Research Article
Lornah C. Nakera Sirima, Moses
Abstract
Job satisfaction is essential to continuing growth of education system around the world. Teachers are a crucial element of educational opportunity structures. In Kenya, the recent efforts by the government to introduce Free Primary Education and Subsidized Secondary Education programmes which led to an influx in enrolments, has raised concerns about student-teacher ratio in schools. The purpose of this study was to investigate the factors influencing public secondary school teachers’ job satisfaction in Busia district, Kenya. The objectives of the study were; to establish perceived factors that influenced teachers to join the teaching profession and establish the strategies used by school management to motivate teachers. The study was based on the Herzberg’s theory. The study adopted a descriptive survey design. Purposive sampling was used to select head teachers while simple random sampling was used to pick teachers from the sampled schools. A sample of 129 respondents was selected from a target population of 335 teachers and education officers. A pilot study was carried out to establish the reliability and validity of data collection instruments. A likert scale questionnaire and in depth interview guide were used to collect data from respondents. Data analysis was facilitated by use of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 16.0. The findings of the study were that teachers may be more satisfied in schools with good working environment if their terms and conditions are improved. The study recommended that; in-service courses for teachers to get equipped with current knowledge; and that the Government of Kenya should allocate more funds to the Ministry of Education for it to be able to employ more teachers to cater for the deficit and improve the methods of promotion in the teaching service so that many teachers grow faster.