WORK ENVIRONMENT AND TEACHERS’ JOB SATISFACTION IN PUBLIC PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN NAROK CENTRAL DIVISION, KENYA

Abstract

Teachers play a pivotal role in society whereby their effectiveness is often influenced by various factors within their working environment. Narok County has experienced considerable issues with teacher job satisfaction, leading to untimely resignations, laxity at work, high turnover rates, and voluntary transfers. The study therefore sought to investigate how work environment affects teacher job satisfaction. In particular, the study determined establish the extent to which adequacy of physical infrastructure at school affect teachers’ job satisfaction, determined the degree to which adequacy of instructional materials affect teachers’ job satisfaction, analyzed the extent to which teaching workload affects teachers’ job satisfaction, and investigated the magnitude to which teachers’ perception of learner discipline affects teachers’ job satisfaction in public primary schools in Narok Central Division. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design. The study population was 659 teachers in 73 public primary schools in Narok Central Division. Proportionate stratified simple random sampling was used to select 199 teachers in 29 schools. Head teachers of the sampled schools participated in the study as key informants. Data were collected using a questionnaire for the teachers and an interview guide for the head teachers. To achieve validity, the study conducted a comprehensive literature review to align research instruments with established theories, pilot-tested the instruments to identify and revise ambiguous items, and used established scales validated in previous research. The reliability of the questionnaires was assessed using Cronbach Alpha coefficient resulting in a reliability coefficient of 0.809 for the entire scale, indicating acceptable reliability. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics that included frequencies, percentage, mean and standard deviation aided by statistical package of social sciences (SPSS). Pearson correlation coefficient was used to test hypotheses at p >0.05. Data were presented in the form of tables and graphs. The study found that the adequacy of physical infrastructure (M=2.5, SD=1.15) had a weak correlation though not statistically significant in determining teachers’ job satisfaction (p=.074, r=.127 n=199). Adequacy of instructional materials (M=2.812, SD=1.37) had a weak though statistically significant correlation with teachers’ job satisfaction (p=.014, r=174, n=199). Similarly, teaching workload (M=2.96 SD=1.26) had a weak positive but statistically significant correlation with teacher job satisfaction (p=.010, r=.183, n= 199). The teachers' perception of learner discipline (M=4.07 SD=1.26) showed a moderate and statistically significant positive correlation with teachers’ job satisfaction (p=.000, r=.330 n=199). The study recommends that the Ministry of Education should avail sufficient instructional resources. The teachers’ Service Commission should address under staffing in schools to enhance reasonable workload for the teachers. Head teachers should at all times manage learner discipline in order to maintain job satisfaction among the teachers. Additionally, maintaining learner discipline is crucial for fostering a positive classroom atmosphere.