Work attitudes among secondary school teachers in Japan and Michigan.

Abstract

The main purpose of this research was to examine the professional and personal lives of public school teachers in Michigan and Japan for factors relating to the following quality of worklife variables: job satisfaction, work centrality, and perceived work-induced stress. The sample consisted of teachers working in rural, suburban and urban schools in the state of Michigan (N = 888) and Japan (N = 1303). The method used for collecting data was a self-administered mail questionnaire. The questionnaire was assumed to reveal teachers' perceptions of the quality of their worklives and was designed to elicit similar information from respondents in each country. Likewise, it was hoped that items in the questionnaire which assessed aspects of teachers' professional and personal lives, such as working conditions, might be linked to the resulting quality of worklife. The data from the surveys were examined through descriptive and inferential statistical analyses, performed on the Michigan Terminal System at the University of Michigan using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences. The measurement of work attitudes included: four items that probe different aspects of teachers satisfaction with their jobs (Job Satisfaction scale), four items that inquired about different aspects of teacher's preference for engaging in teaching (Work Centrality scale), and a direct measure of stress based on a single general item (Work-related stress). The phenomena of work attitudes are not made-up of isolated particular aspects of the work-life, but relate to a number of things occurring at the schools and in the teachers' lives. Personal and professional attributes of the teachers were examined together with organizational characteristics and work conditions at their schools. Clearly, teaching is perceived by Japanese and American teachers alike as an important and significant life area. The profession is quite satisfying for these teachers, amid the prevailing job stress. Results also indicate the prevalence of gender and country differences. However, the direction and pattern of these are not simple or comparable among the groups or countries. In addition, several predictor variables emerged for each of the work attitudes--job satisfaction, work centrality and job stress. (Abstract shortened by UMI.).