Teachers' perception of the extent to which their needs are satisfied

Abstract

The study sought to determine the teachers' perception of the extent to which their needs are satisfied: a case study of secondary schools in West Pokot District. Population of interest included the secondary schools in West Pokot District. All the 20 secondary schools in the district are public. Teachers have needs, which desire to be satisfied. My interest was to find out the extent to which these needs have been satisfied by their teaching career. The primary data used in this study was collected using structured questionnaire and open questions. The questionnaire was administered on a "drop and pick" later basis. All the schools responded favorably giving a response rate of 77%. Analysis of the data revealed that the secondary school teachers in the district hardly meet their needs. Maslows' hierarchy of Needs theory was used to identify the teachers' needs. Among the major problems that the teachers face in the district is insecurity caused by the cattle rustling practice. The 1992 land clashes also worsened the situation as teachers ran for safety. The district being a hardship area poses a challenge, as there's lack of water, electricity and transport. These factors make the district unattractive as most new teachers transferred hardly stay for long. The study reveals that there is a high turnover rate of secondary school teachers in the district. The results of the study further reveal that most schools do not have houses for their teachers, as a result of this teachers are forced to walk for long distances in order to reach their schools. There is need to address the teachers' problems otherwise it will be difficult to improve the district's performance in the Kenya Certificate of Secondary School examinations. It is worth noting that the district hardly takes 25 candidates to our public universities per year. The teachers need to be motivated to work. It is evident from the findings that the teachers in the district are qualified and competent but they lack morale to work. There's also room for research at the primary school level. One could look at the motivational factors lacking among primary school teachers. The teachers employed by the Board of Governors could also be looked at separately.