Teachers’ Expectation of Students' Achievement as a Predictor of Motivation to Teach in Ethiopian Secondary Schools: Implication for Quality Education

Abstract

It is believed that a teacher‟s expectation of students' achievement profoundly affects teaching and learning processes in the real settings. Teachers‟ expectation influences theteachers‟ behaviors, determines their degree of career motivation and affects the subsequent students‟ achievements. The objective of this article is, therefore, to assess whether the expectation of teachers for their students‟ academic achievement can predicttheir motivation to teach in the Ethiopian secondary schools. Assuming that teachers ofpublic and private schools may have different levels of expectation for their students‟academic achievement and motivation to teach, we attempted to measure the differences.We used a mixed research design supported concurrent triangulation method to assessteachers‟ expectation for students‟ academic achievement and motivation to teach. We administered questionnaires to 368 secondary school teachers and held a focus groupdiscussion with 20 teachers. Furthermore, we interviewed 12 teachers. Analysis of the datawas carried out using descriptive statistical methods, t-tests, regression, and Cohen tests.The results offer insight that teachers have low expectation for students' academic status,which in turn associated with low motivation to teach. The formation of low expectationand the low motivation for teaching in part is accounted to the socio economic status of thecountry and the economic values of education. These patterns have a direct bearing onstudents' academic behaviors at school and impoverish their academic achievement. Theimplication is that the country ought to prioritize investing in teachers alongside physicalresources and epistemological assumptions.