Get to know » Teachers » Self-reflection:
Teacher pride and job satisfaction
Teachers were asked to indicate how often they were satisfied with the various aspects of their job. The question that was asked was ‘How often do you feel the following ways about being a teacher?’. Teachers were asked to respond on a four-point scale with the options: ‘Never’, ‘Rarely’, ‘Sometimes’, or ‘Often’.
The responses shown in the sections below are from teachers who reported experiencing feeling these ways either ‘Sometimes’ or ‘Often’.
Teacher responses by proportion of students
Table TT2.12 shows the percentage of students with a teacher who is either ‘Sometimes’ or ‘Often’ experiencing satisfaction in these areas of their role.
Across the subscales, a very high proportion of students (more than nine out of ten) had teachers who ‘Sometimes’ or ‘Often’ found their work meaningful and purposeful (95%), were enthusiastic about their job (91%), and were inspired (92%) and proud (95%) of their work.
A high proportion of students had teachers who were also content with their profession (86%), with similar proportions (85%) wanting to continue in the profession.
A noticeably lower proportion was, however, observed for teacher’s salary. Only 61% of students had teachers who were ‘Sometimes’ or ‘Often’ content with their salary. This may cause some dissatisfaction in the profession.
Teacher well-being and teacher characteristics
From the responses to the eight sentences about challenges to teacher well-being, a regional scale was formed. The more teachers agree with the statements that form the scale, the higher their scale scores, and the lower their levels of well-being.
Each teacher’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 20–35 or over 35 years old), teaching 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).
There were no well-being score differences between teachers who had degree level or higher qualifications and teachers with qualifications below the level of a degree. There were also no well-being score differences between teachers who had more or fewer than 10 years of teaching experience.
There were, however, differences found in the gender and teaching experience comparisons. Teachers over 35 years of age had lower well-being scores (better wellbeing) than teachers below 35 years of age. Male teachers also had lower well-being scores (better wellbeing) than female teachers.
What does this mean?
High proportions of students had teachers who were satisfied with and proud of their jobs. A lower proportion had teachers who were content with their salaries – salary levels had the lowest satisfaction rating out of all the job satisfaction items. Additionally, while high proportions of teachers were satisfied with their job, the average in Marshall Islands was lower than for the region as a whole.
