Job Satisfaction of School Teachers in Kazakhstan: A Comparative Analysis of Survey Results by Demographic Factors

Abstract

Even though teaching is one of the most in-demand professions today, numerous teachers are leaving their profession. One of the main reasons is the low level of teachers’ job satisfaction (Ingersoll, 2001) which is a significant factor for resilience, also for better performance and fulfilment. However, there are few research works about teacher job satisfaction in Kazakhstan. Therefore this study addresses the issue through a comparative analysis of the teacher job satisfaction survey results according to their gender, age, teaching experience, teaching location, and type of school where they teach. TJSQ (Lester, 1987) was used to collect data about the job satisfaction of teachers in Kazakhstan. The questionnaire consists of 66 questions that describe 9 scales or factors of teacher job satisfaction. Participants were from all cities and regions of Kazakhstan. 385 respondents took part in the survey by snowball sampling method. Results showed that the overall job satisfaction level was the same for all sample groups. However, significant differences between the groups were determined by factors such as Working conditions, Advancement, Security, and Responsibility.