Teachers feel stressed and underpaid compared to other professionals, a new study reveals. Biddy Passmore reports
Teachers feel more stressed and underpaid than other workers but their job satisfaction and job security are greater, a new study shows.
The study, from the National Foundation for Educational Research, found that primary teachers especially felt well supported at work and had positive working relationships with colleagues. But teachers were more likely than other employees to report feeling stressed and to be dissatisfied with their salaries and other benefits. And they were neutral about job commitment.
The study was based on a survey of 285 teachers in 53 secondary schools and 389 teachers in 129 primary schools. Their replies were standardised against a “norm group” of employees in occupations ranging from manual work to management.
Senior staff in both primary and secondary schools were more satisfied than others with their jobs and salaries and deputy heads felt well supported, the study found. But primary heads felt a lack of support. Primary teachers with additional responsibilities more frequently reported stress than did senior staff or teachers without such responsibilities.
This may explain why primary teachers were less likely than their secondary colleagues to want more responsibility and involvement.
While the study found that teachers felt more job satisfaction than other workers, this did not translate into job commitment. Asked to react to the statements “I often think about leaving my job” and “I will probably look for a new job in the next year”, the overall response of both primary and secondary teachers was neutral.
Although teachers generally felt support for their work was satisfactory, there were some areas where they wanted to see improvement.
Most of them agreed with statements such as “The feedback I receive from my managersupervisor is constructive” and “My managersupervisor is open to different ways of working.”
But they also agreed that “I would like to receive more credit for the work I do well.” And the respondents were divided over statements such as “When I am under pressure, this is usually recognised and dealt with by my supervisormanager.”
“Contented and Committed? A survey of quality of working life amongst teachers” by Linda Sturman is available free from the National Foundation for Educational Research, fax: 01753 747269 or email m.mckenzie@nfer.ac.uk or can be downloaded from the website at www.nfer.ac.uk
