Date of Graduation

2002

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between job satisfaction and selected demographics of West Virginia teachers and their intent to stay in the teaching profession. Teacher demographics collected included age, number of dependent children, type of educator, grade level, subjects taught, education level, teaching experience, and household income. Teacher intent to stay in the teaching profession, teacher demographics, and overall job satisfaction were both collected using the Smith Teacher Intent to Stay Inventory. Intrinsic, extrinsic, and overall job satisfactions were assessed using the Smith Job Satisfaction Scale. The Smith Teacher Intent to Stay Inventory and the Smith Job Satisfaction Scale were mailed to a randomly selected sample of West Virginia public school teachers. General and special educators were both included in the sample of n = 243 teachers. Responses were received from 166 (68%) teachers. Data analysis revealed that gender, grade level taught, intrinsic job satisfaction, extrinsic job satisfaction, and overall job satisfaction had significant statistical relationships with intent to stay in the teaching profession. Female teachers were more likely than male teachers to express a strong intent to stay in teaching. Elementary teachers expressed stronger intent to stay in teaching than secondary teachers did. All measures of job satisfaction, intrinsic, extrinsic, and overall job satisfaction, were found to have statistically significant relationships with a teacher's intent to stay in the teaching profession.

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