Motivation and Rewards for Special education staff: a focus group study on Greek employees

Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine the rewards for special education staff and its importance for their motivation. For the purpose of this study, a focus group of special education employees was set up to determine their perceptions, feelings and thoughts about motivation and rewards in the work environment. The conceptual research framework of rewards was based on Total Rewards Model of Towers Perrin, which embrace everything that people value in the employment relationship. Through the focus group, the rewards that were provided in their work environment and were important for them and their motivation were identified, while those few that were not included were determined. The Total Rewards Framework proved to be appropriate and useful in understanding the perspectives of special education staff on rewards. The findings support the notion that the aspects of conceptual research framework that concern the work environment are the rewards, which are the most important for their motivation, followed by those that concern benefits, learning and development. From the focus group we draw also conclusions for the factors that affect employee motivation and the rewards that were applied. The significance of devotion to the area of special education and the conscious choice of the profession were highlighted by all the participants. At the same time, the focus group participants completed the Motivation Work Scale (MAWS) which is based on the framework of self-determination theory (SDT). According to the results, intrinsic motivation has scored high, whereas external motivation proved to be less important for the participants. In national level there has not been any similar study in the field of special education. The usefulness of the results lies in the fact that the holistic study of the rewards provided and its importance for motivation can provide feedback on human resource management decision making centers, trade union representation, employers and the organization of curricula and lifelong learning. The study can, also, provide a perspective for future research through total reward model long-term exploitation.