For special education teachers, the teacher efficacy and the job satisfaction are important variables influential in production of results of education. For that reason, their importance has been increasingly emphasized. In view of gradual increase in...
For special education teachers, the teacher efficacy and the job satisfaction are important variables influential in production of results of education. For that reason, their importance has been increasingly emphasized. In view of gradual increase in employment of temporary teachers in the field of special education for recent years, the purpose of this study is to examine the differences in teacher efficacy and job satisfaction according to job types and supply basic data for future development of teachers and establishment of employment policies.
The subjects of this study are the following. First, is there any difference in teacher efficacy of special class teacher in the elementary school according their job types?
Second, is there any difference in job satisfaction of special class teacher in the elementary school according their job types?
Third, is there any relationship between teacher efficacy and job satisfaction of special class teacher in the elementary school according their job types?
The methods of this study are as follows. According to random sampling of regular and temporary teachers of elementary special schools in Gyeonggi-do, a survey was conducted on total 200 teachers (107 regular and 93 temporary teachers). Using survey tools, basic personal information on them was collected, and their teacher efficacy and job satisfaction were measured (on 5-point Likert scale). In the survey, teacher efficacy consisted of 25 items with personal and general teaching efficacy as subordinate factors. Moreover, job satisfaction consisted of total 24 items, 4 items for each subordinate factor, self-realization, relationship with supervisor, job itself, peer relationship, reward system and work environment. For examination of the differences, data were analyzed according to the subjects through frequency analysis, t-test, ANOVA, correlation analysis (Pearson's product-moment correlation coefficient) by using SPSS program.
The results of this study are summarized as follows. First, the teacher efficacy of regular and part-tim teachers in elementary special schools was higher than average. However, according to their job types, the teacher efficacy showed a significant difference. The regular teachers showed a difference in teacher efficacy according to variables such as teaching career, marital status and final education, whereas the temporary teachers showed a difference according to the number of special education classes, teaching career, marital status and final education. Moreover, in terms of job types, there was no difference in general teaching efficacy but a significant difference in personal teaching efficacy. As the personal teaching efficacy is a situation-specific perception factor in feature, higher number of temporary teachers in the field of education will lead to difficulties in development into teachers with higher teaching efficacy. Second, in view of job types of elementary special school teachers, there was no difference in job satisfaction. Both of them, regular and temporary teachers, showed job satisfaction higher than the average. According to detail factors of job satisfaction, regular teachers showed the highest satisfaction in 'self-realization' but the lowest in 'reward system.' Moreover, temporary teachers showed the highest satisfaction in 'job itself' but the lowest in reward system,' same as the regular teachers. In terms of job satisfaction, regular teachers showed a difference according to job satisfaction, whereas parti-time teachers showed it according to school location and final education. Third, as a result of analysis of correlation between teacher efficacy and job satisfaction according to job types of elementary special education teachers. In other words, higher job satisfaction seems to result in higher teacher efficacy, and teachers with higher teacher efficacy seem to show higher job satisfaction. In view of detail factors, regular teachers with high satisfaction in self-realization, job itself and peer relationship showed higher teacher efficacy, whereas temporary teachers with high satisfaction in peer relationship, reward system and work environment showed higher teacher efficacy.
In consequence of this study, directions for future studies are as follows. First, this study conducted quantitative research using the survey to examine teacher efficacy and job satisfaction of elementary special school teachers according to their job types. However, proper utilization of qualitative research methods such as interview or observation is required, in consideration of teacher efficacy and job satisfaction as complicated ideas modified by various variables. Second, according to the results of this study, there was a significant difference in teacher efficacy between regular and temporary teachers. As teacher efficacy is a variable to have an important influence on results of education, employment of temporary teachers should be avoided, except for filling vacancies of regular teachers and long-term policies for teacher employment are required. Third, this study focused on teachers working in elementary special schools in Gyeonggi-do, so there might be some limitations in view of generalization of the results. Accordingly, further studies are required for active examination on teacher efficacy and job satisfaction of various subjects.