Assessing factors affecting teachers’ job satisfaction and performance in a high school in a community setting

Abstract

Teachers’ job satisfaction and performance remain central to the success of any educational system. In community-based high schools, often characterised by limited resources, diverse student needs, and strong socio-cultural influences, the factors that shape teacher motivation and productivity can be significantly different from those in urban or well-resourced schools. Understanding these factors is essential for improving teaching quality, fostering retention, and enhancing student outcomes. This is a cross-sectional survey study that examined potential factors that affect job satisfaction and performance among teachers in a community setting in Iba New Site, Ojo Local Government, Lagos State, Nigeria. Structured questionnaire was used to obtain information from 60 teachers working in a selected high school in the community. The study assessed both monetary and non-monetary factors affecting participants in a high school environment. In respect to monetary factor, it was observed that majority of the participants were not satisfied or happy with their monthly salary, thereby negatively impacting on their commitment, job satisfaction and performance. Regarding non-monetary factors, certain factors such as job flexibility, teamwork, support from managers/management, training and development, promotion, job recognition and reward were examined. The findings from this study showed that job flexibility enhanced job satisfaction and performance of participants with over 43% of the participant reporting satisfaction (“good”) at the high school. Over 43% of the participants received very good support from their colleagues (teamwork), which enhanced their job satisfaction and performance. Sixty percent (60%) of the participants reported very good in terms of the level of support received from their managers/management. This is interesting as good leadership has been reported to significantly contribute to improving job satisfaction and performance among teachers in general. The study shows that majority of the participants reported “good” in terms of support provided by the management for continuing professional development (CPD) and training, and participants agreed that such training provided motivation for work, consequently enhancing job satisfaction and performance. It was observed in the study that 40% of the participants were satisfied with promotional exercise at the school and that the promotion exercise motivated them to perform their job better. Lastly, 40% of the participants reported that they were properly recognized and rewarded for job well done. Overall, this study showed that both monetary and non-monetary factors negatively and positively impacted on job satisfaction and performance of the participants in the selected high school. It is suggested that the management of the school should investigate these factors and come up with ways to address specific factors that would promote job satisfaction and performance as these could go a long way in enhancing quality of education at the school.