Determinants of Teachers’ Job Satisfaction in Public Secondary Schools in Nairobi County, Kenya

Abstract

In every organization, the key organizational resources are usually the personnel and a committed workforce. In the educational setting, teachers are the most important pedagogical resources and their satisfaction must be taken seriously. This study investigated the determinants of teachers’ job satisfaction in public secondary schools in Nairobi County, Kenya. The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of supervisor support, teachers’ workload, school environment, teachers’ gender, teachers’ perception of work-life balance and teachers’ work experience have on public secondary school teachers’ job satisfaction in Nairobi County. The study was guided by the equity theory of motivation propounded by Stacy Adams in 1963 that holds that individuals compare their ratio of inputs and outcomes to the input-outcomes of other individuals. This study used descriptive survey design with a target population of 83 public secondary schools and 1759 public secondary school teachers. Through stratified and simple random sampling, 67 schools and 670 teachers: 4 National Schools, 4 Extra-County Schools, 36 County Schools and 23 Sub-County Schools were involved in the study. Data was collected from the principals through an interview schedule and questionnaires for teachers. The data was analysed using quantitative as well as qualitative methods. The principals’ responses were read and put in common themes in line with the research objectives. Using SPSS version 22, factor analysis was done to clean the data. Items with low loadings were removed. Descriptive statistics, using Microsoft Excel, was performed to analyse quantitative data in order to generate percentages, means and standard deviation. Linear regression was performed to establish relationship between variables. Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient was used to determine the linear correlation between the independent variables and the dependent variable. The key findings were that the school environment was the highest predictor of teachers’ job satisfaction followed by supervisor support. Both variables were highly significant at p=0.00. The least predictor of teachers’ job satisfaction was teachers’ gender. Majority of teachers were satisfied with their workload given that most schools had employed many teachers on B.O.M. terms. Most schools have adequate teaching and learning resources. Most teachers feel insecure with their school location. There was no significant difference in teachers’ job satisfaction between male and female teachers. There was no significant difference in teachers’ job satisfaction in relation to working experience. The Teachers Service Commission, should use the staffing levels (including B.O.M. teachers) of the schools in this study as the optimum level. The Ministry of Education Science and Technology should liaise with the Ministry of Interior to secure school environment. Principals should make deliberate effort to sensitize teachers to balance between work and their personal life. The study recommends that further studies should be carried out in the rural areas to establish the determinants of teachers’ levels of job satisfaction. A study should be done to determine how secure teachers feel about their school location in Nairobi.