Abstract:

This study seeks to advance knowledge about the factors which affect job satisfaction of teachers in Greek public secondary schools. Several researchers have studied teachers’ job satisfaction, but often the findings are controversial. Research is often inconclusive, e especially when it comes to the relationship between demographic factors and job characteristics (such as employment status and teaching subjects) with secondary school teachers’ job satisfaction. Also, some organisational elements which may affect secondary education teachers’s job satisfaction have been neglected in the literature. The economic crisis in Greece has had a significant impact on working conditions and although teacher’s job satisfaction has been investigated in the past, there is limited recent research focusing on factors impacting job satisfaction of Greek teachers in secondary education. Consequently, our study aims to explore factors impacting secondary education teachers’ job satisfaction, focusing on the teachers’ demographic profile, job characteristics and organisational factors. To do this we collect primary quantitative data through an online survey questionnaire distributed to Greek secondary school teachers. Our findings do not suggest that variations in job satisfaction cannot be attributed to demographic characteristics. We find that teachers are more satisfied with the nature of the job, the working conditions and the relationship with the school director and less satisfied by payment and opportunities for promotion. Our findings have important implications for secondary public education in Greece as these can be used to influence the factors that impact job satisfaction and boost secondary teachers’ performance.

Keywords:

Job satisfaction, teachers, secondary education, demographics, job characteristics, organisational factors, Greece.