Teacher Job Satisfaction, Motivation and Factors Affecting Job Satisfaction

Teacher job satisfaction is vital area of study since several studies have found that work satisfaction influences general life satisfaction. General life is an important influence on the daily psychological health of a teacher. This in turn has an impact on teachers‘ job performance (Andrew and Whitney, 1974). There is evidence showing that job satisfaction is related to physical and mental health and that job satisfaction contributes to better overall mental health (Cherrington, 1989). Cherrington further contends that frustration and despair caused by an unpleasant job permeates individual‘s life and make workers feel depressed both on the job and at home. Because employees work harder and perform better if satisfied with their jobs (Beder, 1990), knowing the determinants of job satisfaction could help prevent staff frustration and low job satisfaction. Teacher job satisfaction is a source of motivation that sustains effort in performing tasks required of good teachers (Watson etal,1991)such tasks include preparation of schemes of work, daily lesson plans, careful marking of assignment, detailed record keeping to monitor students‘ progress. All teachers are expected to act as discipline masters, counselors and role models (Kenya Education Handbook, 1981).In additional, senior teachers are expected to assist with inspection and guidance of other teachers (Republic of Kenya, 1998). Chapman (1983) reports that a high quality of professional life for the teacher contributes to an increase in students achievements. In the United States of America, there is evidence that satisfied teachers have a positive rather than a negative effect on classroom learning (Goodland, 1984) In Kenya, teachers‘ salaries have been relatively low compared with financial rewards in the private sector. The high wastage of 8 graduate teachers leaving the teaching profession has been a matter of concern by the government (Republic of Kenya, 1984) According to Nzure (1999), people join and work in organizations in order to satisfy their personal needs. Consequently, there is need to make teaching more appealing as a profession by providing work circumstances that are satisfying as possible. In this context, work circumstances and job satisfaction seems worthwhile subjects of investigation. Similarly to all workplaces, work motivation and job satisfaction are important factors for the success of the objectives of the educational establishments internationally (Saiti, 2009). Teacher motivation and satisfaction are inextricably linked as one influences the other. Teacher motivation refers to the stimulus for behaviour in a particular context, whereas teacher job satisfaction refers to the result of behaviour within a particular context (Dinham and Scott, 1998; Karavas, 2010). Similar to all organisations, in education a high-quality teaching staff is the cornerstone of a successful educational institution and the educational system overall. One step in developing a high quality school is to understand the factors generally associated with teaching quality. A crucial factor is teacher job satisfaction since it is associated with teacher effectiveness which in turn affects student achievement. Internationally, teacher job satisfaction has been connected to important human resources management issues such as teacher attrition rates, satisfaction with school administration, loyalty to the organisation, school improvement, productivity and efficiency (Kestetner, 1994; Tshannen-Moran et al., 1998; Ma and MacMillan, 1999; Buchmann and Hannum, 2001). 1979; Mykletun, 1984; Kyriacou, 1987; Friedman and Farber, 1992). According to the majority of these studies, teacher satisfaction is related to levels of intrinsic empowerment, i.e., motivation (Papanastasiou and Zembylas, 2005). Although motivation is an individual matter since needs and desires are internal states, most employees recognise that the way they feel about their work is affects by a number of factors (Bush and Middlewood, 2006). Research on teacher job satisfaction internationally (Baron, 1986; Shann, 1998; Hargreaves, 1999; Dinham and Scott, 2000; Koustelios, 2001; Scott and Dinham, 2003; Day et al., 2006; Van Houtte, 2006; Klassen and Chiu, 2010; Eyal and Roth, 2011) has identified a variety of ‗internal‘ and ‗external‘ factors that influence job satisfaction/dissatisfaction and motivation, grouped into four main categories: 1. Individual factors, such as a person‘s gender, age, marital status, number of children and work experience. 2. Factors relating to the actual work of teaching; working with young people, the intellectual challenge of teaching, autonomy and independence 3. Organisational factors related to the teachers‘ working environment such as: school leadership, staff supervision, facilities and infrastructure, school culture and participation in decision making, conditions of service, salary, promotion prospects, group support, etc. 4. Factors emanating from the wider social context and the state such as: relentless and imposed educational changes, constant media criticism, perceptions of how teachers are viewed by society, support services to teachers, etc., factors at the system level, as well as wider social forces, such as teacher status, imposed educational change, and the portrayal of teachers in the media. Job-satisfaction is an attitude which results from balancing and summation of many specific likes dislikes and experiences in connection with the job. In the present study, the dimensions included are: i) Satisfaction with work and working conditions; ii) Satisfaction with salary, security and promotion policies; iii) Satisfaction with institutional plans and policies; and

Many people do not distinguish between motivation and job satisfaction (Okumbe, 1998). Luthans (1989) has put a distinction between the two by defining motivation as a process that starts with a physiological or psychological deficiency or need that activates behavior or a drive that is aimed at goal or incentive, and on the other hand job satisfaction as a pleasurable or positive emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one‘s job or job experience.

The theories of work motivation and job satisfaction aim at explaining what motivates behavior of people at work. These theories are concerned with identifying needs and drives that people have and how these needs and drives are prioritized and because of this concern, they are referred to as needs theories or cognitive theories. Okumbe (1998) explains that the motivation theories are mainly concerned with the kinds of incentive and goals which people aim at attaining in order to be satisfied so as to improve their performance at work. The theories of work motivation that are covered in this chapter are: the needs Hierarchy theory, Herzberg‘s two factor theory and the ERG theory.

Maslow‘s (1943) theory of human motivation is based on assumptions that needs that are not satisfied motivates or influence behavior. Needs are arranged according to a hierarchy of importance and that an individual‘s needs at any level on the hierarchy emerges only when lower level needs are reasonably well satisfied. The use of universal needs hierarchy by a manager in motivating employees is based on the concept that reasonably well satisfied needs do not motivate. Maslow identified five levels of needs. These are the physiological needs, safety needs, love or social needs, esteem needs, and the need for self-actualization. Physiological needs are undoubtedly the most basic in the hierarchy. Once the basic needs are satisfied, they cease to motivate an individual. Once one is satisfied in one level of need one strives to satisfy needs in the next higher level. However ,if the satisfaction of a lower order need is threatened ,that need will again become proponent and the efforts to satisfy all higher order needs will be reduced (Okumbe,1998). Physiological needs are the most basic needs in Maslow‘s hierarchy, and include needs that must be satisfied for the person to survive; these include food, water, oxygen, sleep, sex and sensory satisfaction in

are relatively satisfied and occupy the second level in the hierarchy of needs .These needs include a desire to security, stability, dependency, protection, and freedom from fear and anxiety, and a need for structure, order and law (Cherrington, 1989).These needs are also satisfied through adequate wages or salaries, although Maslow does not consider money as an effective motivator. The third level of needs is love or social needs. These are needs for affiliation, belongingness, acceptance and friendship. In an educational institution the manager should facilitate an environment where the staff members and the learners can satisfy their love needs. The fourth level of needs is the esteem needs. These are needs for self-respect, for accomplishment, for achievement (Maslow, 1954). The achievement must be recognized and appreciated by someone else. The fifth level of needs is the self-actualization. This is the highest need in Maslow‘s hierarchy. This is the need of becoming all that a person is capable of becoming. There is need to utilize one‘s potential to the maximum when working with and for others. While Maslow‘s needs hierarchy theory is widely known and adopted by practicing managers, some researchers have criticized its findings. Aldefer (1972) conducted a cross-sectional study of needs and strength .the conclusion of the study failed to support the hierarchy concept as described by Maslow. Although studies of motivational needs in various categories of groups of people have been done, none has been done for secondary school teachers in Mwatate District. It is hoped that this study of job satisfaction of teachers will came up with suggestions of the most important to the least important needs of teachers in Mwatate .This information can be used to motivate teachers in their work.

OF TEACHERS

Because employees work harder and perform better if satisfied in their jobs, knowing the factors related to jobs satisfaction could help prevent staff frustration and low job satisfaction (Beder,1990), Cherrington (1989),contends that job satisfaction is determined primarily by the kind of rewards, amount of rewards and rewards expectation of employees. According to him several factors contributes to rewarding or non-rewarding nature of job. These factors include; characteristics of the job itself, status, professional qualification, job experience, subject combination, school type, pay, working conditions, job security, leadership and organization culture.

Research carried out by Shepard and Hawley (1974) showed that female teachers were less satisfied than male teachers, the difference reaching its maximum extent among workers under 30 years. Reyes (1990) study of 150 teachers in Mid-west region of United States also revealed that gender was related to job satisfaction. The study however showed that more women were happy with their job and more committed to school than men. It has been suggested that it is not the worker sex that relates to level of job satisfaction but rather a group of factors that vary with sex.

In general, job satisfaction increases with age, the least job satisfaction being reported by the youngest workers (Rhodes, 1990). Research has shown that an increase in job satisfaction with age is reliable only until about the age of sixty at which point the evidence becomes less conclusive (Schults,1986).Peter and Steers(1973) have found that as one gets older , the less likely one is to quite the job. They argue that as workers get older, they have fewer alternative job opportunity and they are less likely to resign because the longer tenure tends to provide them with higher wage rates, longer paid vacations and benefits that are more attractive.

The expert variable was demonstrated to have no impact of educators towards instructing in Kimengi (1983) examine .In Okumbe's (1982) contemplate, the variable indicated noteworthy impact. The level of occupation fulfillment among graduate educators expanded with their expert review level. Occupation EXPERIENCE The level of employment fulfillment and inspiration among laborers increments with work involvement. Reyes' (1990) think about showed that work introduction was identified with the level of employment fulfillment among instructors. Reyes inferred that showing background and authoritative residency was related with educator's employment fulfillment. This implied work fulfillment expanded with involvement in instructing. teachers‘ attitudes towards teaching and their job satisfaction which reviewed that there is a strong relationship between attitude towards teaching and job satisfaction. Positive attitude towards teaching indicated a high job satisfaction while negative attitude towards teaching conversely indicated low job satisfaction.

Kimengi‘s (1983) findings implied that teachers‘ salary is an important factor that contributes to teachers‘ job satisfaction. He suggested that educational planners should consider the importance of increasing teachers‘ salaries in order to retain teachers in the teaching profession. Kimengi‘s (1983) study underscored the important roles played by the promotional opportunities available in teaching profession that also increase job satisfaction to teachers. Several studies have established that employees want pay systems and promotion policies that they perceive as being just, unambiguous and in line with their expectations. Okumbe (1998) suggested that job satisfaction is enhanced when workers perceive equitable pay compared to their input. When workers feel that they are inequitably remunerated dissatisfaction sets in. Gordon (1986) indicated that the larger the reward the more the job satisfaction of a worker.

Working conditions are another factor that has modest effect on job satisfaction. Luthan‘s (1989) study contend that clean and attractive surroundings‘ tend to make workers happy when doing their work hence increasing job satisfaction. The work characteristics for teachers that are associated with job dissatisfaction should be identified in order to change the working environment for continuous job satisfaction.

Luthans(1989) describes job security as the feeling which involves being able to hold onto the job ,being sure all will be well with the job in future as in the past. He describes insecurity as a haunting fear that things may not last, that one may lose what she or he has now. Flippo (1984) proposes that the need for job security tops in the list of priorities for many employees and labour union because of emerging threats from technology change.

One of the employees‘ wants that contributes to motivation and job satisfaction is competent and fair leadership. Flippo (1984) contend that good leadership ensures that psychological and security needs for organizational goals and satisfies the employee needs. If the workers deems the supervisory leader unworthy and incompetent it becomes frustrating to them thus producing job dissatisfaction Flippo (1984).

Cherrington (1989) defines culture as the set of key values, beliefs and understanding that are shared by members of an organization. According to him, culture enhances the stability of the organization and helps member‘s interpret organizational activities and events thus reducing job dissatisfaction. The purpose of culture provides members with a sense of identity and to generate within them a commitment to beliefs and values of the organization thus producing job satisfaction. Culture determines the degree of conformity and degree of school effectiveness Meyer and Scott (1983).

The study established that factors influencing job satisfaction included empowerment, job enrichment, compensation, supervision, interpersonal relations, organizational policies, workload, communication, advancement and achievement of targets. The degree of these factors influencing job satisfaction however varied. The teachers indicated that they were satisfied with communication, achievement of targets, organizational policy interpersonal relation and supervision while they were dissatisfied with advancement, compensation, job enrichment and workload. The study recommends that the school administration should give the teachers more varied and challenging tasks. The Teacher‘s Service Commission and the Ministry of Education should ensure the salary and benefit package is consumerate to the work done by teachers. The study also recommends that the ministry of education should review the curriculum to reduce the teacher‘s workload or increase the number of teachers in schools to reduce the workload of teachers.

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