Job satisfaction of experienced and novice music teachers in high-poverty urban public schools
Open Access
- Author:
- Docker, Robert Kenneth
- Graduate Program:
- Music Education
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- August 08, 2011
- Committee Members:
- Linda Carol Porter Thornton, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor
Linda Carol Porter Thornton, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
Robert Dale Gardner, Committee Member
Kim Diane Cook, Committee Member
Marylee Carmel Taylor, Committee Member - Keywords:
- urban
music education
attrition
high-poverty
job satisfaction
social justice
race - Abstract:
- This study involved music teachers in six large urban districts in the United States. Job satisfaction was studied as it relates to teacher attrition from high poverty urban schools. Data on teacher characteristics, school characteristics and teacher attitudes and opinions were collected to determine common factors among experienced teachers in high-poverty urban schools. Regression analysis was used to determine predictive factors for music teacher job satisfaction, as well as the teacher's attrition or retention decisions in a high-poverty urban school setting. The confidential questionnaire included teacher demographic items and Likert-style items to gauge teacher attitudes and opinions. School demographic data were collected from NCES databanks. The majority of music teachers were white and from middle-class backgrounds. Novices were more likely to teach on a stage or in a multi-purpose room rather than a designated music room. Experienced teachers generally scored higher on measures of attitudes and opinions of their jobs than did their Novice counterparts. Eighty-four percent of the teachers planned to stay in their present position for the following year, although 51.7% indicated that they would stay in their current positions during the next five years. Results of linear regression found that high scores from teachers on job satisfaction were predicted by high scores on opinion and perceptions of student quality, by a greater commitment to the teaching profession, and by a greater commitment to the philosophy of Social Justice. Binary logistic regression found that a teacher’s immediate plans to leave a position were best predicted by their opinions and perceptions of the music teaching profession, and calculation of a Phi coefficient found a relationship between future plans and the teacher’s race. Many reasons were given by teachers for leaving their positions, including poor salary, student discipline issues, lack of job security, inadequate time with students, overcrowded classes, poor facilities and security, too much time spent on testing, and lack of administrative support. Teachers’ intention to remain in their positions for the next five years were best predicted by job satisfaction, perception of labor issues, and the teacher’s race.