EXPLORING TEACHING SATISFACTION OF PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOL TEACHERS: EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE FROM TURKEY

The current paper primarily investigates teaching satisfaction of teachers working in public high schools of Ankara. The latter aim of this study is to determine whether teachers’ satisfaction levels vary in relation to some demographic variables such as gender, education, type of high school, tenure, marital status, and membership to an educational union. The study group consists of 337 (182 female and 155 male) high school teachers from eight public high schools located in Ankara. The data collection tool was ‘Teaching Satisfaction Scale-TSS’ developed by Ho and Au (2006). The data was analyzed by utilizing t test, ANOVA, and LSD test of post hoc tests. The construct validity of the scale was tested by confirmatory factor analysis on AMOS 23.0 program. For the reliability of the scale, Cronbach alpha coefficient was calculated, and the result verified that the TSS is a reliable assessment tool for evaluating teaching satisfaction. Further, the implications of teaching satisfaction in educational organizations is discussed based on the findings of the study.


Theoretical Background
defines job satisfaction as 'a pleasurable or positive emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one's job or job experiences (p.1304)' in his Range of Affect Theory.Whereas Vroom (1982) focused on employees' job roles, and defined job satisfaction as 'employees' affective orientation toward their present job roles (cited in Worrell, 2004, p. 11)'.Employee satisfaction has been intended to be investigated through various theories and models such as Herzberg's (1959) Motivation-Hygiene Theory, Adams's (1965) Equity Theory, Locke's (1976) Affect Theory, Hackman and Oldham's (1976) Job Characteristics Model, Staw, Bell and Clausen's (1986) Dispositional Approach, and Higgins's (1999) Discrepancy Theory.
Acta Didactica Napocensia, ISSN 2065-1430 It is clear that employee satisfaction has both individual and organizational reflections.Accordingly, in the current study, it was primarily aimed to investigate the overall teaching satisfaction level of the high school teachers, and secondly to figure out whether participants' satisfaction level differ in relation to their gender, educational background, type of high school, tenure, marital status, and membership to an educational union.

Method
In the current study, the quantitative research approach was adopted, and quantitative research methods was utilized throughout the study.

Participants
The study was conducted in eight public high schools.The study group consists of 337 high school teachers (182 female and 155 male).Concerning the marital status, it was investigated that 263 (78 %) of the participants are married, and the rest 74 (22 %)

Data Collection Tool
To measure the overall teaching satisfaction of the participants, "Teaching Satisfaction Scale-TSS", developed by Ho and Au (2006) was used.The scale consists of five items.The options of the items range from "(1) totally disagree" and to "(7) totally agree".Participants get minimum 5 points and maximum 35 points as a total score.Low scores point to lower levels of teaching satisfaction, and high scores indicate higher levels of satisfaction of the participants.The sample items are "In most ways, being a teacher is close to my ideal", and "So far I have gotten the important things I want to be a teacher".
The original Cronbach alpha value of the TSS was reported to be .79.Within the current study, the Cronbach alpha internal consistency coefficient was found to be .86.Büyüköztürk (2011) states that Cronbach alpha values above .70 is enough to be considered reliable.The single dimensional construct of the scale was tested via confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) on AMOS (Arbuckle, 2006) in 23.0 version.The fit indices obtained from the CFA are presented below; [ 2 =30,65; df = 5;  2 /df = 6,13; sRMR = .038;RMSEA = .124;AGFI = .89;GFI = .96;NFI = .97;CFI = .98;IFI = .98].The fit indices were found to be lower than the acceptable values.The modification suggestions were taken into consideration, and a modification was made between item number 1 and item number 2. After that, a CFA was conducted again.The fit indices of the second CFA are as follows; [ 2 = 10,55; df = 4;  2 /df = 2,63; RMSEA= .07;sRMR= .020;GFI=.99;NFI=.97;CFI=.99;IFI=.99;AGFI=.95].The ratio of the chi-square to the degree of freedom is expected to be lower than 5.00 (Kline, 2005).In accordance with these references, it can be stated that the one dimensional construct of the TSS was tested, and verified by confirmatory factor analysis.Therefore, the TSS is adequately reliable and valid data collection tool for measuring teachers' teaching satisfaction.

Procedure
The forms were distributed and collected during the spring semester of 2015 academic year with the permission of the school principals.Participation was held voluntarily.

Data analysis
The data gathered within the research was initially examined in terms of distribution, homogeneity, missing data, and homoscedasticity.After that, for the demographic variables with two sub-categories, t test was conducted.The variables with three or more sub-categories, ANOVA and LSD tests were performed.All the calculations were made via IBM SPSS 18.0 version.The construct validity of the scale used within the study was tested by confirmatory factor analysis conducted by IBM AMOS 23.0.For the reliability of the scale, Cronbach alpha internal consistency coefficient was calculated.

Results
Within the scope of the current study, the overall teaching satisfaction of the high school teachers was investigated.The mean and standard deviation scores of the participants in relation to their teaching satisfaction were presented in Table 1 below.As seen in Table 2, participant teachers' teaching satisfaction level does not differ in relation to their gender (t(335) = 1,806, p > .05).This finding indicates that both male and female teachers have similar levels of teaching satisfaction.
A t-test was performed to investigate whether marital status of participants has any significant influence on their teaching satisfaction level.The t test results are shown in Table 3 below.As can be seen in Table 3, high school teachers' satisfaction does not vary significantly concerning their marital status (t(335) = ,778, p > .05).It can be concluded that both single and married teachers have the similar levels of teaching satisfaction.
A t test was conducted to explore whether educational background of participants has any significant influence on their teaching satisfaction level.The t test results are presented in Table 4 below.As can be followed in Table 4, participants' teaching satisfaction level does not differ statistically significantly in relation to their educational background (t(335) = 1,471, p > .05).However, the arithmetic average of teaching satisfaction among bachelor's degree owner teachers is higher than those who have master's or doctoral degrees.
A t test was conducted to determine whether membership to an educational union has any significant influence on participant high school teachers' satisfaction level.The t test results are shown in Table 5 below.As presented in Table 5, high school teachers' satisfaction level does not differ statistically significantly in relation to being a member of an educational union (t(335) = -,928, p > .05).Thus, nonmember teachers were found to have higher mean concerning their teaching satisfaction than teachers who are members of educational unions.
A t test was conducted to determine whether the type of high school has any significant influence on participant high school teachers' satisfaction level.The t test results are shown in Table 6 below.As shown in Table 6, teachers' satisfaction level does not differ statistically significantly in relation to the type of high school they work (t(335) = -,701, p > .05).However, teachers work in Anatolian high schools have higher levels of teaching satisfaction than those work in vocational and technical high schools.
A one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and LSD test of post hoc tests were conducted to investigate whether teachers' satisfaction level varies in relation their tenure.The results of the analysis are presented in Table 7 below.As presented in Table 7, participant high school teachers' teaching satisfaction level does not differ statistically significantly in relation to their years of experience in the profession (F(2-334) = 2,192, p > .05).

Discussion and Conclusion
The overall teaching satisfaction level of the participants was found to be moderate (M = 4,913).A good deal of studies conducted among primary, secondary and high school teachers have stated parallel findings in line with the current finding (Ağırdaş, 2014;Akkurt, 2008 Tan, 2012;Türkoğlu, 2008).On the other hand, male teachers have been reported to be more satisfied in educational settings than their female colleagues in a number of studies (Çankaya, 2010;Eker, 2006;Şekerli, 2013;Tunacan, 2005).Yet, a few have noted that female teachers are more satisfied than males (Ceyhun, 2009;Tomrukçu, 2010).
In the current study, the educational background of the high school teachers did not have any influence on their teaching satisfaction levels.Although some researches support this finding (Çek, 2011 The findings of the current study have figured out that the type of high school in which the participants work do not lead to any significant difference in teaching satisfaction level of them.Öğretmen (2013) has also found that the type of high school of the participants do not cause any statistically significant difference on their satisfaction.However, Dilsiz (2006) stated that teachers working in vocational and technical high schools have lower levels of teaching satisfaction than those working in Anatolian or Science high schools.
Overall, taking into account the former studies on teaching satisfaction of teachers, we can conclude that high school teachers generally have moderate levels of teaching satisfaction in Turkey.Thereby, it can be suggested to conduct large scale studies to understand teacher motives in teaching profession, and then attempt to increase the drivers of job satisfaction both in their professional and private lives.

Table 1 .
Mean and standard deviation in relation to participants' teaching satisfactionAs can be seen in Table1, the mean score for overall teaching satisfaction of the participant high school teachers was found to be 4,913.It is obvious that the participants have a moderate level of satisfaction.The highest mean belongs to the first item of the scale which is 'In most ways, being a teacher is close to my ideal (M = 5,51)', while the lowest mean belongs to the last item of the scale which is 'If I could choose my career over, I would change almost nothing (M = 4,22)'.A t test was conducted to explore whether gender of participants has any significant influence on their teaching satisfaction level.The t test results are shown in Table2below.

Table 5 .
t test results in relation to participants' membership to a union * p >.05

Table 6 .
t test results in relation to participants' type of high school * p >.05