Education is a fundamental human right and the key to sustainable development, peace and stability within and among countries is the provision of education to the populace of such countries. The learning environment and teachers` motivation upon knowledge development relatively need attention in the field of geography teaching and learning. What happens in the classroom between psychological implication of teachers concerning their motivation and the student ability to study well has an impact on students’ opportunity to learn. The activities in the classroom, the repeated actions in which students and teachers engage as they learn are important because they constitute the knowledge that is produced. Availability of teaching/learning resources and teachers` motivation enhances the effectiveness of schools as these are basic things that can bring about good academic performance in the students. The educational effort that will be helpful in developing human resources needed is not given much attention. In particular, low quality education in geography is an urgent issue to be addressed.
Maicibi (2003) opined that all institutions or organization are made up of human beings (workers) and other non-human resources. He further asserts that when the right quantity and quality of human resources is brought together, it can manipulate other resources towards realizing institutional goals and objectives. Consequently, every institution should strive to attract and retain the best of human resource. The implication of these opinions is that well trained and motivated teachers in geography if well deployed to the secondary schools will bring about well rounded students who will perform academically well in geography. Most teachers are trained and have clear goals to guide their teaching, but good motivations for the teachers and teaching/learning materials seem to be inadequate. As a result, there has been a public outcry about poor performance in geography at secondary school level.
In Nigeria, Geography is a compulsory subject up to secondary school level. During the last couple of years, performance in Geography in National examination has dropped significantly and this has been a major concern for the society. The West Africa Examination Council has continued to raise concerns over the poor performance in Senior Secondary Certificate Examination. Many teachers have left teaching in public schools for greener pastures in better paying private schools as a result of lack of motivation and incentives needed. Students in most public schools are disadvantaged in that the classes are overcrowded and they do not have adequate learning facilities. In some instances, they lack adequate textbooks and laboratory equipments. As a result, the students may lose hope in performing well in academic work. This is in sharp contrast to private schools where the numbers of students are few as there are adequate facilities and the teachers are willing to go an extra mile to ensure that the students perform well in examination but the willingness to go an extra mile to ensure good students performance may be frustrated when there is motivation and encouragement to the side of the teachers. Although, it is believed that the reward for the teachers is in heaven, but there is no doubt about the fact that if the limited or no motivation for the teachers in terms of incentives and innovation may drastically reduce their morale which may in turn have a negative impact on student performance in geography. The few teachers on the government payroll are poorly remunerated as a result most of them take up part time employment or private business enterprise in order to make ends meet. This greatly reduces their commitment to the teaching of Geography (which demands for sacrifice). However, lack of motivations for the teachers may influence their dedication to teaching work. Poor performance of student in geography may also be as a result of teachers not being dedicated to their duties which may in turn have effects on student academic goal setting which apace affect individual who has set lower goals for themselves.
1.2Â Â Â Â STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Globally, the academic performance of students in geography has been woeful due to some motivational challenges.
1.3Â Â Â Â OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The aim of this study is to examine the effects of motivation on the academic performance of students in geography.
The specific objectives are to
1.4Â Â Â Â RESEARCH QUESTION
The following research questions were used in the research.
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1.5Â Â Â Â SCOPE OF THE STUDY
This research work covers five secondary schools in Afijio local Government, in Oyo.
1.6Â Â Â Â SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
The following are the significance of this study