A Study on Motivation and Job Satisfaction of Higher Secondary School Teachers

The study aimed to investigate the intrinsic factors science teachers perceive important for motivating them to teach and how their perceptions are affected by their gender, marital status, grade level taught, teaching experiences and geographical location of work place. The sample for the study consisted of 351 (109 male and 242 female) science teachers. Five percent of sample teachers were interviewed. A new instrument consisting of 27 items covering three scales (enjoyment, satisfaction and self-actualization) was developed. The factor analysis, discriminate validity, alpha reliability and eta² analysis supported that the 24 item intrinsic motivation instrument was valid and reliable. All the teachers considered the intrinsic variables to be "important" and "very important". They perceived enjoyment as the most important factor affecting their motivation to teach science. During interview the majority of teachers ranked enjoyment as one of the three most important factors influencing motivation to teach. The female teachers regarded enjoyment and satisfaction factors as more important factors affecting motivation to teach science than the male teachers. The teachers teaching only at one level (lower or upper secondary) perceived enjoyment variables as more important than those teachers who teach at both lower and upper secondary levels. The teachers' perceptions of importance the intrinsic variables were not affected by marital status, nationality, grade levels taught and geographical location of their workplace.