Article Critique: Why Do They Stay Elementary Teachers' perceptions of Job Satisfaction and Retention - Essay Example

Number: Critiques Beverly A. Perrachione, Vicky J. Rosser, & George J. Petersen. "Why do they stay? elementary teachers' perceptionsof job satisfaction and retention" From the journal: The Professional Educator 2008, Vol 32 #2. pages 1-17. The Perceptions of Job Satisfaction by Elementary Teachers The article by Perrachione, Rosser and Petersen had a main premise that teachers are mostly influenced to stay in their profession by intrinsic motivators such as personal teaching efficiency and job satisfaction (Perrachione, Rosser, & Petersen, 2008).

Extrinsic factors such as salary and work overloading do not necessarily cause instructors to leave their careers and seek work in another field. The feeling of being satisfied and fulfilled with their work would be a stronger factor for retention or staying as an instructor than either salary or work overload or the combination of both. The results came from a large sample size, but by making similar tests in other states this could make the conclusion much more solid and with much more confidence.

This study has the purpose of identifying variables that influence the job satisfaction of Missouri public school teachers from kindergarten levels up to the fifth grade, as well as to determine how much such variables could influence their intent on remaining in their careers (Perrachione, Rosser, & Petersen, 2008). Also, by being able to summarize or tally such variables, the researchers were expecting to have a better understanding on the idea of how internal motivators could persuade instructors to either remain as teachers or pursue other careers, other than monetary motivation.

It was explained in the conceptual framework that certain factors such as the teachers’ job satisfaction, commitment to stay in the teaching profession, demographics as well as other intrinsic and extrinsic factors were used during the survey interviews conducted. The whole sample group consisted of teachers in that profession for at least five years. Of the 300 randomly-selected teachers in Missouri public schools that were selected to participate, 201 respondents that were able to send their survey sheets were able to generate the three most likely motivators for instructors to remain as teachers and take teaching as a career (Perrachione, Rosser, & Petersen, 2008).

Satisfaction ratings were used to measure the respondents’ intent to be retained or their commitment to their work, using 7 or 5-point scales from strongly agree (7) to strongly disagree (1). The results were analyzed using multiplied linear regression by SPSS in order to find the linear combination of independent variables and the dependent variables, as well as to examine the contribution of each variable. Demography and profiles of the respondents were summarized as follows: 92% of the teachers were females; 98.

5% were Caucasians; 84% were married; 33.3% were within the ages of 46-55; 62.7% had a Master’s degree; and 34.3% taught for around 5-10 years (Perrachione, Rosser, & Petersen, 2008). Open-ended questions were given at the end of the survey questions, and the top three most mentioned reasons for teaching were: 1) working with students; 2) personal teaching efficiency; and 3) job satisfaction. In addition to that, some teachers mentioned having good students, a positive school environment and a small class size also adds up to their positive motivations in teaching.

Roughly 88% of the respondents were “very satisfied” or “somewhat satisfied” with their jobs as teachers, and for those who were either “neutral” or “dissatisfied” in any way, their top reasons for being such were: 1) role overload/ additional work aside from teaching; 2) low salary; and surprisingly, 3) lack of support from the students’ parents (Perrachione, Rosser, & Petersen, 2008). They say that learning becomes somewhat hindered, mostly due to the lack of follow up from the parents, and not being able to motivate their children could seriously prevent the students from doing their best at school.

After tallying the results, the researchers found out that intrinsic factors such as satisfaction of working with students and personal teaching efficiency were the teachers’ positive motivators for staying in the teaching profession, and extrinsic factors such as low salaries and large class size would be their negative motivators, and may also prompt them to leave teaching and find other jobs. There was also no significant relationship between the job of teaching itself and the intent to remain teaching, contrasting previous studies that indicated teachers got satisfaction out of the job of being a teacher, instead of the profession of being one (Perrachione, Rosser, & Petersen, 2008).

The authors recommended that lowering the turnover rates by retaining the effective teachers in schools would be a lot more economical than spending money on re-hiring new ones to replace those that leave, basically since there is a lot more reassurance in the teaching capacity and efficiency of those that are retained as compared to new hires. The researchers also recommended that the state should also invest in the professional development of teachers as well as closing the gap between the teacher job-satisfaction, thereby also closing the student achievement gap in return (Perrachione, Rosser, & Petersen, 2008).

After reading and analyzing the content of the article, while it does have great significance especially with regards to the large turnover rates of teachers due to dissatisfaction, there is a need to repeat the surveys in other states in order to find out if there are other factors that can affect the intent to remain or the intent to leave the profession of teaching. The article was also able to convey what the pulse of most public school teachers would be, and it would be a lot better if private school teachers would also be surveyed and have their own opinions taken into account as well.

However, it is also a good idea by the researchers to include mostly those teachers that were teaching for at least five years, since they would mostly have an idea how the educational system works, and that they could easily pinpoint what would be either positive or negative motivations for teachers. Reference Perrachione, B., Rosser, V., & Petersen, G. (2008). Why do they stay? elementary teachers' perceptions of job satisfaction and retention. The Professional Educator , 32 (2): 1-17.