Job Satisfaction among School Teachers
Volume 18, Number 4 Article by R D Sharma & Jeevan Jyoti December, 2006
Job Satisfaction among School Teachers :
Attracting and retaining high quality teachers is a primary necessity as well as a challenge for educational institutions. While intrinsic factors play a significant role in motivating individuals to enter the teaching profession, extrinsic conditions can influence their job satisfaction and desire to remain in teaching. In addition, demographic factors and teacher specific and school specific characteristics also affect job satisfaction.
This study is an evaluative and diagnostic attempt to discover empirically the nature of relationships between job satisfaction and different factors, as well as independent aspects of job satisfaction. The sample comprised 120 school teachers working in government and private schools in Jammu city. The questionnaire covered six aspects of the job: principal’s behaviour, society and colleagues’ behaviour, work itself, pay and rewards, growth opportunities and recognition, and students’ behaviour and others. The analysis revealed that each of these aspects played a role in job satisfaction. The degree of job satisfaction secured by teachers is not high and the reason lies in insufficient pay. Secondary level teachers are more satisfied than primary level teachers. Contrary to expectation, private school teachers are more satisfied than government school teachers despite the poor pay package, due to the congenial atmosphere in the private schools. Female teachers are more satisfied due to the nature of the job and the socio-cultural value of the profession. The level of education inversely affects the pay satisfaction of the employees working at the same level. Satisfaction with teaching as a career, not merely as a job, is an important policy issue since it is associated with teacher effectiveness, which ultimately affects student achievement. R D Sharma and Jeevan Jyoti suggest some steps to raise job satisfaction among school teachers.
Reprint No 06404