The development of scales to measure teacher and school executive occupational satisfaction
| Date | 01 February 2003 |
| Published date | 01 February 2003 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/09578230310457448 |
| Pages | 74-86 |
| Author | Catherine Scott,Stephen Dinham |
| Subject Matter | Education |
The development of scales to
measure teacher and school
executive occupational
satisfaction
Catherine Scott and Stephen Dinham
School of Education, University of New England, Armidale Australia
Keywords Education, Development, Schools, Teachers
Abstract Interest in teacher “stress” and its relationship to teacher well-being has a long and
distinguished history. However, there has been criticism of this research endeavour for its
conceptual narrowness and lack of psychometric rigour. An international project investigating
teacher and school executive career satisfaction, motivation and mental health is initiated. This
project sought to develop a model of teachers’ occupational well-being that was wider than a focus
on “stress”, and, as noted, included occupational motivation and satisfaction. This paper reports
on a sub-aspect of that research, the development of scales to measure teacher and school executive
satisfaction with the work of teaching and its context carried out in Australia, England, New
Zealand and the USA. Separate teams recruited participants in each of the four countries, giving a
final sample of 3,000 teachers and school executive. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses
of the Australian data resulted in a ten factor model, which was validated on the English and New
Zealand data. Analyses of the US data resulted in a 16 factor model. As well as revealing relative
satisfaction with various facets of the teaching role, these scales also prove useful in explaining how
teachers and school executive view the construction of their respective educational and social
contexts.
Background to the study: the International Teacher 2000 Project
The last few decades have seen almost unprecedented interest in and pressure
on education systems in many countries. There have been high hopes for
education in the post World War II period, and various stakeholders and
interest groups, not the least of which are governments, have sought to
influence educational outcomes both academic and social. While the
achievements of education have in many cases been highly successful, there
have also been criticisms, both genuine and unfounded. However, there has
been criticism of this research endeavour for, among other problems, its
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This paper draws on the work of four project teams: New Zealand, Massey University: Richard
Harker, Colin Gibbs, Kama Weir, Heather Ryan, David Adams (Okato College, Taranaki).
England, Nottingham Trent University: Catherine Scott, Sue Cox; Australia, University of
Western Sydney, Nepean: Steve Dinham, Catherine Scott; USA, Rowan University, NJ: Ron
Capasso. In addition, the work was supported by grants from the NSW Department of Education
and Training, The NSW Teachers’ Federation, Massey University, Nottingham Trent University
and Rowan University.
JEA
41,1
74
Received November 2001
Revised September 2002
Accepted October 2002
Journal of Educational
Administration
Vol. 41 No. 1, 2003
pp. 74-86
qMCB UP Limited
0957-8234
DOI 10.1108/09578230310457448
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