Developing a Sustainable Work Environment for Substitute Teachers: A Multi-Criteria Job Satisfaction Approach

Abstract

Retention of provisional substitute teachers (PSTs) in the teaching profession is an important and timely topic that relates to the sustainability of the schools’ work environment and teaching profession. The present study re-examines these issues using teacher job satisfaction (TJS) as a surrogate variable. More precisely, MUlti-criteria Satisfaction Analysis (MUSA) -a method that combines Multi-Criteria Decision and Importance-Performance Analysis- is applied to a data set of primary school substitute teachers from Greece to assess the contribution of schools’ performance on 5 important aspects of the school environment i.e., opportunities for self-fulfillment, work intensity/load, salary/income, leadership and collegial relations, to overall PSTs JS. The findings indicate that self-fulfillment and collegial relationships contribute the most to PST overall JS, whilst salary/income the least. The results further suggest that self-fulfillment is not only the facet of the work environment that PSTs value the most but also the strong point of the schools’ work environment. The study provides a new strategic perspective on TJS research, as well as evidence-based strategies for improving the quality of work life and attrition rate levels of substitute teachers. Moreover, the theoretical and practical implications of this study are presented and avenues for future research are highlighted.