Summary How satisfied is the Australian teacher with his job and how committed is he to teaching? This paper1 reports the results of an investigation into the morale within the teaching profession. Using the questionnaire method an attempt was made to uncover factors to account for the high level of resignations and the general dissatisfaction with present conditions of teachers in New South Wales. Conditions of service rather than salary or other material benefits were by far the main concern of respondents who had a wide range of teaching experience and held various positions in both primary and secondary schools. The inspectorial and transfer system, promotion structure and status, class sizes and the demands on the teacher and scope of the curriculum were all ranked as highly important issues affecting morale by a majority of the teachers. Other factors related to morale including the social background of teachers, motives for taking up teaching and reflections on the usefulness of teacher training we...