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.