The Role of Teacher Morale and Motivation on Students' Science and Math Achievement: Findings from Singapore, Japan, Finland and Turkey.
Teacher motivation is one of the factors that affect the realization of the teaching objectives, motivation and academic achievement of student. This study aimed to answer to the question "How is the relation between the students' academic (sciences and mathematics) achievement and teachers' morale/motivation in Singapore, Japan, Finland and Turkey?" by using PISA 2012 data and TIMSS 2011 data. The researchers used descriptive statistics and hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) in order to study the effects of the morale and motivation qualities of the sciences and mathematics teachers on students' academic achievement. Moreover, comparisons were made in this field according to the obtained results. The results showed that the teacher factor was more effective in countries with different income balance while the teacher morale and motivation generally has a positive effect according to both PISA and TIMSS data. For example in Turkey and Singapore, teacher motivation has more effect on the academic achievement of the students. It was found that school principals express a high morale and motivation for their teachers in high performer countries. Students' achievements were mostly effected in Turkey by teacher morale. In the light of the findings, recommendations were made to increase the sciences and mathematics achievements of students.