Beginning Teachers: The Connection Between Expectations and Job Satisfaction

• In Event: Lives of Teachers: Beginning, Navigating, and Looking Back

Abstract

This qualitative, multiple case study aimed to better understand beginning teachers’ expectations of the profession, and the role that expectations play in job satisfaction. The need for the study is rooted in the reality that schools are faced with high rates of beginning teacher turnover that impacts school budgets and student achievement. Oliver’s Expectation Confirmation Theory (1977/1980) was used as a framework. The study included five teachers in New England with one to three years of teaching experience and explored their expectations of teaching, how their expectations matched up to the reality of teaching, and the impact that expectations played in their job satisfaction.

Author

• Laura DeRosa, Southern New Hampshire University