MUTUAL SUPPORT AS A CHARACTERISTIC OF THE “SCHOOL AS LEARNING ORGANIZATION” AND ITS EFFECT ON DIMENSIONS OF TEACHERS’ JOB SATISFACTION

Abstract

School as learning organization is a multi-level and multi-dimensional concept, incorporating characteristics of emotional climate such as trust, mutual support and respect, benefits to teachers and contributes to their job satisfaction. Given that the literature examines perceived support in the workplace and its relationship with job satisfaction, the current study focuses on teachers’ mutual support and its effect to their job satisfaction. 304 primary school teachers from Greece completed a self-reported questionnaire consisted of two scales. Mutual support was examined by 11 items from two research tools (School Success Profile Learning Organization Questionnaire; Bowen et al., 2007; Sleegers et al., 2013). Also, two research tools (Bellingham, 2004; 11 items; Liu & Ramsey, 2008; 9 items) were used to examine teachers’ job satisfaction. The factor analysis indicated 3 factors (positive work environment, positive emotion and personal time). The results revealed that teachers expressed positive perceptions about mutual support in their school, as well as in terms of their job satisfaction dimensions. Path analysis revealed that support among teachers has direct and indirect effects on their job satisfaction. Results indicate that schools need to invest in teachers’ mutual support in several ways, as it seems to have positive effects on their work outcomes and their professional learning.

Keywords

• mutual support
• job satisfaction
• school as learning organization
• primary school teachers