MOTIVATIONAL APPROACHES IN RURAL K–12 SCHOOLS: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW OF TEACHER PERSPECTIVES IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

Abstract

Rural schools in developing countries face persistent challenges of low teacher motivation, limited incentives, and inadequate working conditions, which collectively affect teaching effectiveness and student learning outcomes. This study explores motivational approaches from the perspectives of rural K-12 teachers in developing countries, emphasizing strategies that enhance teacher performance and instructional quality.  An in-depth systematic review was undertaken on 31 empirical studies that were selected from the period of January 2014 to December 2023. These studies were conducted in 14 developing countries in Africa, Asia and North America, of which 64% were conducted in Africa. Among the 31 studies, there are 17 research articles and 14 postgraduate dissertations, including 13 PhD and 1 master’s thesis. Methodologically, 12 studies adopted mixed methods, 8 studies used quantitative methods, and 11 studies applied qualitative research methods.  Findings from this review indicate that rural teachers perceived financial and non-financial motivational incentives as a catalyst for their motivation. However, the level of perception varies among the teachers, as 61% of the studies indicate that non-financial motivational incentives are the key driving force behind their motivation. The study further proposed an Integrated Rural Teacher Motivation (IRTM) Model for understanding teacher motivational strategies in rural schools in developing countries. The search for relevant studies was limited to Google Scholar, Scopus and ERIC because access to the Web of Science database was unavailable. Consequently, some relevant studies may not have been captured, and the findings should be interpreted within this methodological limitation.