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School leader pride and job satisfaction
School leaders were asked to indicate their satisfaction with various aspects of their job. They could respond with ‘Never’, ‘Rarely’, ‘Sometimes’, or ‘Often’.
School leader responses by proportion of students
Table SLT3.6 shows the number of students under the leadership of a school leader who is either ‘Sometimes’ or ‘Often’ experiencing satisfaction in these aspects of their role.
What is immediately evident from these results is that, generally, the proportion of students with satisfied school leaders was high across all dimensions of satisfaction.
On average, more than four out of five students have school leaders who indicated that they ‘Often’ or ‘Sometimes’ felt content with their profession as a school leader (89%), found meaning and purpose in their role as a school leader (86%), were enthusiastic and inspired by their job as a school leader (87%), and were proud of the work they do (93%). This demonstrates that school leaders have a strong sense of purpose and, with 85% of students having school leaders wanting to continue to serve in their role as long as possible, this sense of purpose is sustaining, in spite of the well-being issues reported in the previous section.
The lowest satisfaction rate (60%) is with school leaders’ salaries. While this is a strong majority, indications are that a small but significant number of students are in schools where school leaders feel undervalued. If this issue is not addressed, it might seriously impact job satisfaction.
School leader satisfaction and school leader qualities
From the responses to the seven statements about school leaders’ satisfaction and pride in their work, a regional scale was formed for School leader job satisfaction. Higher scores on this scale mean higher levels of school leader job satisfaction.
Each school leader’s scores on this scale were compared with several demographic factors and other qualities to see if any differences existed. These factors were gender (male or female), age group (either 20–40 or over 40 years old), school leader experience (either less than 10 years’ experience or more than 10 years’ experience), and their highest qualification (either below degree level or degree level and higher).
No differences were found between female and male school leaders or school leaders with an age under or over 40 years old.
Differences were, however, found in the age and qualification comparisons. School leaders who had more than 10 years teaching experience had higher job satisfaction scores than school leaders who had less than 10 years teaching experience. Interestingly, school leaders with a degree level qualification or higher had lower job satisfaction scores than school leaders with below degree level qualifications.
What does this mean?
High proportions of students had school leaders who were generally satisfied with and proud of their jobs. A smaller proportion of students had school leaders who were content with their salaries. This suggests that most school leaders are satisfied in their job, but many sometimes feel dissatisfied by their salaries. Salary is frequently a contributing factor in labour movements and other phenomena so should be understood further.
Some school leaders also had higher job satisfaction scores than others. School leaders with more than 10 years teaching experience tended to have higher job satisfaction than those with less. Also, school leaders who had qualifications lower than a degree had higher job satisfaction scores than school leaders who had a degree or higher-level qualification.
