Job satisfaction: a hierarchy of needs for teachers?

Job satisfaction for teachers in northern countries has been extensively researched. It is recognised as a significant factor in motivation and professional development. In the south, however, little investigation has taken place into job satisfaction within the teaching profession. Research by the University of Bristol examines the reasons for this neglect, looks at the importance of teachers in determining educational quality, and suggests ways forward when considering job satisfaction in developing countries. Policies based on sound data, it is argued, could radically improve teacher morale and proficiency and contribute towards the successful outcome of current education sector investment programmes being undertaken throughout the developing world.

Quantitative improvements to educational provision in the developing world are still considered fundamental goals: the drive towards universal primary education has already begun in many countries. Quality education, however, is now coming to the fore and is currently a major goal in the programmes of most developing nations. The teacher is also recognised as the most important resource in a school. Yet teachers’ working conditions are rarely considered even though these are intricately linked to motivation.

Many teachers have minimal material or intellectual support; salary is often insufficient to maintain them and their families, but teachers still work under often very difficult conditions. Increased resources and training are not necessarily the solution. Teachers’ social environment, attitudes, and working conditions are inter-related in a complex manner that needs to be understood better. What is it that motivates teachers, or indeed, demotivates them?

Key research findings include:

• Knowledge about job satisfaction for teachers in developing countries is based on assumptions culled from research undertaken in the north.
• Examining teachers’ own ideas of job satisfaction and motivation is more beneficial than imposing external standards.
• Job satisfaction among teachers needs to be considered by sub-sector (primary, secondary etc) due to likely variation.
• Job satisfaction should be explored within the context of teachers’ lives as a whole.

Policy recommendations include suggestions that:

• Successful management of change cannot be undertaken without a clear understanding of the reaction of the professionals involved (including teachers) to changes in their work and the higher expectations being made of them.
• More data on job satisfaction needs to be gathered from the different cultural, social, economic, and professional contexts of developing countries.
• The relationship between teachers’ job satisfaction and their lives as a whole need to be better understood to inform policy makers on how best to manage change.

Source(s):
‘Teacher Job Satisfaction in Developing Countries’ Education Research Supplementary Series (G), Education Division, UK Department for International Development, by R. M. Garrett (October 1999)

Funded by: UK Department for International Development

id21 Research Highlight: 8 May 2000

Further Information:
R. M. Garrett
Graduate School of Education
35 Berkeley Square
Bristol BS8 1JA
UK

Tel: +44 (0)117) 9289000
Fax: +44 (0)117) 9251537
Contact the contributor: R.M.Garrett@bris.ac.uk

University of Bristol

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