This study addresses job satisfaction of public school teachers in seven districts of the Portland Metropolitan Area (N = 2,133; validated response = 1,444; ratio of 67.698 percent). The three research questions are: (1) How satisfied are teachers in the PMA with their jobs? (2) What are the primary differing factors affecting teacher satisfaction and dissatisfaction, and do these factors and their relationship to satisfaction conform with Herzberg and Lortie theories? (3) How does satisfaction and dissatisfaction vary as a function of the following "demographic" factors: age, sex, grade level, years of service, highest degree earned? Findings from the three research questions are: (1) Teachers in the PMA are very satisfied with their jobs. (2) Motivators (or intrinsic factors) contribute to satisfaction more than they contribute to dissatisfaction, and this finding tends to conform with part of Herzberg's dual-factor theory; hygienes (or extrinsic factors) are seen to contribute to satisfaction more than to dissatisfaction (opposite to the prediction), and this finding does not conform with part of the dual-factor theory. Factors that contribute most frequently to satisfaction of teachers in the PMA are: interpersonal relations with students and fellow teachers, sense of achievement, teaching as a kind of work, and opportunities to help others. Factors contributing most frequently to dissatisfaction are: salary, time spent preparing for teaching or on school-related activities outside of teaching or preparation for teaching, status, and policies and practices of the school district. The finding that interpersonal relations with students is the factor that contributes most frequently to teacher satisfaction does tend to conform with Lortie's theory. (3) Age, sex, and grade levels of assignment are seen to be significantly related to job satisfaction. Older teachers tend to be more satisfied than younger teachers; women tend to be more satisfied than men are with teaching; teachers of primary grades (through 4-6) tend to be more satisfied than teachers of higher grades (6-8, 7-9, 9-12). Years of service and highest degree earned are not seen to be significantly related to job satisfaction. Comparative data from 1981 and 1984 indicate that: the age of teachers, the percentage of women, and the average number of years of service are increasing for teachers in the PMA.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:pdx.edu/oai:pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu:open_access_etds-1832 |
| Date | 01 January 1985 |
| Creators | Perko, Laura Lee |
| Publisher | PDXScholar |
| Source Sets | Portland State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Dissertations and Theses |
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