The above research investigates what incentives and disincentives are present within the education system and how these factors impact on educator satisfaction. Increasingly, educators are becoming dissatisfied with their status in society as well as with their working environment. The research looks at a small group of Johannesburg based South African educators and, through an in-depth questionnaire, compares the situation with educators from the United States as well as from China in order to find similarities. A number of authors work was researched that looked at what “satisfaction” is and, how it affects the workplace. Various educational authors were also looked at in order to gain a historical and sociological view. Various news articles and media reports were also taken into consideration as a number of educators felt that the media reflected the education system in a negative light. It is evident from the research conducted that, increasingly, educators are becoming more despondent and less satisfied with their careers and a large degree of this dissatisfaction appears to stem from the organisational structures within education. Using South African based work, similarities were also established between the United States as well as China. The similarities and findings suggested that a more structured approach needs to be taken in terms of the organisational structure, not only in South Africa but perhaps within the United States and China too. If these changes were to be instituted, educators may experience improved satisfaction.

abstract: The purpose of this study was to distinguish factors that influence the satisfaction levels of teachers in urban school districts. This work also distinguished factors that directly impacted teachers' level of satisfaction towards their work and their attitude towards the administration of their schools. Forty-one teachers from two kindergarten through eighth grade schools in the southwest region of the United States were given a modified version of the 2007/08 Schools and Staffing Survey, a federally recognized survey on the satisfaction levels of teachers in America, combined with a select number of questions created by the researcher in this study to address the research questions of this study. Data were collected and analyzed through Survey Monkey, an online data portal, and imported into SPSS for data analysis. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were compiled to provide answers to the research questions established for this study. Results from this study indicated that although a majority of teachers sampled were satisfied with their teaching positions (78%), kindergarten through fourth grade teachers were more satisfied than teachers in the older grades. For the whole group, salary was the most influential factor; however, the teachers with 11 to 15 years of experience were the only ones who chose salary as their primary choice to increase their satisfaction. This study found that the levels of satisfaction per subgroup (teachers' years of experience, level of education, gender, age, type of certification, and grade level) were different than the group needs as a whole. This study revealed that the needs of the whole group and the needs of the subgroups can differ, consequently individual differences of the staff need to be taken into consideration. To view the staff as a whole may discredit the needs of the individual. Even though data indicated that a significant number of teachers felt supported by their administration, this study revealed the need for administrative staff to address specific issues of subgroups in their schools. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ed.D. Educational Leadership and Policy Studies 2011

<p>The purpose of this quantitative study is to explore the frequency of uncivil behaviors amongst teachers. The research seeks to determine leadership support and job satisfaction levels in order to relate their relationship to turnover. Fulfillment of teachers’ basic psychological needs is essential for optimal performance and growth. The 2018 Indiana Department of Education Teacher survey data shows low favorability levels regarding school leadership trends and collegiality in schools. The researcher examined the perceptions of the educators in a region of Indiana. This research study was compared with a similar study completed in an urban school district in Western Central Illinois. The researcher used an electronic survey, via Qualtrics, to gather demographic information and determine the extent of teacher-to-teacher uncivil behaviors as well as levels of leadership support and job satisfaction. A total of 74 teachers participated in the research study. Overall, 10.9% percent of respondents perceived themselves to be victims of uncivil behaviors on a weekly or daily (regular) basis. Strong statistical significance was found between uncivil behaviors and job satisfaction, leadership support, and teacher turnover. A recommendation from this study is that teacher turnover can be reduced when leaders meet the intrinsic needs of their teachers.</p>

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The purpose of this study was to investigate and report teacher perceptions during a renovation project. A quantitative analysis of six demographic variables and a 24 item survey questionnaire provided information related to school renovation, school leadership, student academic achievement, and teacher morale. This phenomenological study included survey responses from 74 out of a possible 76 teachers who were present during one of the two almost identical high school renovation projects in a rural school division in Virginia. These two high schools had the same renovation timeline, floor plan, architectural design team, and construction company. Independent sample t-tests and one-way Analysis of Variances (ANOVA) were used to determine differences in teacher satisfaction, schools, or demographic variables. The first major finding found overall teacher satisfaction was minimally affected by the renovation project (satisfied 36.5%, neutral 59.5%, and dissatisfied 4%). Factors that may have affected this finding include: lapse in teacher memory due to collection of data 10 months after the completion of the project, a feeling of ambivalence by the teachers, or the fact that the principal of one of the schools was also the researcher which may have caused survey responses to be more neutral. Both males and females felt satisfied but the females were less satisfied regarding safety, cleanliness, job satisfaction, and school rating. Differences between satisfied and dissatisfied teachers involving cleanliness, considering relocating during the project, seeking a transfer to avoid another project, and room temperature were found to have significance and moderate effect sizes. The schools had differences in overall satisfaction levels with one school having more satisfied teachers versus more teachers coded as neutral at the other school. While teachers at both schools felt safe during the renovation project and odor had an effect on satisfaction, satisfaction levels were different at each school. The last finding was a difference in job satisfaction levels between the age categories of 21-25 and 26-35 which could affect teacher retention. This study also concludes the need for doctoral and principal preparation programs to include information regarding the leadership role during a renovation project and how decisions may affect teacher satisfaction. / Ed. D.

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The following dissertation examined the relationship between dissatisfaction found within teacher working conditions and Melvin Seeman's theory of alienation. More specifically, it showed that all forms of teacher dissatisfaction engender feelings of alienation and that the oppressive nature of alienation is the root cause of all the negative consequences associated with teacher dissatisfaction. After an introduction, the literature review presents detailed descriptions of Seeman's theory of alienation, Paulo Freire's theory of empowerment, and the latest information surrounding the issue of teacher dissatisfaction. Next, qualitative narratives from interviews with six teachers about their experiences with dissatisfaction are presented. The researcher then shows how the participants' answers matched the information from the literature surrounding dissatisfaction. The alienation framework is then applied to the data to show its presence within the teachers' experiences. Once the narratives are shown to be connected to both the dissatisfaction and alienation literature, the researcher discusses how alienation is an inextricable part of dissatisfying working conditions. An analysis is then presented to explain how alienation plays a foundational role in creating detrimental educational environments. Finally, possible solutions and further research possibilities are detailed.

The purpose of this study was to identify beginning teachers' perceptions of how colleges and universities can improve their teacher preparation programs and what school systems can do to ensure that first-year teachers have a successful and satisfying experience in the classroom. A total of 20 first and second-year elementary teachers participated in 20 separate, qualitative interviews. The information collected from the interviews was inductively analyzed. Several themes reflecting the perceptions of study participants emerged during the data analysis process: (1) a belief that college classes did not reflect or prepare new teachers for the "real world" of teaching. (2) feeling overwhelmed by teaching duties and expectations; (3) positive benefits of mentoring; (4) a desire for more interactive field experience; and (4) the need for classroom management skills. From the findings, the investigator presented the following suggestions for improving the teacher education program at colleges: (1) provide additional opportunities for more interactive field experience, not just observing; (2) eliminate many of the philosophy classes and research requirements; (3) include more instruction in dealing with classroom management, including discipline strategies and effective means of interacting with parents; (4) intensify reading instruction; and (5) provide more course work in special education issues. The following suggestions were presented for improving the induction program at the school level: (1) formally assign a mentor; (2) schedule a time for the principal to meet with new teachers individually to fully explain school procedures and expectations; (3) hire beginning teachers earlier in the summer to provide them with more preparation time; (4) furnish teachers with adequate funds to purchase school materials; and (5) provide release time to observe veteran teachers. This study provides valuable information for university departments of education to improve their teacher preparation program to reflect the needs of today's new teachers. These findings will assist school systems in developing more appropriate induction programs for new teachers.

High-stakes teacher evaluations (HSTEs) in public education influence millions of students and teachers across the U.S. Currently, there is a dearth of published quantitative research that shows the relation of HSTEs to teacher job satisfaction. The purpose of this quasiexperimental quantitative study was to determine if implementation of HSTEs in state of Hawaiʻi as part of the U.S. Department of Education's Race to the Top program initiative was related to teacher job satisfaction in public schools over time. A repeated measures analyses was conducted using archived teacher job satisfaction data from over 200 public schools in Hawaiʻi from 2009 to 2014, including data collected from 2 years before until 2 years after implementation of HSTEs. The theoretical framework used for the study was grounded in Herzberg's 2-factor theory of motivation. It was hypothesized that the implementation of HSTEs may have affected extrinsic hygiene factors such as wages, supervisory practices, and organizational policy relative to intrinsic motivational factors such as work achievement, recognition, and personal growth of teachers working in schools implementing the federal initiative. The most significant study finding was that both overall satisfaction and satisfaction with student achievement increased during the 2011-2012 implementation year and then fell below pre-implementation levels in the 2 years subsequent to implementation of HSTEs. This finding is discussed in the context of an increase in pay for public school teachers in Hawai'i during the post-implementation period. The results of this research may promote positive social change by highlighting the need for a focus on potential unintended consequences (i.e., possible negative effects on teacher job satisfaction) of federal education policies associated with HSTE systems.