Abstract
<p style="text-align:justify">Teacher morale affects all aspects of the school and education system. Yet, the current status of teaching does not provide a rosy picture as teachers are reported to be demoralized and stressed. This qualitative study explored teachers’ experiences that influence their morale. The study was guided by the research question: How do workplace experiences affect teacher morale in selected primary schools? Qualitative data were gathered through six focus group interviews with 36 teachers in four primary schools and were analyzed using a content analysis framework. Data revealed that teacher morale was low. Participants identified school climate factors such as inappropriate professional development activities and violence as threats to their morale. Furthermore, a lack of parental involvement in the affairs of the school was regarded as a setback by teachers. This study highlighted specific issues that influence teacher morale and contribute to the understanding of the state of their morale. The study recommends that more attention is given to ensuring that teacher morale is enhanced for educational goals to be realized. Improving teacher morale has many benefits in that it helps teachers to maintain a positive attitude and be happy at work.</p>
Highlights
Teaching is a complex and demanding profession as teachers are continually expected to meet the diverse needs of learners in the ever-changing instructional environment (Evers, 2011)
Three broad themes emerged from the analysis and included professional development activities, school violence, and parental involvement
The result of this study shows that professional teacher development is one of the factors that affect teacher morale
Summary
Teaching is a complex and demanding profession as teachers are continually expected to meet the diverse needs of learners in the ever-changing instructional environment (Evers, 2011). It is important to ensure that teachers are supported in all their endeavors to provide learners with quality education (Bantwini, 2018; Din et al, 2019; Govindarajan, 2012). Provisioning of quality education is dependent on teacher morale as it impacts teaching directly and indirectly (Bantwini, 2018; Din et al, 2019). High teacher morale will show increased learner achievement whereas low teacher morale is counterproductive as it may result in low productivity and teacher burnout (Bantwini, 2018; Din et al, 2019; Hess & Johnson, 2010; Norwood, 2016)
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