Rewards and values in secondary teachers’ perceptions of their job satisfaction¹

¹ This paper arises from the study: Teacher Professional Satisfaction and its Implications for Secondary Education and Teacher Education, which was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, 1985‐87 as part of their ‘Teacher Education Initiative.’

Abstract

This paper presents an analysis of the responses of 686 secondary school teachers in the north of England to a questionnaire survey of their job satisfaction which was carried out in October 1986. They rated the degree to which they thought desirable aspects of their work were present (rewards) and also the degree to which each aspect made an important contribution to their job satisfaction (value). The areas covered were working conditions, roles and responsibilities, and classroom practices. Other questionnaire items yielded estimates of the teachers’ overall job satisfaction, and their experience of work centrality and its associated stress. These two dimensions were the dependent variables in a series of multiple regression analyses which explored their relationships with perceived rewards and values. Selected school and teacher characteristics were added to establish profiles of the satisfied teachers.

The paper addresses a number of theoretical, methodological and practical issues and discusses them in relation to the job satisfaction literature generally, and the state of the teaching profession in the mid‐1980s in particular. Theoretically, the starting point is Kalleberg's (1975) model of job satisfaction as the outcome of ‘fits’ between specific rewards and values. Applied to the data of this report, it was found that values played little part in job satisfaction except in the case of the intrinsic aspects of teaching. Methodologically, therefore, it would be adequate to base estimates derived from specific job facets on rewards alone. The same does not apply to the prediction of work centrality or stress however, where values are more important. At the practical level, the focal concern of teachers with classroom strategies and processes has implications for teacher training while associations between the experience of stress and poor teaching support has implications for school management.

¹ This paper arises from the study: Teacher Professional Satisfaction and its Implications for Secondary Education and Teacher Education, which was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, 1985‐87 as part of their ‘Teacher Education Initiative.’

Notes

¹ This paper arises from the study: Teacher Professional Satisfaction and its Implications for Secondary Education and Teacher Education, which was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, 1985‐87 as part of their ‘Teacher Education Initiative.’

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Pam Poppleton

Pam Poppleton is in the Division of Education, University of Sheffield.