According to a MetLife survey, educators’ levels of satisfaction have dropped appreciably in recent years, but others see the change as a result of poor surveying techniques.
“According to the survey, principal and teacher job satisfaction is declining. The responsibilities school leaders face have become increasing complex, and the biggest challenges leaders face are beyond the capacity of schools alone to address.” The survey can be found here: https://www.metlife.com/metlife-foundation/what-we-do/student-achievement/survey-american-teacher.html?WT.mc_id=vu1101 and a detailed summary of the findings can be found here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/02/21/u-s-teachers-job-satisfaction-craters-report/
In addition, the Alliance for Excellent Education has posted a recorded webinar entitled, “The Metlife Survey of the American Teacher: Challenges for School Leadership”. The webinar “capture[s] the viewpoints and experiences of teachers and principals working to implement the Common Core State Standards, transform curriculum and instructional practice, address the individual needs of diverse learners, and ensure all students are college and career ready in an environment of continued strained resources.” The link for the webinar is here: http://www.all4ed.org/webinars
However, Andrew Rotherham of Bellwether Education sees it quite differently. He argues that the reason for the decline in teacher satisfaction has much more to do with the fact that the survey question was changed this time around:
“Metlife asks about job satisfaction in different ways in different years. In 2008 and 2009 they asked teachers, ‘How satisfied would you say you are with teaching as a career?’ The survey didn’t ask about satisfaction in 2010, but in 2011 and 2012 teachers were asked, ‘How satisfied would you say you are with your job as a teacher in the public schools?’”
“Veteran pollster and polling expert Mark Blumenthal, who is now the polling editor for The Huffington Post, says they are different questions and that ‘presenting the two questions on a single trend line is questionable.’”
“He’s being polite, too. What Metlife did would be akin to asking a soldier on a tough deployment how he likes his job vs. asking him how he likes his career in the armed forces — and claiming that it was the same question.”
Rotherham’s full views on the report can be found here: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2013/02/25/poll_finds_teacher_satisfaction_but_reports_skew_results_117148.html
