motivation consists of six basic elements: motivation for survival, motivation for relation, motivation for respect, motivation for duty, motivation for self-fulfillment and motivation for power on the base of learning theories and investigation. Thereinto, motivation for survival is basal, motivation for self-fulfillment stands on tiptop arrangement, other one are placed in the middle.The questionnaire of teachers' work motivation was worked out on the foundation of understanding its structure fully. Then research was conducted with random storied sample among 1227 teachers working at junior high school in Gansu province from December(2005) to January(2006). It is found that pushing effect of six basis elements of teachers' work motivation on teachers' work deeds is distinguishing: impetus of motivation for survival and motivation for respect is the strongest, impetus of motivation for relation and motivation for self-fulfillment is the weakest and impetus of motivation for duty and motivation for power is placed in the middle.Concrete contents are as follow:(1) Teachers working at junior high school in villages and towns, male teachers and young teachers express more power concern. The power motivation of teachers working at junior high school in villages and towns is stronger on account of harder surviving environment. Under the condition of low status, obtainment of power can meet teachers' vanity and can improve their social status. It also may be underlying reason that young teachers, main subject teachers and male teachers go after power.(2) Teachers working at junior high school in villages and towns, female teachers and the teachers of the secondary subject show strong survival orientation. The teachers working at junior high school in villages and towns have low pursuit of teaching quality due to poor traffic, poor work condition, poor students' diathesis, poor persons qualified to teach, poor treatment and management. The motivation of female teachers is stronger mainly because they are charged with double tasks of teaching and housework. The strong survival motivation of teachers of secondary subject has something to do with secondary subject being ignored under the context of recognition of rate of entering a higher school.(3) Owing to less work pressure and loose requirement for time and incompact management, teachers working at junior high school in villages and towns show strong relation motivation. The strong relation motivation of teachers without headship is relevant to different work distribution and suppression from the "officialism".(4) Self-fulfillment motivation of main subject teachers is stronger than that of teachers of the secondary subject. In fact, self-fulfillment motivation level of the main subject teachers is as low as that of teachers of the secondary subject. However, sometimes main subject teachers could find their own work's value and have the "fulfillment sense" because main subject is much accounted of and pressure of entering a higher school is heavy. Comparatively, teachers of the secondary subject are hard to find work's interest due to subordination of secondary subject. So teachers of secondary subject treat work halfheartedly.(5) Teachers from city and county, the third class teachers in the middle school and teachers of the main subject show stronger sense of work's responsibility. There are preferably condition of running a school and higher requirement of teaching quality and higher housemaster expectation to students and better management at junior high school from city and county so that these teachers are urged to answer for work to certain extent. The strong responsible motivation of the third class teachers in the middle school is relevant to different work phases. The third class teachers in the middle school who are during the devotion period of work career are idealist, hearty, strongly responsible, opening and original. Strong duty motivation of teachers of the main subject has relation to students' concern and society expectation and school's demands.(6) There is no difference in their levels of school style, age, school age, education, headship, the title of a technical post. On the whole, respect motivation dominates teachers' action. But it is found that school style x sex interaction effect showed significant difference: at junior high school in county, the respect motivation of male teachers is stronger than that of female teachers. Why? Perhaps male teachers play the role of householder and master of society traditionally. Facing such roles, male teachers even care about their own social class and how much they are respected. ' .By analysis and explanation to above investigation conclusions, the several study advices are put forward:(1) Country and teachers are two main forces to make survival motivation unawakened. On the one hand, our country should bear obligatory duty of improving the survival status of teachers. On the other hand, teachers also should obtain achievement to make preparations of winning better status and can't only be on the tiptoe of expectation.(2) Leading people and prodding people into a action(as by ridicule, sarcasm, etc)are two important methods to boost up teachers' motivation for self-fulfillment. Creativities of teaching activities have deep relation to the main school leaders' consciousness and deeds. "The below follows the behavior of the above". It is insufficient if school leaders lack demonstration and only encourage teachers to do it. None but school leaders take the lead in creative teaching, they make an example to teachers. On the other hand, prodding may work where imploring fails. Sometimes adopting an alternative tactic can gain unimaginable effect.(3) We should create a delightful environment of responsibility based on the teachers' interest. Facts indicate that quantitative stiff management and competitive relation are the true cause to lead to school unease. It is even awful that teachers have less free time so that teachers can't realize own value of life. Therefore it is important to change manner of managing teachers. It not only embodies respect to teachers but also is need of improving education quality.(4) It is a right means of prompting teachers to promote them up to the post of leaders. Our investigation showed that teachers have middling grade of power motivation. Now that it is a fact to thirst for promotion, and what's more, effective management emphasizes "suit the remedy to the case", then it is feasible in principle to promote teachers in order to make them work hard. The school supervisors should take advantage of this idea to upgrade teachers' enthusiasm by the way of finding out and meeting teachers' needs.(5) Harmonious interactive relation is the lubricant that teachers work happily. Building up good interactive relation is the important means to keep teachers mentally healthy and the safeguard to make teachers wDrk smoothly. Teachers will be grouchy, exquisite and unpleasant at work and in life if teachers lack harmonious interactive relation.(6) We should respect teachers so that they could work faithfully. At junior high school, respecting teachers includes taking teachers' advice, setting up fair system of reward and punishment and building school culture based on the teachers' interest. Respecting teachers could make teachers responsible, achievable and clinging toward educational cause.