Examining the relationship between multiple facets of professional development and teacher job satisfaction in the United States

ABSTRACT

Using data from the 2018 U.S. Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS), this study examined the relationship between five aspects of professional development (PD) – teacher participation in different formats, content, duration, quality, and barriers to participation – and teacher job satisfaction. Our multilevel model results indicate that quality of PD consistently has a significant relationship with an increase in teacher job satisfaction and barriers to participation in PD persistently have a negative relationship to teacher job satisfaction. Our findings suggest that teachers value opportunities to engage in PD and that providing PD activities that include characteristics leading to positive qualities is crucial to enhance teacher job satisfaction through PD.

KEYWORDS:

• TALIS
• professional development
• job satisfaction
• multilevel analysis

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the editors and anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments on this manuscript. Additionally, we would like to thank Dr. Peter Youngs for his thoughtful feedback on an earlier draft of this manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The authors did not receive any financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Notes on contributors

Hana Kang

Hana Kang is an assistant professor in the College of Education at the University of Colorado Springs. Her research focuses on STEM education and how different school and social contexts come into play in the implementation of policy measures for school improvement.

Madeline Mavrogordato

Madeline Mavrogordato is an associate professor of K-12 educational administration and policy in the College of Education at Michigan State University. Her research uses mixed methods to investigate how district, state, and federal policies shape educational outcomes for underserved students and how to develop, support, and evaluate effective school leaders who are prepared to serve the new demography of American public schools.