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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, nearly all students had teachers who ‘Sometimes’ or ‘Often’ were content with their profession (98%), found their work meaningful and purposeful (100%), were enthusiastic about their job (100%), and were inspired by their work (99%).
A high proportion of students had teachers who were also proud of their jobs (96%) with a similar proportion (97%) wanting to continue in the profession.
A noticeably lower proportion was, however, observed for teacher’s salary. Only 78% of students had teachers who were ‘Sometimes’ or ‘Often’ content with their salary. This may cause some dissatisfaction in the profession.
Teacher satisfaction and teacher characteristics
From the responses to the seven statements about teachers’ satisfaction and pride in their work, a regional scale was formed for teacher job satisfaction. Higher scores on this scale mean higher levels of teacher job satisfaction.
Each teacher’s scores on this scale were analysed against several demographic factors, including: 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 highest qualification (either below degree level or degree level and higher). The significant findings are listed below.
- Male teachers tended to have higher job satisfaction scores than female teachers.
- Teachers with qualifications less than degree level tended to have higher job satisfaction scores than teachers with degree level or higher qualifications.
No differences in teachers’ job satisfaction scores were found between teachers above 35 years of age and teachers below 35 years of age, or teachers with more than ten years teaching experience and teachers with less.
What does this mean?
High proportions of students had teachers who were satisfied with and proud of their jobs. A lower proportion of students had teachers who were content with their salaries – salary levels had the lowest satisfaction rating out of all the job satisfaction items.
There may be an association between both teachers’ gender and level of qualification and their job satisfaction. The findings suggest that male teachers and those with below degree level qualifications had greater job satisfaction than their counterparts.
