The Relationships amongst Spending Priorities, Self-Efficacy and Satisfaction of Teachers- TALIS 2018: A Comparative Study on Israel, Spain, England, and Netherlands

• In Event: Education Finance in times of Global Crises: Lessons from Comparative Studies

Proposal

The research literature finds a positive relationship between increasing educational budget (for teacher’s salary), and higher levels of teacher’s satisfaction (e.g., Mertler, 2016). However, the relationships amongst increasing educational budget, teachers' self-efficacy, and satisfaction, the focus of this research, are less examined.
Teacher salary premium is positively related to teacher’s cognitive skills and student performance (Hanushek et al., 2019). Moreover, economic indicators (such as salary) are extremely important in determining individuals’ happiness and life satisfaction outcomes (Diener & Seligman, 2004).
Additionally, teachers devote their time in class with students, not only for teaching and instructional activities, but also for other activities, such as administrative duties and maintaining discipline (teachers administrative load) (Hargreaves & Fullan, 2012). Teachers’ opportunity cost for administrative workloads has an explicit impact on teachers themselves, and this eventually leads to students’ missing high quality learning opportunities too.

The objective of this research is to examine the relationships amongst increasing educational budget (aimed at increased teacher's salary, and reduced teaching load) teacher's self-efficacy, and teachers' satisfaction (form their salary, work environment, and profession). Teacher’s salary may become an important factor in trying to attract high qualified teachers.
In this research we hypothesize that the when teacher's salary is increased by 5 percent, and teacher's administrative load is reduced by 5 percent, their self-efficacy is increased. Similarly, teacher's satisfaction (form their salary, work environment, and profession) is increased.
Hierarchical linear regression is used on data from TALIS, 2018 on the teacher’s level. The sample is comprised of secondary schools' teachers from Israel (N=2627), Spain (N=7407), England (N=2376) and Netherlands (N=1884).

Main result points there is a positive strong and statistically significant relationship between increasing the education budget (aimed at increasing their salary and reducing their administrative load) and teacher's self-efficacy. The higher the budget the higher the teacher's self-efficacy.
Furthermore, teacher’s self- efficacy is positively related with their satisfaction (from their salary, profession, and environment).
However, increased education budget (aimed at increasing teacher's salary and reducing their administrative load) is negatively related to teacher's satisfaction (form their salary, work environment, and profession).
These findings might provide insights to policy makers in the examined countries. Reforms that propose to increase teacher salary and reduce the administrative load that teachers face on their daily work, might improve teacher self-efficacy. This in turn teacher's satisfaction (from their salary and teaching) might increase, which might further effect on the improving of teaching equality.


References

Diener, E., & Seligman, M. (2004). Beyond money: Toward an economy of
well-being. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 5(1), 1–31.
Hanushek, E. A., Piopiunik, M., & Wiederhold, S. (2019). The Value of
Smarter Teachers International Evidence on Teacher Cognitive Skills and Student Performance. Journal of Human Resources, 54(4), 857-899.
Hargreaves, A., & Fullan, M. (2012). Professional capital: transforming teaching
in every school. New York: Teachers College Press.
Mertler, C. A. (2016). Should I stay or should I go? Understanding
teacher motivation, job satisfaction, and perceptions of retention among Arizona teachers. International Research in Higher Education, 1(2), 34–45. doi:10.5430/irhe.v1n2p34

Authors

• Mowafaq Ali Qadach, Ono Academic College

• Rima'a Da'as, School of Education, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

• Iris BenDavid-Hadar, Bar-Ilan University