Job Satisfaction of Jamaican Elementary School TeachersAuthor(s): Fay Rodgers-Jenkinson and David W. ChapmanSource: International Review of Education / Internationale Zeitschrift fürErziehungswissenschaft / Revue Internationale de l'Education, Vol. 36, No. 3 (1990), pp. 299-313Published by: SpringerStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3444507Accessed: 02/02/2010 23:10

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JOB SATISFACTION OF JAMAICAN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TEACHERS

FAY RODGERS-JENKINSON and DAVID W. CHAPMAN

Abstract - This study investigated correlates of job satisfaction among public (N - 190) and private (N - 100) Jamaican elementary school teachers. Empharis was on the identification of factors that could be affected through administrative intervention. Results indicated that the quality of school working conditions and respondents' relationships with other teachers were significantly related to satisfaction for both public and private school teachers. School prestige and parental encouragement were also significant predictors for public school teachers; leadership style, organizational structure, and teacher-parent relation- ships predicted job satisfaction for private school teachers. Implications of these findings for Jamaican education are discussed.

7aisinmmenfasung - Diese Studie untersuchte Griinde fiir Zufriedenheit im Beruf unter Lehrem an offentlichen (N - 190) und privaten (N - 100) Schulen in Jamaica. Besonderer Wert wurde auf die Herausarbeitung von Faktoren gelegt, die durch das Einwirken des Verwaltungsapparates beeinfluft werden konnten. Die Ergebnisse wiesen darauf hin, daB die Qualitiit der Arbeitsbedingungen in der Schule und die Beziehungen zu anderen Lehrern sowohl bei den Lehrer an offentlichen als auch bei den Lehrkriften an privaten Schulen in besonderem MaBe auf die Zufriedenheit im Beruf einwirkten. Fur Lehrer im offentlichen Bereich waren zudem Prestige der Schule und elterliche Anerkennung von groBer Wichtigkeit; bei Lehrern im Privatschulbereich lassen Ffihrungsstil, organisato- rische Struktur und Lehrer-Elter Beziehung Zufriedenheit im Beruf erwarten. Die Auswirkungen dieser Ergebnisse auf das Erziehungswesen in Jamaika werden betrachtet.

R/sume - Cette etude presente une comparaison de la satisfaction profession- nelle des enseignants des ecoles elementaires publiques (N - 190) et privees (N -

100) i la Jamaique. L'accent a eti mis sur la ddtermination des facteurs qui peuvent etre touches par une intervention administrative. Les resultats obtents ont indique que la qualite des conditions de travail a l'ecole et les rapports des personnes interrogees avec les autres enseignants dipendaient en grande partie de la satisfaction des enseignants des ccoles publiques et privies. Le prestige de I'ecole et le soutien des parents etaient egalement juges comme des indices importants pour les enseignants des 6coles publiques; le mode de direction, la structure organisationnelle, les relations entre enseignants et parents accusaient la satisfaction professionnelle des enseignants du prive. On examine ensuite les implications de ces resultats pour l'enseignement jamaicain.

One of the main challenges facing Jamaica is to iuipiove the efficiency of

International Review of Education - Internationale Zeitschrift fur Erziehungswisenschaft - Revue Internationale de Pidagogie 36(3): 299-313, 1990. 0 1990 Unesco Institute for Education and KluwerAcademic Publishers Printed in the Netherlands.

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the education system in the face of limited resources for education. Among the most important threats to system efficiency are apparent declines in teacher morale and rising rates of teacher turnover, both of which are indicators of low job satisfaction. The present study investigated factors related to job satisfaction among Jamaican elementary school teachers. Of particular interest was the identification of factors associated with teacher satisfaction that could be influenced through the alteration of administrative policies and practices in Jamaican schools.

Background

The importance assigned to the consideration of teachers' job satisfaction arises from two sources. First, issues of rapidly growing concern to Jamaican educators are low teacher morale and, secondly, an apparent increase in teacher turnover (McKnight 1982; Jamaican Teachers' Associ- ation 1983, 1985). In part, this pattern has emerged from the combined impact of low salaries and accelerating inflation. In part, it is a reflection of the increased opportunity costs for ^diicators, as teachers have an increasing range of better paying employment alternatives available to them.

The loss of experienced teachers hurts the quality of instruction and drives up the costs of recruiting and training new teachers, consuming money that could otherwise be spent to expand access to schooling or improve instructional quality. At a time that demand for teachers oushtips supply, the ability to retain teachers already in the system has taken on increasing significance. Previous research suggests that job satisfaction is an important factor in favor of teachers' being retained in teaching (Chapman 1983,1984; Chambers 1984).

There is also some evidence that higher levels of job satisfaction contribute to better teaching: for example, teacher enthusiasm has been found to be positively related to student achievement in the USA (Chapman, Kelly and Holloway 1977). It is unlikely that unhappy, dis- satisfied teachers will be particularly effective instructors over a sustained period of time.

Previous research in Jamaica has examined the job satisfaction of secondary school teachers (Chambers 1984). Virtually no attention has been given to identifying the factors related to the job satisfaction of teachers at the elementary school level. Previous research in the USA, however, has found differences in the factors associated with job satisfac- tion between elementary and secondary school teachers (Chapman 1983).

The present study investigated correlates of job satisfaction among

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Jamaican elementary school teachers. The study was grounded in a model of the factors associated with teacher satisfaction which posits that satisfaction is a function of (a) fixed characteristics of the school, (b) personal and professional characteristics of the teacher, and (c) school- related factors. These last refer to the working conditions and interper- sonal relationships that characterize the work setting. The model, pre- sented in Fig. 1, draws from earlier work by Chapman (1983, 1984), Chapman and Hutcheson (1982), and Holdaway (1978). In operationaliz- ing the model, special attention was given to school-related factors for two reasons. First, such factors are the most susceptible to policy interven- tions. Fixed characteristics of the school, such as location and type of control (public/private) are not easily altered. Similarly, the personal and professional characteristics of the teachers largely refer to variables that are not easily changed through outside intervention or would have required an intervention at a much earlier point in a teacher's career development (such as during teacher training). School-related factors are more susceptible to intervention in the present.

The second reason for emphasizing school-related factors was that recent research suggests that, as a set, they are particularly important in job satisfaction. Research in the USA has found that, for elementary school teachers, higher levels of job satisfaction are positively related to recognition and approval from supervisors, family, and friends (Chapman and Hutcheson 1982; Chapman 1983, 1984). Satisfaction is negatively related to the importance assigned to salary increases.

Procedure

During 1984, a stratified random sample of 290 elementary school teachers from the metropolitan centers of Kingston and St. Andrew completed the Jamaican Teacher Satisfaction Survey (JTSS). The JTSS collected personal, demographic, and plofessional information about the respondents, school-related data, and respondents' ratings of their job satisfaction. Multiple regression was employed to test the significance of the relationships between personal, professional, and school factors and teachers' job satisfaction.

Sample

A stratified random sampling procedure was used to select 28 elementary schools in the metropolitan centers of Kingston and St. Andrew, Jamaica. Stratification was on the basis of control (public/private), amount of fees

School Demographics School-Related Factors Personal and Pi'ofessional Characteristics

- school type - organi7ational structure of school - sex, age, marital status, number of JOB (public/private) - decision-making structure - dependents, teaching experience, - SATISFACTION

- size - recognition of teacher performance qualifications, position on staff - principal's leadership style - working conditions - knowledge of aims and objectives - prestige of school - job tenure - board representation - interpersonal relationships (peers, parents)

Fig. 1. Model of the factors associated with teacher satisfaction.

w

I

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charged, enrollment, and overall socioeconomic status of the student population of the school. The final sample consisted of 13 private and 15 public schools. However, questionnaires for one school were lost in the mail, leaving a total of 12 private and 15 public schools in the final study. A total of 360 teachers in the 27 schools received questionnaires; 290 useable responses were returned, yielding a response rate of 81 per cent Selected sample characteristics are presented in Table 1.

Instrumentation

The JTSS is a 156 item survey which collects respondents' ratings of their job satisfaction and information on personal, professional and school characteristics along 23 dimensions. Items were developed from a review of the literature on teacher satisfaction.

The JTSS was piloted with 55 teachers from six schools in the Kingston area (3 public, 3 private) to assess clarity, ambiguity and internal con- sistency of the scales. Following revisions, scales were repiloted using 39 teachers in six schools. A Cronbach alpha was again computed for each scale (where appropriate). The full questionnaire is available in Rodgers- Jenkinson (1987).

Table 1. Selected characteristics of respondent sample.

Characteristic Frequency Percent

School type private 100 34.5 public 190 65.5

Gender male 35 12.1 female 255 87.9

Age under 25 32 11.0 25-34 160 55.2 35-44 56 19.3 45 and over 40 13.8 no response 2 0.7

Time teaching same grade lyear 90 31.0 1-3 years 91 31.4 4-6 years 57 19.7 7-9 years 23 7.9 over 10 years 25 8.6 no response 4 1.4

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Demographic variables included type and size of school. Personal and professional variables included teachers' gender, age, marital status, number of dependents, amount of teaching experience, qnalifications, position on the school staff, length of time te^rbing the same grade, job tenure, union membership. and whether or not they were represented on their schools Board of Management.

Ten variable sets were constructed to measure school characteristics: - school organization (alpha - 0.82); - decision-making structure of the school (alpha -* 0.81); - principal's leadership style (alpha - 0.91); - school's recognition of teacher performance (alpha - 0.85); - working conditions (alpha - 0.89); - knowledge of educational goals (alpha - 0.80); - teachers' perception of the social acceptance of their school (alpha -

0.80); - teacher-teacher relationships (alpha - 0.82); - teacher-parent relationships (alpha - 0.84); - parental encouragement (alpha - 0.90). The dependent measure, job satisfaction, was operationalized through a 20 item scale with an alpha reliability of 0.895. Items that composed the job satisfaction scale and selected other scales are reported in Table 2.

Analysis

Returned questionnaires were coded and the data subjected to computer analysis. Three stepwise multiple regression analyses were computed to investigate the amount of variance in job satisfaction explained by the independent variables. The first analysis included data from all respon- dents. Following that, separate analyses were computed for teachers from private and from public elementary schools.

Results

The five variable sets that entered the stepwise mlltiple regression for all teachers combined yielded an overall F of 40.26 (p < 0.0001) and explained 58 per cent of the variation in teacher satisfaction (Table 3). As indicated in Table 3, school prestige was the best predictor of job satisfac- tion, accounting for 38 per cent of the variance in the dependent variable. Another 20 per cent of the variance in job satisfaction was explained by working conditions, interpersonal relationships with other teachers, rela-

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Table 2 Items and their scales of measurement.

Scale of measurement

DEMOGRAPHIC FACTORS School type School size

PERSONAL FACTORS Gender Age Marital status Number of dependents Teaching experience Length of time at same grade Qualifications

Present position Job tenure

SCHOOL-RELATED FACTORS Board representation Membership in union

(private/public) (6 size categories)

(male/femnale) (actual age entered) (single/married) (actual number entered) (1 - 0-2 years; 4 10 yrs or more) (actual years) (1 - pre-trained, non-graduate; 5

postgraduate) (1 - class teacher, 4 - department head) (yes/no)

(yes/no) (yes/no)

Number of items Alpha reliability

Organi7ational structure Leadership style Job satisfaction Peer relationships Teacher/parent relationships Decision-making structure Recognition of teacher performance Working conditions Knowledge of school's aims and objectives Prestige of school Paiwital encouragement

7 23 20 7 8

14 9

13 6 6 7

0.82 0.93 0.90 0.82 0.84 0.81 0.85 0.89 0.80 0.80 0.93

tionships with parents, and organi7ational structure. Teachers who worked in higher prestige schools characterized by good working conditions, who

enjoyed good relationships with other teachers and parents, and who felt a

part of the school structure, tended to report higher levels of job satisfac- tion.

Four variable sets entered the regression analysis of public elementary school teachers to yield an overall F of 85.51 (p < 0.0001). School

prestige, working conditions, the quality of interpersonal rJationships with other teachers, and the extent of parental encouragement were all positively related to job stisfaction. The analysis of data from private

Item I

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Table 3. Summary of stepwise regression results in analysis of teacher job satisfaction.

Mult R2 Incremental Step variable R R2 Change F Beta

All Teachers Combined (N - 290)

1. School prestige 0.618 0.383 0.383 178.37 0.62 2. Work conditions 0.703 0.494 0.110 63.56 0.38 3. Peer relations 0.736 0.541 0.047 28.96 0.25 4. Teacher-parent relationship 0.754 0.569 0.027 17.97 0.22 5. Orgsnizational structure 0.763 0.583 0.015 9.94 0.15 Public Elementary School Teachers' Job Satisfaction, (N - 190)

1. School prestige 0.712 0.506 0.506 192.73 0.71 2. Work conditions 0.765 0.586 0.080 35.95 0.35 3. Peer relations 0.790 0.624 0.038 18.86 0.23 4. Parental encouragement 0.806 0.649 0.025 13.18 0.21 Private Elementary School Teachers' Job Satisfaction (N - 100)

1. Leadership style 0.571 0.326 0.326 47.32 0.57 2. Peer relations 0.633 0.402 0.073 12.63 0.29 3. Organi7ational structure 0.666 0.444 0.042 7.22 0.26 4. Working conditions 0.670 0.484 0.040 7.38 0.22 5. Teacher-parent relationship 0.716 0.513 0.029 5.67 0.21

elementary school teachers had an overall F of 19.82 (p < 0.0001). Five variable sets entered the analysis - leadership style, relationships with other teachers, organizational structure, working conditions, and teacher- parent relationship. To assist in the interpretation of these results, Table 4 presents the item composition of the scales that entered any of the three regression equations.

Discussion

In many countries teaching has been regarded traditionally as employment of higher status than the salary level would indicate. Typically, teachers' status in their community operates as a non-monetary incentive helping to offset the otherwise low wages. In many countries that equation is being threatened by a drop in the perceived status of teaching, thereby changing the incentive value of the job, and by salaries falling too low to be meaningfully offest by such intangibles as status.

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Table 4. Item composition of scales entering regressions analyses to predict teachers' job satisfaction.

School Prestige 1. I do not feel my school is held in high regard. 2. The prestige of preparatory school teachers in the rommlwity is higher

than that of primary teachers. 3. I am proud to tell others where I teach. 4. I feel the job I do contributes to the good of the society.. 5. My school is well regarded by the con-.nunity. 6. My school is involved in commnlnity affairs.

Organizational Structure 1. I am involved in forming the goals of my school. 2. I participate fully in changing school policies. 3. The members of the Board visit the school, particularly for special

functions. 4. I am encouraged to make suggestions for improvements. 5. I have plenty of freedom on the job to use my own judgemont. 6. I really feel part of this organi7atinn. 7. The Principal follows policies of the Board/Ministry of Education without

consultation with staff.

Principal's Leadership Style 1. I get full support from the Principal in disciplinary mattcs. 2. The Principal is easily sccessible to staff. 3. The Principal encourages uifo mal chats with the staff. 4. The Principal gets everyone to work in a team. 5. The work atmosphere here is encouraging. 6. Students take their work seriously. 7. If I have a complaint to make, I feel free to talk to the Principal. 8. The sense of discipline in this school is good. 9. Management is doing its best to give us good working tonritions.

10. Teachers have ready access to the school's files and records. 11. The Principal readily pants time off for staff to attend workshops and

seminars. 12. The Principal encourages staff to improve their education. 13. The school has an on-going staff development progilA.,,ne. 14. The Principal runs the staff meetings in an authoritarian manner. 15. Some members of staff appear to be closer to the principal than other

members. 16. Sometimes I feel that I count for very little in this organisation. 17. When problems arise, the Principal consults only a small group of staff 18. Students are often absent or late without reasonable excuses. 19. Management keeps us in the dark about things we ought to know. 20. You have to follow "proper chalnnls" in this school to have your

complaints heard. 21. The Principal tends to show up teachers in front of parents. 22. The Principal tends to show up teachers in front of other teachers. 23. The Principal sometimes asks us to do things without a thorough discus-

sion as to why and how these things ought to be done.

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Table 4 (Continued)

Working Conditions 1. Some of the working conditions here are very annoying. 2. The noise level in my school is unbearable. 3. The staff room is adequate and comfortable. 4. I often spend my breaks in the staff room. 5. There is adequate storage space provided for books and materials. 6. This school is secure from thieves. 7. I can leave materials in the classroom without fear of having it vandali7ed. 8. Repairs and maintenance are done regularly in my school. 9. Toilet facilities for staff are adequate.

10. Toilet facilities for pupils are adequate. 11. There is a comfortable place for staff to have lunch. 12. The school is well ventilated. 13. Lighting in this school is good for working.

Relations With Other Teachers 1. The people I work with are very friendly. 2. You can count on the cooperation of other members of staff when

planning field trips or festival activities. 3. Teachers willingly supervise my class when I am absent. 4. Most of the teachers here accept the faults of their colleagues. 5. I feel isolated from my colleagues in carrying out my teaching activities. 6. Teachers in this school have a good working relationship. 7. You can count on the support of colleagues in the face of a problem.

Teacher Parent Relationships 1. Parents blame teachers when children do not do well. 2. Parents show that they are indifferent to conditions under which teachers

have to work. 3. I have a good rapport with the parents of the children I teach. 4. The Parents Teachers Association of the school occasionally puts on a

dinner for the staff. 5. The parents appreciate what teachers do for their children. 6. The Parents Teachers Association of this school expresses its regard for

its teachers at its meetings. 7. The Parents Teachers Association sometimes holds functions to give

teachers recognition for the work they have done. 8. Parents often come into the school to help the teachers with certain school

activities (for example, the lunch program, sports activities). Parental Encouragement

1. The parents here show a keen interest in the education of their children. 2. I can count on the parents of the children I teach to insist that homework

is done. 3. Parents check regularly on the progress of their children. 4. When acadmic reports on the children are bad, most parents in this

school would ask for reasons why. 5. Pai eits in this school are concerned if they cannot provide books and

instructional materials for their children.

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Table 4 (Continued)

6. Most parents here see to it that their children are punctual for school. 7. Parents in this school insist that their children attend regularly.

Job Sqtisfaction (Dependent Variable) 1. I am satisfied with my job as a teacher. 2. My piesent job measures up well to the sort of job I wanted when I

applied for the position. 3. I find real enjoyment in my work. 4. What I do at work is more important to me than the money I earn. 5. I am satisfied with the way employee benefits are handled here. 6. I would recommend this school to other teachers as a good place to work. 7. Opportunities in my school are better than in other types of schools. 8. The staff gets together socially at least once per term. 9. If I were offered a similar teaching position in another urban school, I

would take it immediately. 10. I am often bored with my job. 11. Most of the times I have to force myself to go to work. 12. I do not feel that I can choose my own tasks in relation to my teaching. 13. I feel so isolated from my colleagues. 14. Myjob could be more ebhalenging. 15. Nobody appreciates what I do. 16. I am happy working with the parents of this school. 17. I am generally satisfied with the salary I earn. 18. Compared to teachers in other areas of the system (public/private), I think

I am reasonably well paid. 19. I feel motivated to attend the activities which occur at my school

In Jamaica, this threat is occurring at a time when teachers have more

job alternatives. As the modem sector of the Jamaican economy expands, teachers have more employment possibilities available to them. The

'opportunity cost' of remaining a teacher increases, which could result in a teacher shortage. What is more likely is that it results in a quality decline in the teaching force. This occurs as those potential teachers with the

strongest skills are the ones who have the most attractive alternatives, leaving those with weaker skills to serve as teachers. This pressure can be offset by higher teacher salaries (unlikely, given the stringent economic condition of the country), by recruiting and training new teachers (at considerable cost to the system), or by seeking to adjust non-monetary incentives to make remaining in teaching a desirable alternative for cur- rent teachers. Given the economic and fiscal condition of Jamaica, the most feasible solution, if it can be effected, is to retain the techers already in the system. Job satisfaction lepresents one type of non-monetary incentive.

Such a stiategy requires that the factors associated with high levels of

job satisfaction be well understood and that systematic efforts be made to

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ensure that those factors are present. The commlon problems with this approach are, first, that the correlates of job satisfaction frequently are not understood and, second, even if they are, that the short-term cost of interventions to raise satisfaction are difficult to cover, even when it can be shown that these costs are less than the long-term costs of low teacher morale and/or attrition. This study represents one step in the equation as it helps identify school factors related to teachers' job satisfaction.

Results of this study indicated that the job satisfaction of Jnmaican elementary school teachers was related most strongly to their perception of the prestige of their school within the community and, secondly, to the specific working conditions of their school. However, significant amounts of variance in job satisfaction were also related to teachers' relationship and rapport with other teachers, the recognition and approval they received from the parents of their students, and the extent to which they felt they participated in the operation of their school. More satisfied teachers were those who felt their school was held in high regard within the community, that they received support and appreciation from parents, and that they had the respect and cooperation of other teachers in the school.

In these things, Jamaican elementary school teachers differed somewhat from elementary school teachers in the United States. Research in both countries highlights the importance of pzofessional status and interper- sonal relationships in teachers' job satisfaction. However, research in the USA has indicated that more satisfied elementary teachers assign more importance to recognition by administrators and supervisors, less to recognition by peers (Chapman 1983). More satisfied Jamaican teachers, at least in the public schools, appeared to assign greater importance to the reactions of the larger community than to those of school administiatots, although peer support was also important

Important differences in the correlates of satisfaction, however, were observed between teachers in public and private schools. Teachers' rela- tions with other teachers and the working conditions that typified their school - both of which are in-school factors - were significantly and positively related to job satisfaction for both groups. However, school prestige and parental encouragement scales entered only the public school analysis; leadership style, olganiational structure, and teacher-pameut relationships entered only the private school analysis (Table 5).

The quality of school working conditions and respondents' relation- ships with other teawchrs were significantly related to satisfaction for both public and private school teachers. These dimensions describe the quality of the physical and intcypersonal enviolounent of their workplace. It is not surprising that improvements to the immediate environment in which

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Table 5. Public and private school correlates of satisfaction.

Public school teacher Private school teachers Both

School prestige T .adership style Work conditions Parental encouragement Organi7ational structure Peer relations

Teacher-parent relationships

teachers spend the bulk of their day and perform their piofessional role are among the factors most strongly related to satisfaction. In some respects it is also a positive finding, since changes to the immediate school enviolment are among those most easily addressed through adrminritra- tive interventions designed to raise job satisfarction.

Parental interest in the activities of the school was related to satisfac- tion for both public and private teachers - but in different ways. The distinction between the parental encouragement and teacher-parent rela- tionship scales is subtle but important. Items on the teacher-parent relationship scale tap teachers' perception of parents' appreciation for the teacher's work while the parental encouragement scale conveys parents' involvement and interest in the progress of their rhildren's education. Results suggest that private school teachers assigned more value to parents' appreciation while public school teachers assigned more to parental involvement. This finding might reflect existing differences between the two types of school. It may be a case of people valuing what they do not have - and possibly undervaluing those things they already possess. Parents who send their children to private school already may be considerably more involved in their child's progress, allowing the teacher's interest to shift to parents' appreciation. Teachers in public school settings may be content to secure parental support for the activities of schooling.

Only in private schools were organizational structure and principals' leadership style significant predictors of teachers' job satisfaction, pre- sumably be"alse teachers in private schools have more opportunity to participate in these types of decision. A greater proportion of the manage- ment decisions in public schools are centralized at levels above the school These findings were comparable to findings of research in the USA, in that satisfaction was significantly related to teachers' opportunity to exercise leadership within the school and participate in decisions that affect school life.

The reasons for the differences between the correlates of teachers' job satisfaction between public and private schools are speculative. The important finding is that strategy for raising satisfaction may need to be

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different for the two systems - to reflect differences in the correlates of satisfaction.

Correlation does not necessarily imply rausality. That a school factor is related to teachers' job satisfartion does not mean that altering that school factor will necessarily result in higher levels of satisfaction. Nonetheless, such correlations identify good places to begin. Aggressive public relations to help communicate the activities and accomplishments of the school to the cornmninity may help raise ritizens' perception of school prestige and it may help to improve teacher-parent conmmunication and rapport. Admin- istatols' effoits to impiove physical working conditions within the school and to establish a positive tone of collaboration and colleagueship appear to be particularly appropriate if iinploved teacher satisfaction is the goal. Within private schools, the principal's management practices and leader- ship style appear to be important in enhancing teachers' job satisfaction.

This study has identified a nlmber of factors related to teachers' job satisfaction which, for the most part, can be affected by administrative interventions. The problem is that nearly all the interventions require some amount of money. For example, the poor physical conditions of many Jamaican schools have been underscored in studies by Campbell (1979), Andrews (1980), and Chambers (1984). Results of this study suggest that one of the most direct ways to increase job satisfaction in both public and private schools would be to improve the physical condi- tions in which teachers work. But schools have little money and certainty of short-term cost appears not to be clearly offset by the probability of long-term gain.

The issue is one of ffiriency. It may be less expensive to fund interven- tions to raise the job satisfaction of current teachers than to lose them and have to recruit and train new teachers. It may be less expensive to raise the job satisfaction and enthusiasm of current teachers than to suffer the consequences of disillusioned, unhappy teachers in the classroom. Short on finmdr, school asministrators often gamble that the probability of teachers leaving (and the cost of replacing them) does not outweigh the cost of effecting the change that would raise satisfaction. Some of the gamble comes from administrators not being sure what interventions would have the greatest likelihood of impact. The correlates of teachers' job satisfaction identified by this study may provide a basis for more effective interventions.

References

Andrews, T. 1980. Sources and Symptoms of Stress Among a Sample of Jamaican

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Secondary School Teachers, Unpublished Masters thesis. Mona, Jamaica: Faculty of Education, University of the West Indies.

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Chapman, D. W. 1983. Career satisfaction of teachers, Educational Research Quarterly 7(3): 41-50.

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