Factors that influence job satisfaction among teaching staff in large public secondary schools in nairobi county

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to investigate the factors influencing job satisfaction among teaching staff in large public secondary schools in Nairobi County. The study adopted a cross sectional descriptive survey design. This study targeted all the teachers in the twelve large public secondary schools in Nairobi County. The target population was 481 teachers; however 96 teachers provided responses to the study questions. To understand and identify factors influencing teachers’ job satisfaction, factor analysis of the questionnaire responses was conducted. The questions focusing on job satisfaction were in four sets, namely: reward, school culture, leadership and training. In all, there were 42 questions dealing with the respondent's job satisfaction. Of the 42 questions, 10 focused on rewards, 14 on school culture, 10 on leadership and 8 on training. The study established that teacher reward was not satisfactory as teachers were not rewarded competitively which affected their motivation, in addition the school leadership provided conducive environment for the teachers, which was a source of motivation for the teachers. However, there was a negative relationship between training and job satisfaction as the teachers rarely received any on job training. From the above, the study revealed that four broad aspects of teachers’ satisfaction with job are; reward, school culture, leadership and training. The study therefore recommends that, the government need to institute a fair reward system for teachers’ which will see them being paid well and at market rate besides other incentives. The school management to ensure new and inexperienced teachers do not feel isolated in their job and should organize for mentoring of new teachers’. In addition, the school management ought to provide favourable working conditions for the teachers and have a staff development programme to help them improve in their teaching profession. The teachers should be allocated appropriate duties that they are able to handle.