The Influence of Religiosity and Motivation Towards Teacher Commitment During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has had a severe impact on the education system, involving nearly 1.6 billion students in more than 190 countries and on all continents. The closure of schools, higher education institutions and other learning spaces affected more than 94% of the global student population. In response, online teaching and learning has been used by teachers and students on an unprecedented scale since the government announced the lockdown. As a result, teachers have encountered various difficulties in adapting to these changes and challenges. Following which, Teachers who are highly committed will have an awareness and willingness to improve the teaching profession and establish an effective learning environment to enable students to reach their goals. Previous studies have identified that religiosity and motivation significantly impact teachers’ level of commitment. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of religiosity and motivation on teachers’ commitment during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study was conducted on 66 teachers currently working in various Islamic religious schools in Perak, Malaysia using a purposive sampling technique. A quantitative method was used and data was collected through a survey questionnaire with appended consent. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Google form was utilised as a data collection platform from respondents. The findings of the study revealed that religiosity (β = 0.310, p = 0,004 < 0.05) and motivation (β = 0.435, p = 0.000 < 0.05) significantly influenced the work commitment of teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Hence, the school management should highly emphasise the role of these two factors among teachers, as they could enhance the commitment of teachers, such as preparing the syllabus and educating students.
 Keywords: commitment, religiosity, motivation, teacher, Islamic religious school