Job Satisfaction and Career Happiness of Physical Education Teachers in Vocational Colleges in Sichuan Province, China

Abstract

This dissertation explores the job satisfaction and career happiness of physical education teachers in vocational colleges within Sichuan Province, China. It investigates various factors contributing to job satisfaction, including work environment, wage compensation, benefits, fairness, and promotion criteria, as well as the challenges teachers face regarding workload and career progression. The research provided insights into how physical education teachers’ job satisfaction and career happiness can be enhanced, with a focus on how improving teacher management programs could foster better working conditions. This, in turn, could lead to increased teacher retention and improved educational outcomes for students. Based on the research findings, the institution offers a low financial benefits and are not able to pay the teachers a salary that meets the responsibilities they have. Generally, the teachers feel that their current job position does not align with their skill set, the promotion system in the school is not transparent, and does not reflect the proper performances and merit of the employees. Differences in demographic profiles has proved to not affect the extent of satisfaction of the physical education teachers as all teachers feel the same way towards their department’s work environment, fairness and promotion, workload, autonomy and decision-making, and job satisfaction. However, when it comes to wage, compensation and benefits, the teachers who earn more tend to be more satisfied with the wages and compensation more than the teachers who earn lesser than them. Moreover, the evaluation of the career happiness of the physical education teachers is at a high level, which suggests that the teachers are generally happy with their level of personal growth opportunities, work relationships, and attitude towards work. Hence, it could be inferred that respondents profile did not play crucial role in assessing satisfaction and career happiness but it could facilitate in social interactions that could be enriched by a supportive climate for collective sharing and foster a culture of attaining satisfaction and career fulfilment.