Extrinsic motivation and teachers service delivery in early Childhood development centers in Lugari Sub county, Kenya

Abstract

Early childhood development (ECD) teachers face a lot of challenges within the school and outside the school. The study therefore assessed extrinsic motivation and teachers’ service delivery in Early Childhood Development Centres in Lugari Sub County.The study adopted co relational research design to study extrinsic motivation and teachers’ service delivery in ECD centres. Mixed research methodology that involved qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection and analysis was used. The independent variable was extrinsic motivation comprising of factors such as remuneration, achievement motivations and incentives, pointing to good extrinsic motivation. The dependent variable was service delivery with indicators of efficient service delivery being, high achievement, keeping professional records, giving assignments and marking pupils work. The independent variables are factors that influence teacher service delivery in ECD centres leading to either efficient or unsatisfactory teacher service delivery. However, the intervening variables like socio-economic factors and political interference come in between the independent and dependent variables. The target population for the study consisted of all public ECD teachers and head teachers in the district. According to the records, the district had total of 48 public ECD centres, 86 teachers and 48 head teachers making a total population of 134 respondents. The researcher used 40% of the target population, 40% of 48 head teachers made a sample size of 19, 40% of 86 ECD teachers made a sample size of 34 teachers the sample size therefore consisted of 53 respondents. The study employed questionnaires and interview guides as instruments for data collection. To ensure validity, the instruments were developed under close guidance of the supervisors. The reliability of data collection instruments was determined from the pilot study where the researcher administered the research instruments to head teachers and teachers of two ECD centres in the same sub county. Research permit was sought from National Council of Science and Technology and introduction letter from the Sub county Education officer to carry out the study. Data collected was coded cleaned and categorized manually by the researcher and transferred to computer sheet and processed by use of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS Version 20). The data was then analyzed using descriptive statistics such as means, standard deviation, frequencies and percentages. Also inferential statistics were employed in testing relationships between the variables of study. Qualitative data was analyzed according to themes that emerged. Data analyzed was presented using tables, graphs and charts. From the correlation results, there was a clear and significant relationship between the independent variables and service delivery. The study established that the level of remuneration and incentives plays a key role in enhancing teachers’ service delivery.