A Comparative Study of Male and Female Early Childhood Teachers' Job Satisfaction in Turkey

Abstract

The aim of the present study is to provide a comparative analysis of job satisfaction among male and female teachers in early childhood education. A total of 163 teachers participated in the study, which utilized Tahta's (An analysis of job satisfaction of preschool teachers, Hacettepe University, Ankara, 1995) Job Satisfaction Survey and a Personal Information Form as data-collection tools. Gender and other variables were compared to mean scores extracted from seven sub-scales of the survey using two-way ANOVA. The job-satisfaction levels of the female teachers in the sample with regard to wages, physical conditions, co-working status and organizational climate were found to be higher than those of their male colleagues. Moreover, among female teachers aged 21-25, job satisfaction was also higher when it came to development and promotion opportunities, as compared to male teachers of all ages. However, the other variables measured with gender-co-working status, class size and teaching experience-had no statistically significant effect on any of the sub-scales of the survey.