Improving effectiveness via motivation : The views of teachers in Secondary Education

The purpose of this paper is to explore the features that make up the personality of the effective Director of a school unit, qualifications, typical and essentially, they must have and his actions which will contribute to the efficient organization and administration of the school. Then it becomes a comparative review between the tasks and responsibilities of the directors of schools in Greece Cyprus and Finland in order to lighten the commonalities and the differences in the role of managers in respect of the financial management and human resource management of school units. In the second part of the work examines the role of motivation and analyses the factors that motivate people in their working environment while theories are formulated in attempt at understanding the concept and content of incitement. Then the role of incentives is specialized in the school environment where and examined their contribution to the work produced in the workplace while investigated the job satisfaction of teachers as well as the role of the school director in satisfaction of Greek teachers. In the third part of work presenting the results of research carried out with the anonymous questionnaire technique in schools of n. Fthiotidas (high schoolsLyceums). The questionnaire in which they were asked to answer the teachers serving in schools above attempts to record their views on the role of motivation and satisfaction in professional development and improved productivity – the efficiency of the educational project. At the same time attempting to record the opinions of teachers and on the role of Director of the school in the direction of productivity and efficiency.


Introduction
An objective of vital importance to the employees is the satisfaction derived from their work.Clearly there is a difference in what everyone perceives as 'satisfaction', but there is a general and indisputable idea that through job satisfaction people work with greater zeal, willingness, perseverance, pleasure, creativity and effectiveness.The sense of the form of satisfaction occurs when the employee fulfills certain need or a desire and is motivated for this need or desire with some incentives.In an era of rapid change and increasing demands in the professional arena, this view is now embraced by most organizations.Hence, they try to continuously provide incentives -material or moral -for their employees in order to be more satisfied with their work and by extension, more efficient and more productive.It is thus clear that the implementation is identical to school organizations, as it has now become apparent that only satisfied teachers offer their services in the most efficient manner.A teacher who feels dissatisfied with his work is evident that he will not give his best self, which affects the overall quality of education and the general educational system.The factors that contribute to job satisfaction of teachers vary.The aim, therefore, of this study is to investigate what constitutes an effective political motivation of teaching staff particularly in Secondary Education.Kohler (1988) defines job satisfaction as a multidimensional concept, which represents a total attitude of the person and the 69 feelings towards specific aspects of the profession.According to Spector (1985) job satisfaction coincides with the degree of fulfillment of the needs of the individual in the workplace.The extent of job satisfaction can lead employees to behaviors that affect the functioning of the body (Drakou et al. 2004).The employee satisfaction from the work is directly related to positive work attitudes (Balzer et al., 1990), the efficiency and productivity (Apostolou, 1980), the low absenteeism and the equally low mobility indicators (Hatton et al., 1999).According to Balzer et al. (1990), satisfaction is directly related and under special circumstances may affect the personal life and the physical health of the employee.The degree of satisfaction of a person's occupation or the working environment is a key factor for mental health, both of the workers themselves, as for the people of their immediate environment (Kantas 1998).Dimitropoulos (1998) states that the issue of job satisfaction of teachers acquires new dimensions on the overall educational reality and the overall efficiency of the education system.Other earlier research show that job satisfaction of teachers is a key factor in the effectiveness of schools (Zigarreli, 1996).Several previous work related to determining the job satisfaction of Greek teachers have seen the light of day.Many years ago, Kyriakides (1976) dealt with the issue of job satisfaction of teachers of Primary Education of Ioannina and found that a percentage of 74.7% are satisfied with their profession, while expressing dissatisfaction largely on deficiencies in schools and their working conditions.A survey of Freiderikou et al. (1991) showed that teachers were satisfied with the daily exercise of their profession and unhappy because of the lack of information, poor logistics, lack of training, the large number of students, the alternating hours and the co-location of the two schools.Pyrgiotakis (1992), investigating among 70 teachers in Crete, found that the factors causing dissatisfaction is the bad condition of the school units, the inadequate equipment, the lack of expertise, teaching in many classrooms, the limited teaching time courses, poor educational and cultural level, the lack of opportunities for training, indifference of parents and the negative influences of the society.Kaila et al. (1997) found that job satisfaction of teachers is related to their accession to the traditional stereotype of the selfless worker with focus on the mission, the contact with children, the social utility of the job and the innate predisposition.Dimitropoulos (1998) found that 73% of teachers reported being very or fairly satisfied with their profession because of the personal satisfaction they derive from the service they provide through their profession, the extended vacation and holidays, the sense of independence they feel during the exercise of the profession, the recognition of their offer by parents and students, the content of the necessary studies, the relative lack of control over the performance of the education project, the potential for mobility in the educational hierarchy and their remuneration.In a study of Mpotsari and Matsagouras (2002) in a sample of 276 teachers, they found the existence of four sources of satisfaction: working conditions, recognition by parents and students, meritocracy system and recognition from supervisors and colleagues.In the same research project, teachers reported lower levels of satisfaction with their working conditions and their training opportunities.Finally a survey of Saitis (2007), with a sample of 880 individuals showed that job satisfaction of teachers is related to the role of the school principal and the school climate.

Research tools and sample
The purpose of this research is to determine the usefulness of incentives to teachers and especially to those of secondary education and whether they contribute, develop and improve the effectiveness of teachers in the performance of their duties.The collection of survey data conducted in schools of Fthiotida (Secondary Schools -High Schools).It took place during the months of February and April of 2013 with the form of the anonymous questionnaire.The questionnaire was structured with closed questions.The closed-ended questions were suitable for statistical analysis and detection, they can cover a wide range of views., they are short and is easily understood and they are easy to coding.In this investigation the reference population were teachers of schools of Secondary Education in Fthiotida.Our initial intention was to collect a number of questionnaires corresponding to 8% to 10% of all secondary school teachers of Fthiotida.The response rate to the questionnaires movement reached 8.2%.For the statistical analysis of the findings the statistical package SPSS was used as a main tool and secondly the software Microsoft Excel.

Findings
Factor 1: "The Profession" 86.51% (109 teachers) are very motivated by the fact that their work is interesting because they teach young people.Moreover, emotions caused by the teaching profession are motivating for the 90,48% of the respondents.The 96.83% of teachers consider as great the work they perform and they are encouraged by it nature itself to become more productive.The overwhelming percentage (99.21%)consider the challenges of the job so important that makes them motivated and increases the productivity of their labor.Worth mentioning is the variable "I can transfer my philosophy to the students" which is indifferent for the 18.25% of the teachers.They just want to perform their work.
Factor 2: "Personal development and training" 65.88% of the sample of teachers considers as essential the training structures in education to increase their productivity.At the same rate as before (65.87%), teachers are encouraged (more or less) from the acquisition of new skills on the job.The 24,60% which is not interested in acquiring new skills are probably older teachers.About 50% of respondents (the 30.95% is not motivated at all and the 21.43% simply avoid it) stated that the lack of training opportunities in education is a negative factor for the increase of their productivity.
Factor 3: "Salary" 39.68% of teachers say that their earnings are such that act as an incentive for productivity.On the other hand, 30.95% state that they have no incentive at all, that are dissatisfied with the level of earnings, and 21.43% said that the small salary acts as a disincentive to work.The answers to the next variable is even clearer.To a large extent (53.97%) they say that the money they receive is not enough for a comfortable life.38.89% stated that their earnings are sufficient for a comfortable life, and so it acts as a stimuli.
Factor 4 "Social status" For about half of teachers in the sample (50.79%) it is clear that the social status of the teacher is still important enough to motivate them to work.But the other half (about 47.62%) believes that the teacher does not have the status he deserves so it can act as a disincentive to work.Compared with the replies of the previous variable we find that 67.46% of teachers consider that the social status of the teacher remains high standard and acts as to stimulating productivity.In this latter variable factor we find that society seems to evaluate the teachers (in the opinion of its own), so they are motivated to (or much less) at 64.29%.
Factor 5: "Guaranteed Work" With a sizable percentage (65.08%)teachers say that the lack of firing is a strong motivating factor.However the rate of 24.60% is not motivated by the stability of the job.The absence of risk of unemployment for a Greek teacher acts as a promotional tool in creating a large piece of the sample (73.02%) as incentive for productive work.The 93 teachers in the sample (percentage 73,81%) say that ensuring permanence in their work is very motivating factor.Therefore, the lack of risk for sudden dismissal is beneficial to the productivity at work.
Factor 6: "Autonomy, initiative, participation in decision making" When teachers feel that they have the ability todevelop initiatives and new ideas in their work , it makes them significantly productive.The teachers' answers to this variable show a 71.43%rate that the teachers are very motivated by this possibility.Autonomy in the workplace is an important right of each.This is exactly what teachers say with a rate of 69.05% that is largely motivated when performing their work without interference of others.The percentage of those who say they avoid this possibility is only 2.38% of the sample.The opportunity to participate in decisions relating to their work motivates teachers in percentage 75.40%.To a lesser percentage (19.84%)teachers say that this feature does not motivate them at all and an insignificant percentage (1.59%)state that it actually prevents them.The ability to have control of their work motivates teachers by 69.05%.20,63% of teachers did not indicate that this feature is important while a small percentage (3.97%)indicates that this feature prevents them from being productive.
Factor 7: "Promotion and career development" Teachers who were asked whether their work is motivated by "being objectively promoted" answered positively in a percentage of 41%.Significant may be considered the 30.16% who answered said that promotion is a means of preventing them to be productive.When they were asked if "opportunities for promotion" were considered as incentives to increase the productivity, teachers responded positive to 41.27%,.However, there is a significant percentage (30.95%) of the sample which responded that the opportunities available to them are scarce and thus this factor is not motivational.Finally, high ambition is a motivating factor for efficient work for 30.16% of the sample.On the other hand, exactly the same percentage (30.16%)say that ambition is not an important motivational factor.
Factor 8: "Professional Problems" The external difficulties affect the work of the teacher.More specifically, the teachers in the sample (39.68%) did not seem to be affected by occupational difficulties, but at a rate of 57.15% answered that the degree of tension in the work, prevents or encourages them to make their work more efficient .The evaluation of their work as teachers acts as an incentive in an important way for 15.08%, others are slightly stimulated (28,57%), 25.40% is not motivated at all and 28.57% are against it and they say it should be avoided.Therefore teachers in a large percentage (53.97%)stated that the evaluation is not a measure that sets the mood for more productive work.

Conclusions
One of the major problems of the Greek society is the quality of education.Opinions like the one that teachers are civil servants who do not care to teach and have low levels of education or that students are indifferent and are not willing to learn, in each case are characterized as misplaced.Education is a complex phenomenon and its problems are certainly not superficial.A final conclusion is that the performance of teachers in their work is not a personal matter but it is related to external factors and conditions that are either located close to the school context or outside of it, in the broader social environment.These factors determine their attitude towards the phenomenon of the Greek educational reality.