The body of research related to teacher retention continues to grow but is limited concerning middle school teachers. The focus of this study was to examine the factors of job satisfaction for middle school teachers. A portion of the study compares teacher responses with Herzberg, Mausner, and Snydermanâs 1959 study of motivation. Additional components of the study provide middle school teachersâ feedback on their dispositions and recommendations to administrators and others for attracting and retaining quality middle school teachers. This qualitative study includes a review of related literature and includes a historical perspective of job satisfaction and a discussion of Herzbergâs Two-Factor Motivation Theory. Teacher job satisfaction and dissatisfaction, along with current trends in teacher retention efforts, complete the review of literature. Data for the findings were obtained from a demographic survey and semi-structured interviews of current and former middle school teachers. The data were then analyzed to learn what factors encourage middle school teachers to remain in the classroom or to leave. Responses related to teacher dispositions were also analyzed. Findings of this study validate the research of Gawel (1997) based on Bellot and Tutor; salary was not found to be the highest motivator as in the Herzberg study. Instead, participants identified the work itself, their enjoyment of the early adolescent student, and their relationships with co-workers to be important areas of job satisfaction and what keeps them returning to their middle school classrooms. The personal dispositions identified by participants as necessary to being successful as a middle school teacher were a good sense of humor, a love of the age group, and being energetic, flexible, organized, enthusiastic, consistent, and firm. This study will be of interest to universities and colleges with teacher preparatory programs. It will be of interest, also, to school administrators, principals,
Retaining qualified teachers in America’s schools is one of the nation’s challenges in education. Current research revealed teacher turnover had risen to 16.9% nationally, which equates to 2.7 million teachers, including 2.1 million who left the profession before retirement. In order to make a positive change in teacher retention, teacher perceptions of needs that lead to job satisfaction needed to be investigated. This mixed-method study investigated the identifiable or perceived factors that influence the retention of secondary teachers in a rural southeastern North Carolina district. The data for this study were collected during the spring semester of the 2016-2017 school year. All of the schools were asked to participate in a focus group interview that was recorded and transcribed. The lack of qualified education teachers threatens the quality of the education students will receive. Attrition plays a part in the teacher shortage problem, and efforts to improve retention must be informed by an understanding of the factors that contribute to attrition. The top four areas of dissatisfaction in this study were administrative support, salary, collegial support, and a sense or mission to teach. Other findings were that this study supported previous research that teacher values about satisfaction have changed a little in 30 years that they are largely independent of teacher demographics, and that satisfaction/dissatisfaction levels are directly related to teacher intent or wish to leave the teaching profession and their current positions. Overall, the study suggested that education administrators should be concerned about teacher dissatisfaction and its effects on retention of capable and motivated teachers and that teachers will reveal their issues if given a safe forum for doing so.
There is a developing body of research suggesting low job satisfaction among teachers can lead to potential consequences for educators, students, and school districts (Darling-Hammond, 2010; Ladebo, 2005; Sarnek, Musser, Caskey, Olsen & Green, 2006; Wu & Short, 1996). There is also a growing concern about the number of teachers who are going to be retire soon; this loss of experienced teachers may impact student learning. Recent research (NYSED, 2010; NCTAF, 2003) supports an assumption that job satisfaction is a major factor to increase retention of teachers; however, there is a need for more research in this area. As school districts experience teacher shortages, there is an increased need to recruit, hire, and retain highly effective teachers because of either teachers leaving the profession early or because of retirement. The purpose of this study was to examine the level of job satisfaction among middle school teachers employed at 13 middle schools in an urban school district, as well as to identify factors associated with teacher job satisfaction. The study considered workforce and policy issues which may be leading to highly effective teachers leaving the profession early, therefore impacting student achievement. Data were gathered utilizing the Job Satisfaction Survey (JSS), created by Dr. Paul Spector (1985). The JSS assesses job satisfaction in nine subscales that include pay, promotion, supervision, nature of work, operating conditions, coworkers, communication, fringe benefits, and contingent rewards. These nine subscales are classified as either extrinsic or intrinsic factors of job satisfaction. Additional survey questions provided demographic data in categories including age, gender, highest level of education, subject matter taught, years to retirement, salary, total years of teaching experiences and the number of schools in which the teacher had been employed. Overall results suggest that differences among the various teacher groups were associated with extrinsic motivation rather than intrinsic motivation. For example, the youngest group of teachers scored higher on extrinsic motivation than did the oldest group of teachers. When significant group differences were found, these differences tended to be associated with the variables Fringe Benefits, Promotion, and Total Extrinsic Motivation. In addition, the group of teachers with the most experience scored lower on Extrinsic Motivation than did the group of teacher with less experience. For many of the various groupings of teachers, the comparisons were not significant. That is, the characteristics of the groups were not associated with differences in measures of motivation. In many instances, there were not significant differences across groups based on the overall Intrinsic Motivation and Extrinsic Motivation; however, differences were apparent on the individual subscales of the JSS. In general, the Extrinsic constructs were more important to younger teachers than were these same constructs were to more veteran teachers. A comparison of the responses of the teachers in this study to the response published by Spector was conducted for each subscale and for total assessment score. Thus, a total of ten comparisons between the results for the study sample and the teacher norms provided by Spector were conducted. Seven of these comparisons were significant: Pay, Promotion, Supervision, Working Conditions, Coworkers, Communication, and Total Score. In six of these comparisons of the means, the sample means were higher than the norm means; only Working Conditions were less important to the sample than to the comparison group. That is, for teachers in the study sample, these measures from the JSS were more important than for the teachers in the comparison group. The open-ended responses provided meaningful insight into teacher motivation with specific respect to “compelling reasons to stay in a school.” Compensation was a significant theme that surfaced during the analysis; however, issues related to compensation are part of negotiations between the teachers’ union and the school district. Therefore, this area is mostly beyond the control of a building level school administrator. The other significant themes were Teachers Value Support, Character of My Work, Importance of Students, and Need for Respect. These themes are not independent but each of these themes is subject to influence from within the school. The parallel studies conducted by both Cui-Callahan (2012) and Bumgartner (2013), mirrored the results found in this study. Specifically, all three studies showed teacher respondents scored higher in Intrinsic job satisfaction than Extrinsic job satisfaction. Finally, using the results from this research will help to inform other districts with information on what job satisfaction factors are important to teachers. It is notable that overall teachers scored higher at all levels with intrinsic motivational factors, but that younger, less experienced teachers rated extrinsic motivational factors higher. This will help school boards, district level administration, and building principals to be better informed as to demographics of teachers and how to best target job satisfaction type incentives to better recruit and retain teachers. In this era of teacher shortages, it can only benefit districts to have as much information and data as possible to attract teachers and to reduce teacher turnover costs.
A qualitative phenomenological research design was chosen to examine the perceptions of teachers concerning experiences that negatively influence teachers' job satisfaction in rural Title I schools in Georgia. Twelve middle school teachers from three Georgia school districts were interviewed. Pilot interviews and follow-up interviews were also held. Interview data was coded, codes were examined for redundancy and codes were collapsed into broad themes. Major themes related to teacher dissatisfaction included negative relationships with administrators and problems with student behavior. Major themes related to teacher satisfaction included positive relationships with colleagues, working with students, and a sense of efficacy. Problems with student behavior, initial misconceptions concerning teaching, and a sense of isolation were identified by participants as factors that increase the difficulty of teaching. Due to job dissatisfaction related to the teacher-administrator relationship and problems with student behavior, several participants indicated that they would leave their current position for a comparable job outside of education. Participant responses supported Frederick Herzberg's two-factor theory on worker satisfaction, Abraham Maslow and Clayton Alderfer's theories related to the categorization of human needs, and theories on human motivation proposed by Jeremy Bentham and Victor Vroom. Additional theoretical implications along with applications for educational leaders are also delineated in the study.
