The Need Structure of Teachers Varying in Experience and Job Satisfaction

Abstract

The influence of personality needs and occupational press as they affect Australian teachers remains largely unexplored. One hundred and twenty‐six Queensland teachers provided data for a study of need structure and job satisfaction by completing the Edwards Personal Preference Schedule and the Gross, Mason and McEachern H‐technique instrument. The data suggest that teaching is likely to be attractive to those who have low achievement needs and high deference needs, though the findings that satisfaction accompanies strong needs for affiliation and nurturance are difficult to reconcile with the view that teachers are discouraged from displaying warmth. That a low dominance need appears to accompany high job satisfaction might be taken as evidence that conformism rather than originality is encouraged in Australian teachers.

Citation

Dunkin, M.J. (1968), "The Need Structure of Teachers Varying in Experience and Job Satisfaction", Journal of Educational Administration, Vol. 6 No. 1, pp. 41-51. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb009619