Abstract
This study aimed at exploring the contributors to the job satisfaction of township high school teachers in Vosloorus. Many South African studies have investigated the stress levels and dissatisfaction of teachers, particularly those teaching in township and rural schools. However, research looking into township teachers who are happy and satisfied at work is scarce and there is, therefore, a demand for research in this area. Township schools are known to be historically disadvantaged schools due to the inequality that was perpetuated by the apartheid government (Msila, 2014). Many of the challenges that township schools faced pre-1994 still linger on in democratic South Africa. However, even with the prevalence of challenges, there are schools in the township that yield good academic results (Matla & Xaba, 2020). The township school researched in this study has managed to obtain good results over the years despite the various challenges it is faced with. The South African education system has a problem of high school teachers who are unhappy and dissatisfied (Field & Buitendach, 2012). Teachers have been resigning in droves due to dissatisfaction (Mampane, 2012). It is said that teachers who are satisfied perform better at work (Iwu et al., 2013). Hence, this study sought to understand the contributors to the job satisfaction of this group of teachers with the purpose of potentially helping other teachers in similar working spaces to cope better and deal with the problem of teacher dissatisfaction. This study made use of purposeful sampling, which entails identifying individuals that are satisfied. The school principal identified four teachers who noted that they are happy and satisfied at work to be the participants of this study. This research, set within an interpretivist paradigm, utilised a qualitative research approach. A generic qualitative research design was used to explore the contributors to the job satisfaction of the participants. The data for this study was collected by means of vi semi-structured individual interviews and document analysis of school documents. The data were analysed using qualitative content analysis to identify themes in the data. The themes that emerged from the data analysis of this study show that there are contributors to the job satisfaction of these township high school teachers as well as certain challenges that they experience at work. From this research, it was found that the contributors to the job satisfaction of the research participants are achievement at work; the responsibility of helping learners; happiness with the work itself and appreciation and recognition from the learners. The challenges include workload and interpersonal relations with colleagues. Recommendations are provided in order to assist key role players in promoting job satisfaction among township high school teachers.
M.Ed. (Educational Psychology)