Influence of Teachers Perception of Leadership on Their Job Satisfaction - Research Proposal Example

Research Interest: Research Topic: Influence of teachers’ perception of leadership on their job satisfaction A teacher’s job is perhaps one of the most demanding. Teachers are constantly asked to give more physically, mentally, socially, intellectually and now more than ever emotionally. In this technologically advanced world, students and teachers are learning simultaneously from each other. The teacher needs a network system to assist in the abundance of claims to their being. One of the major systems to confront this energy is the quality of leadership within which the teacher must operate on a daily basis. Teachers’ perception of their leadership plays a vital role in their job satisfaction. Yet, there appears to be very few studies in this specific area. As a teacher for the past five years, I find the limited number of research pertaining to the teacher’s satisfaction and school leadership appalling. Given these settings, the chosen topic holds great appeal for my inquiry. Key Questions: The purpose of this study will be to examine the relationship between teachers’ perceptions of school leadership and their job satisfaction. In particular, the study will investigate the following research questions: 1. Is the job satisfaction of a teacher determined by the leadership style of the principal? 2. Would a change in leadership style bring about a change in job satisfaction? 3. Does the job satisfaction of a teacher in turn affect the overall climate/culture of the school? 4. What are some of the major factors, which affect the job satisfaction of teachers? 5. Does the leadership style of the principal influence the job satisfaction of teachers? 6. Are teachers’ perceptions biased or unbiased based on their relationship with the leader? 7. Is there a relationship between output and the teacher’s perception of leadership? Personal Interest: As a teacher for the past five years, the author of this paper has observed several injustices meted out to fellow teachers. Not only has prejudice been showed against the author personally but also to others in the same school. Thus, the keen interest in this topic has stemmed from both the observation and the experience of injustice by school leadership. Insight into the various experiences of other teachers within this country and the rest of the world would only allow me to be empowered by the knowledge perhaps that it is not just my community in which this prejudice occurs but there are others. Moreover, understanding the theory that pertains to leadership style should help me to personally adjust to my observation of my immediate supervisor. Expectations: Two questionnaires will be used a Teachers’ Questionnaire and a Satisfaction Survey to get answers on teachers’ perceptions and satisfaction level within the organization. The author expects to find out teachers’ perception of their leadership style as well as various job satisfaction issues. Further, the author expects an analysis of these issues to indicate whether teachers’ perceptions on management are real or are a figment of their imagination. In addition, a range of leadership styles are expected to be encountered, the author expects to find that teachers respond differently to the diverse styles. Finally, this researcher expects to find a number of volunteers to complete the required questionnaires. Rationale: This study will benefit the teachers in our education system by revealing some of the perceptions and possibly frustration of teachers concerning the leadership style of their principals. The recommendations given to principals should assist in the general togetherness of a school. The findings should help other researchers in this area to both replicate the study specific to their neck of the world and to improve on the limitations as delineated by the authors. In addition, this study should help to expose teachers to the manner in which their perception of leadership may hamper their job performance and hence affect the overall climate or culture of the organization. Literature Review: Many researchers adhere to the fact that teaching is a demanding profession as such teacher attrition and the retention of highly qualified teachers are two of the major challenges facing the education system today. (Jorissen, 2002, Richards, 2003, Woods & Weasmer, 2004) Consequently, the author of this paper believes that the responsibility for procuring valid solutions for this predicament should jointly rest on the shoulders of all stakeholders of the education system. The first line of defense should be to understand and subsequently work on factors that satisfy teachers-those who have been in the profession for a long period of time as well as those who are now about to embark on this particular journey in life. What then are the factors which satisfy teachers? Researchers have discovered many issues which influence teachers’ job satisfaction in a substantial way. However, they all agree that measuring job satisfaction is challenging because teachers are not in harmony with what satisfies them throughout their career. In spite of its difficulty to measure investigators note that the degree of teacher satisfaction directly affects the school’s stability, the quality of instructions and hence the overall climate of the school. (Bogler 2000, Richards, 2003, Woods & Weasmer, 2004) Researchers examined the various qualities in a principal that are desired by teachers. (Haser & Nasse, 2003, Nir&Kranot 2006, Jorissen, 2002, Richards, 2003) Richards compared the needs in terms of principal’s behavior of three groups of teachers - those with 1-5years experience, those with 6 - 10 years and those with 11 years or more of teaching experience. Richards utilized a phenomenological study and discovered that the beginning teachers cited “emotional support and safety” as their main need. Teachers with 6-10 years valued “respect as professionals” as the key element in their job satisfaction whilst those with more than 10 years regarded “respect for their knowledge and experience” as their chief need. (p.12) However, support for the teacher was the main factor in influencing teacher’s satisfaction for the entire range of teachers. Richards, like Woods and Weasmer, concluded that teachers at all stages in their career agreed that support in relation to parental confrontations, as well as in student discipline were of primary importance for teacher retention and teacher job satisfaction. Other investigators have identified what teachers expect from their administration and their perception of their behavior. Factors affecting teachers’ satisfaction included the attitude of the principals toward them, the satisfaction of informal peer group relationship, freedom in planning work and the opportunity to participate in planning policies which affected them. Consistency of the principal was found to be essential to the success of the principal. (Haser & Nasse, 2003, Nir&Kranot 2006, Jorissen, 2002) Consistent with these ideas Nir 2006 proposed that improvement in teacher satisfaction would add to the general positive job experiences of a teacher. This encouraging condition would enhance the teacher’s personal efficacy and thereby improve a broad-spectrum of the school’s activities. He argues that transformational leaders are more likely to shape a positive outcome for teachers and therefore promote the teacher’s self efficacy. In addition, Bogler, 2000 concluded that low satisfaction teachers were mostly male, taught in large schools in the city, perceived principal as transactional (contingent reward and management by exception) and did not view teaching job as a profession. On the other hand, high satisfaction were mostly Jewish female, also in large schools but perceived job as a profession and principal as a transformational (charisma/inspiration, personal consideration, and intellectual stimulation) leader. Bogler posited two constituents of job satisfaction, namely, job fulfillment and job comfort. Job fulfillment referred to “one’s assessment to how well the job is performed” and job comfort refers to the “degree to which one is satisfied with the conditions and the state of affairs of his or her work.” (p.4)Factors affecting teachers’ satisfaction include workplace conditions: administrative support and leadership, student behavior and school atmosphere, and teacher autonomy. Teachers reported greater satisfaction when there working conditions were more favorable. In addition, female teachers were more satisfied than male teachers and teachers with less experience and private school teachers were more satisfied. An interesting phenomenon was examined by Hasser and Nasser. They investigated the factors which were responsible for the success of a year-round elementary school and found that flexible work hours, creative administrators, systematic breaks from teaching and part-time teaching opportunities were highly influential in teacher satisfaction and retention      One unifying thread throughout the literature is the need for principals to be highly skilled in the areas of human relations and administration. (Haser & Nasse, 2003, Nir&Kranot 2006, Jorissen, 2002, Richards, 2003) References Bogler, Ronit. (2000) .Two profiles of Schoolteachers: A discriminant Analysis of Job Satisfaction. Proceedings from the Annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association. New Orleans, LA. Haser, Shelly & Nasse, Ilham.(2003). Teacher Job Satisfaction in a Year-Round School. Educational Leadership 60(8), 65-67. Jorissen, Kathleen T. (2002). Things a Principal can do to Retain Teachers. Principal Leadership (High School Ed.) 3(1) 48-54 Nir, Adam E.&Kranot Nati. ( 2006). School Principal’s Leadership Style and Teachers’ Self-efficacy.Planning and Changing 37(3&4) 205-218 Richards, Jan. (2003). Principal Behaviors that Encourage Teachers: Perceptions of Teachers at Three Career Stages. Proceedings from the Annual Meeting of the AmericanEducational Research Association, AERA. Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Woods, Amelia, M. & Weasmer, Jerie .(2004). Maintaining Job Satisfaction: Engaging Professionals as Active Participants. The Clearing House. 77(3), 118-121. Read More