Institutional factors influencing teachers’ job satisfaction in public secondary schools in Siaya district, Kenya

Abstract

The main purpose of the study was to investigate the institutional factors influencing teachers’ job satisfaction in public secondary schools in Siaya District, Kenya. The objectives of the study included determining the influence of incentives, workload, teaching and learning resources and supervision on teachers, on their job satisfaction in public secondary schools in Siaya District, Kenya. The study provided empirical literature review evidence on job satisfaction among secondary school teachers with respect to working conditions, workload, incentives, availability of teaching and learning resources and their supervision at work and attempted to identify work dimension factors that affected the job satisfaction of teachers in secondary schools. The research design was a descriptive survey of public secondary schools teachers in Siaya District. The study employed stratified and simple random sampling techniques to obtain a representative sample. The study used primary data that was collected using a structured questionnaire for teachers in public secondary schools with both open ended and closed ended questions to establish the motivational factors influencing teachers’ job satisfaction in public secondary school teachers. The target population was 82 teachers from public secondary school in Siaya District. An analysis of the quantitative data collected is provided, which was discussed using descriptive statistics and analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) then presented in tables and graphs according to the study objectives. Though incentives impacted on job satisfaction, different kinds of incentives brought different levels of satisfaction. For instance, 74.4% were not satisfied with their jobs despite having received gifts for various reasons in their schools. Furthermore, 54 out of the 82 teachers disliked their jobs for various reasons despite having received gifts for students’ good academic performance. Therefore the most common form of incentive (gifts) did not bring the desired levels of satisfaction among teachers. The study further demonstrated that higher workloads occasioned lower levels of satisfaction among teachers. For instance the study indicated that 18 in 34 teachers were not satisfied with their jobs as a result of teaching over 30 lessons a week. Furthermore 67.1% of the 82 teachers who were involved in other responsibilities other than teaching were not satisfied with their jobs because they expressed willingness to change their current jobs. Just like incentives, different kinds of teaching and learning resources affected teachers’ job satisfaction differently. Availability of library facilities showed the greatest impact on job satisfaction with 6 in every 11 teachers whose schools had good library facilities saying that they were not satisfied with their jobs. This indicates that in every 11 teachers, 5 were satisfied with their jobs as a result of good library facilities.