North Carolina Agricultural Teachers' Job Satisfaction.

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Expansion of schools spawned by population growth and changes in agricultural education curriculum have helped to increase the number of agricultural education programs and the need for agricultural education teachers in North Carolina. Lack of compensation, salary increases, and public criticism of teachers have created a unique situation that warrants the investigation of the current levels of job satisfaction of North Carolina agricultural teachers. Job satisfaction levels have been used as a predictor of an individual's decision to leave or end employment. The purpose of this study was to determine the overall levels of job satisfaction of teachers, to compare intrinsic and extrinsic job satisfaction levels, and to investigate relationship or differences between factors related to job satisfaction.
This study used a descriptive research design. The instrument was developed by combining the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire-MSQ short form with demographic variables to help determine the relationship between these variables and the level of job satisfaction of the respondents.
The agriculture teachers in this study reported a very high level of overall job satisfaction. The teachers also reported a very high level of intrinsic job satisfaction and a high level of extrinsic job satisfaction. Though the extrinsic level of job satisfaction is high, there is room for improvement by providing praise for fellow teachers, recognizing accomplishments through award and recognition programs, and providing coping mechanisms as a part of professional development programs to address areas of lower satisfaction.
There were no reported significant relationships between salary, age, experience in years of teaching, highest educational level completed, or the number of placement changes. The listed variables do not explain the job satisfaction levels of the agriculture teachers.
Gender, racial/ethnic group, marital status, and entry route into teaching did not have an impact on the job satisfaction levels of the agriculture teachers. School setting may have some impact on the job satisfaction levels of the teachers.