Rosebella Achieng’ Waga and Enose M.W. Simatwa
Job satisfaction and dissatisfaction influence work performance among professionals. This is because the production of any formal organization, educational institutions inclusive depends mainly on how well the employees perform their tasks, which in turn is dependent upon the level of job satisfaction and dissatisfaction among the workers. In the educational sector, teachers are important as they facilitate the learning process by imparting relevant knowledge, skills and attitudes to the learners. For this important role that they play, factors that influence their level of job satisfaction and dissatisfaction in their teaching career should be established. Even though there has been a lot of improvement on the teachers’ welfare, there are still many problems facing this cadre of professionals especially at the primary level, where their status, qualifications, professional identity and conditions of service seems to have been neglected. Indicators of job dissatisfaction like cases of absenteeism, low productivity, high staff turnover and low team morale seem to characterize teachers in Kisumu East and West Sub counties. The study found out that the factors that influenced job satisfaction of teachers in public primary schools were job security, cordial working relations with colleagues, good medical services, security, good transport and recognition by general society. On the other hand, the factors that influenced Job dissatisfaction of teachers in public primary schools were low salary, lack of fringe benefits, inadequate physical facilities, poor schemes of service in terms of promotion, lack of opportunities for professional and academic advancement and work overload. Based on the findings, the study recommended that the Teachers Service Commission and the Ministry of Education should put in place and improve on the factors like salary, working conditions, and methods of promotion that greatly increase teacher loyalty and satisfaction with the job in order to perform well in their work. The findings of this study are important to stakeholders in the education sector, particularly to the educational administrators and policy makers in operationalizing the factors like improved salaries and methods of promotion necessary for teacher job satisfaction in Kisumu East and West Sub counties.
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