Abstract
BackgroundSessional academic staff are an important part of nursing education. Increases in casualisation of the academic workforce continue and satisfaction with the job role is an important bench mark for quality curricula delivery and influences recruitment and retention. This study examined relations between four job constructs - organisation fit, organisation support, staff role and job satisfaction for Sessional Academic Staff at a School of Nursing by creating two path analysis models.MethodsA cross-sectional correlational survey design was utilised. Participants who were currently working as sessional or casual teaching staff members were invited to complete an online anonymous survey. The data represents a convenience sample of Sessional Academic Staff in 2016 at a large school of Nursing and Midwifery in Australia. After psychometric evaluation of each of the job construct measures in this study we utilised Structural Equation Modelling to better understand the relations of the variables.ResultsThe measures used in this study were found to be both valid and reliable for this sample. Job support and job fit are positively linked to job satisfaction. Although the hypothesised model did not meet model fit standards, a new ‘nested’ model made substantive sense.ConclusionThis small study explored a new scale for measuring academic job role, and demonstrated how it promotes the constructs of job fit and job supports. All four job constructs are important in providing job satisfaction – an outcome that in turn supports staffing stability, retention, and motivation.
Highlights
Sessional academic staff are an important part of nursing education
Reliability assessment of the Global Job Satisfaction Scale [27] using Cronbach’s Alpha resulted in a score of 0.82 for the six items and all items were correlated at the 0.05 level
Future directions This study indicates that job satisfaction for Sessional Staff (SS) is predicated on having the right person for the job as well as adequate supports [43] for the academic role
Summary
Sessional academic staff are an important part of nursing education. Increases in casualisation of the academic workforce continue and satisfaction with the job role is an important bench mark for quality curricula delivery and influences recruitment and retention. The importance of Sessional Academic Staff in teaching and learning at universities throughout Australia continues to increase [1]. High quality teaching, according to Queensland University of Technology [5], should capture students into a learning partnership whereby personal and professional development is inspired, fostered, and practised as new graduates. Such teaching provides rigorous feedback and evaluation within the learning environment with the support of sessional academic teaching staff being critical to the success of the graduate, in health care professions [6]. Despite higher numbers of Sessional Staff (SS), less support is available and it is provided by fewer staff members [6]
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