Teacher Job Satisfaction Takes Huge Drop, According to Survey
The fact that there’s been a record decline in the percentage of
teachers who say they are satisfied with their jobs is worrisome
— but perhaps not surprising.
The new MetLife
Survey of the American Teacher – the result of telephone
interviews with over a thousand teachers across the country
– found just 44 percent of them were satisfied with their
jobs, compared with 59 percent in 2009. That 15-percentage slide
represents a record drop and takes teacher satisfaction to its
lowest level in 20 years.
At the same time, the percentage of teachers who said they were
likely to leave their jobs in the next five years jumped to 29
percent from 17 percent just two years ago.
The survey offers a profile of the American public school
teacher, as well as how parents and students feel about educators
and schools.
The findings are also a reminder not to make
assumptions about who are the unhappiest educators. It’s not
necessarily the burned-out veteran, or those working with the
most challenging student populations. In reality, when comparing
teachers with higher and lower job satisfaction, the survey
shows no real difference in their years of experience, the grades
they taught or the proportions of their students from low-income
households.
However, there were real differences in the day-to-day
experiences of the less satisified and the more satisified
teachers. The unhappier teachers were more likely to have had
increase in average class sizes, and to have experienced layoffs
in their district. They also had more students coming to class
hungry, and had more families needing help with basic social
services. There was also a marked gap among the teachers when it
came to how much they believed they were viewed as professionals
by their peers. Among the unsatisfied teachers that rate was 68
percent, compared with nearly 90 percent of the satisfied
teachers.
The survey also found a connection between the satisfied teachers
and their relationships with their students’ families. Happier
teachers work at schools where they say there’s a better plan in
place for engaging parents in their children’s learning.
This year’s results represent a significant setback on teacher
satisfaction, which had been on a stable positive trend, said
Dana Markow, vice president of youth and education research at
Harris Interactive, which conducted the survey. Markow, who has
been working on the survey since 1999, said she was most
surprised by just how steep the drop actually was. She had
expected a dip, but nothing as severe at what was reported.
To be sure, the survey’s results make it clear that public
education has been significantly affected by the recession. More
than a third of the surveyed teachers reported cuts to fine arts,
language and/or physical education programs. For 60 percent of
the teachers, the average class sizes had increased at their
campus.
There’s another indicator of the effect of the economic downtown
on teachers, said Markow. In 2006, just 8 percent of teachers
said they didn’t feel their jobs were secure. On this year’s
survey, that percentage had jumped more than four-fold to 34
percent.
Need more evidence of a public school system in crisis? Consider
this: The majority of the surveyed teachers said they had more
students and families that needed social support services,
including health care. Supporting that contention are the survey
results for the other two groups. Close to three-quarters of
parents and two-thirds of students say they are worried about
having enough money to meet basic needs.
“I don’t think people will necessarily be surprised that the
survey results confirm there have been deep cuts within education
budgets,” Markow said. “But when you see how many teachers and
schools have been affected, when you hear it in the context at
the local level – whether they’re having layoffs or discussions
with their unions about changes to their salaries and benefits –
you start to build a national picture.“
However, there’s more to the teacher satisfaction formula than
just the state of the economy.
In 2006, the MetLife survey dug deeper into the question and
looked for predictors of teacher job satisfaction. The teachers
who were happiest with their jobs also reported they were
assigned to classes they felt qualified to teach, had enough
time to prepare for their classes, and felt like there were
opportunities to be involved in team building and problem
solving.
The survey also included parents and students (over a thousand
individual telephone interviews were conducted nationally for
each group) and found some interesting trends. Parents who said
there was a high level of engagement at their school were more
likely to be optimistic that student achievement will improve
over the next five years – 73 percent compared with 43 percent.
There was also some good news when it came to family involvement.
Of the students surveyed, 64 percent said they talked to parents
about school on a daily basis, compared with 40 percent in
1988.
Given the tidal wave of reform enveloping public education, it
will be interesting to see what happens to the teacher job
satisfaction numbers in the coming years. There’s a national
conversation underway about teacher tenure, and nearly half the
states and the District of Columbia are already overhauling their
teacher evaluation processes so that they are tied more directly
to student testing data. Those changes aren’t likely to boost the
percentage of teachers who say they feel secure about their
jobs.
“We’re in the midst of a real culture shift in the teaching
profession as we move to emphasize teacher effectiveness,” said
Sandi Jacobs, vice president of the National Council on Teacher Quality,
a advocacy organization. “Change is hard, and it can really
make teachers uncomfortable.”
She suggested future MetLife educator surveys include questions
about current reform measures, such as district and state-level
changes to evaluation models and policies. To not go there next,
Jacobs said, “would really seem like a missed opportunity.”
Have a question, comment or concern for the Educated Reporter? Contact Emily Richmond. Follow her on Twitter @EWAEmily.
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