A Qualitative Research Study on the Professional Job Satisfaction of Secondary School Teachers in Various Fields

Abstract

The present study aims to reveal the views of secondary school teachers in various fields about their job satisfaction and highlight the factors affecting their job satisfaction. The study was conducted in some public secondary schools in the central districts of Diyarbakir province in the fall semester of the 2022-2023 academic year. There were 25 teachers in the participant group, of whom 7 were female and 18 were male. The data in this study, in which a phenomenological design was used, were collected using the semi-structured interview technique. The data analysis, which employed two different methods, namely descriptive and content analysis, was completed with a computer-aided qualitative analysis program. As far as the results obtained in the study are concerned, it can be said that the teachers predominantly had negative views about their job satisfaction. The outstanding factors for teachers’ job satisfaction were intrinsic motivation, physical conditions of the school, communication with the school administration, socio-economic level, and respect for the profession. In this sense, it is believed that strong communication established between the school administration and teachers, the improvement of the physical conditions in schools, and fair wage policies will contribute positively to the job satisfaction of teachers.