Understanding Teacher Satisfaction: The Effect of Teachers' and Principals' Mismatched Perceptions of School Climate

• In Event: Poster Session 11
  In Poster Session: Division A Graduate Student Poster Session

Abstract

Studies of teacher satisfaction suggest that administrative support positively affects satisfaction. This paper expands on the importance of effective leadership in schools, and examines how social cohesion through shared perceptions of school climate affects teacher satisfaction beyond administrative support through the use of mismatched perceptions between principals and teachers. Using the 1999-2000 Schools and Staffing Survey data, I find that positive teacher perceptions of the school increase teacher satisfaction regardless of the principal’s opinion, but when teachers have negative perceptions, the principal’s positive perceptions negatively affect teacher satisfaction. These findings suggest that the leadership’s perceptions more strongly affect vulnerable teachers who think they teach in a problematic school.

Author

• Joy Kim, University of Notre Dame