Teacher Job Satisfaction in High-Performing Systems: A Multi-Level Study of Teacher, Classroom, and School Factors Using TALIS 2013 Surveys

Abstract

Teacher job satisfaction plays a key role in influencing a quality teaching workforce and student success. This article presented an analytical framework comprising teacher, classroom and school factors, and tested it by applying a three-level modeling technique with data drawn from 11 high-performing systems that participated in Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) 2013. The quantitative results show that: (1) at the teacher level, higher self-efficacy is associated with higher job satisfaction; more effective professional development and collaboration are associated with higher job satisfaction; mid-career teachers tend to be the least satisfied group compared with young and old teachers. (2) at the classroom level, teaching larger classes is associated with lower satisfaction, while teaching classes with higher percentage of low achievers or low socioeconomic students is associated with lower satisfaction; (3) at the school level, student-teacher relationship is significantly positively associated with job satisfaction. The article concludes with implications for policy makers and educators across countries.