ARTICLE IN PRESS

International Journal of
Educational Research 43 (2005) 147–167
www.elsevier.com/locate/ijedures

Job satisfaction variance among public and private

kindergarten school teachers in Cyprus
Elena C. Papanastasiou, Michalinos Zembylas
Intercollege, 46, Makedonitissas Ave., P.O. Box 240051700 Nicosia-Cyprus
Accepted 12 June 2006

Abstract

The main purpose of this study is to compare the differences in job satisfaction among public and
private kindergarten school teachers in Cyprus. These comparisons take place from the perspectives
of the teachers themselves and how they evaluate the working conditions in their own schools. More
specifically, a series of three logistic regressions and a MANOVA were performed to predict whether
the teachers are employed in private or public schools based on (a) the motivational factors that
influenced them to enter the teaching profession, (b) their satisfaction with their working conditions,
(c) the status and recognition that they receive, and (d) their satisfaction with the work of educational
boards and associations. The results are interpreted in the context of how a country’s cultural, social,
and economic structures contribute to the development of particular forms of private/public
schooling and the ways in which these structures seem to influence teacher job satisfaction.
r 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Public schools; Private schools; Teacher job satisfaction; Teacher motivation; Developing countries;
Kindergartens

1. Introduction

In the last two decades, a central feature of neoliberal policies in many countries—both
developed and developing ones—has been the privatization of education (Arnove &
Torres, 1999; Bray, 1996; Farrell & Oliveira, 1993; Helsby, 1999; IFC, 2001; Levin, 2001;
Lockheed & Verspoor, 1991; Tooley, 2000). Private education has expanded on a massive
Corresponding author. Tel.: +357 99 307359; fax: +357 22 486686.
E-mail address: papanast@msu.edu (E.C. Papanastasiou).

0883-0355/$ - see front matter r 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.ijer.2006.06.009
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scale around the world, but the form of privatization and the role of private schools have
taken different directions based on the context, funding and regulations of how education
is operated in different countries. Also, there are important differences with respect to the
historical, cultural, social, and economic structures in various countries and the ways with
which these structures contribute to the development of particular forms of private
schooling. Naturally, a great deal of research has been conducted to compare private and
public schools on a variety of measures such as, effectiveness, equity, student achievement,
accountability, job satisfaction, and others (Bracey, 2002; Coleman, Hoffer, & Kilgore,
1982; James & Levin, 1987; Lockheed & Jimenez, 1996).
Specifically, comparisons between private and public school teachers in the last decade
(particularly in the US) have shown that private school teachers typically report that they
are more satisfied with their jobs than their colleagues in public schools (Alt & Peter, 2002;
Henke, Chen, Geis, & Knepper, 2000; Perie, Baker, & Whitener, 1997). However, in other
countries (especially in developing ones) research on such comparisons with respect to
teacher job satisfaction has been limited or has rarely been undertaken. Most commonly,
the focus of such comparisons has been on funding, cost, efficiency and the relative
effectiveness of private and public schools (e.g. see Cox & Jimenez, 1991; James, King, &
Suryadi, 1996; Kingdon, 1996; Lockheed & Jimenez, 1996; Toma, 1996; Tsang, 1995).
In this study, we are concerned with how kindergarten teachers in public and private
schools in Cyprus differ in their motivational and job satisfaction levels. In particular, we
focus on the manner in which motivation and satisfaction in each context affect teachers’
perceptions toward their jobs. The focus of this study is limited to kindergarten teachers
because kindergarten school constitutes a separate level in the Cypriot educational system
(for administrative and other purposes). This arrangement is similar to that in several other
developing countries—which used to be British colonies like Cyprus—and thus results
from Cyprus might have something to say to these countries as well.
Cyprus is an interesting case of a developing country in which privatization at the
kindergarten level has been considerably expanding in the last decade (see Department of
Statistics and Research, 2003; Stavrides, 2000). Teacher job satisfaction in Cyprus has been
the focus of our research agenda in the last 5 years (see Zembylas & Papanastasiou, 2004,
2005, 2006). In the studies that were undertaken so far, we described and analyzed the
factors that contribute to teacher job (dis)satisfaction among elementary and secondary
teachers, along with implications for teachers’ work. One study found that choosing to
become a teacher for intrinsic reasons lead to higher levels of satisfaction for teachers
(Zembylas & Papanastasiou, 2004, 2006). The same study found that teachers who held
higher positions in their schools also tended to be more satisfied with their jobs. Another
study modeled teacher empowerment based on the satisfaction levels of teachers and found
that status, promotion, decision making and personal growth are all variables that
significantly affect the sense of empowerment felt by Cypriot teachers (Zembylas &
Papanastasiou, 2005). Further, we found that teachers who were satisfied with their
professional growth, and with their opportunities for decision making ended up having a
higher sense of empowerment.
However, our previous research has dealt only with Cypriot public schools, which are all
homogeneous in terms of resources, benefits, and so on. Therefore, we were unable to
distinguish whether issues such as working hours, the teachers’ physical working
environment, their social status and recognition and their overall benefits differed based
on whether the teachers were in public or private schools. The current study aims to clarify
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this gap and contributes to the overall work that has been undertaken in this area (e.g. see
Barnabe & Burns, 1994; Borg & Riding, 1991; Dinham & Scott, 1998b, 2000a; Evans,
1998, 2001; Shann, 1998; Thompson, McNamara, & Hoyle, 1997), especially in contexts
that have not been adequately investigated.
However, the goal of this paper is not to show whether teachers are more or less satisfied
depending on where they teach, but to provide a ‘‘portrait’’ of the aspects that seem to be
involved in teacher job satisfaction within each particular context. We believe that this
project is valuable in further broadening our understanding of the conditions that
contribute to the increasing levels of teacher stress and burnout both in developing and
developed countries (Farber, 1991; Friedman & Farber, 1992; Garrett, 1999; Huberman,
1993; Spear, Gould, & Lee, 2000; Travers & Cooper, 1996; Vandenberghe & Huberman,
1999; Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO), 2002). This broadened understanding is essential
to providing the necessary support system to teachers—both at the policy and the personal
and professional level.

2. Private and public kindergarten schools: the case of Cyprus1

Cyprus has a highly centralized public educational system. The maintenance of this
centralized system has historical and political origins (Kyriakides, 1999). Kindergarten,
primary, and secondary education are under the authority of the Ministry of Education
and Culture which is responsible for the formulation of the curriculum, as well as the
prescription of the syllabi, curricula, and textbooks. Public education is mainly financed by
the Government either directly or through allotments to local authorities or School Boards
while private education is supported by individuals and governing bodies (Stavrides, 2000).
Private foreign language schools might be assisted by affiliated overseas authorities and
organizations.
State kindergarten schools fall into two categories: public and community institutions
(see Stavrides, 2000). Public and community kindergarten education is supervised and
partially financed by the Government. The remaining running cost is undertaken by
parents, who, in consultation with local authorities, also provide the building facilities.
Community kindergarten schools are subsidized by the state; however, the local authorities
are responsible for recruiting staff and providing the building facilities. State kindergarten
schools mostly attract pre-schoolers of middle or low-income families (Stavrides, 2000).
Admission criteria are based on yearly income and family status (working, single-parent or
refugee families). According to Stavrides (2000), in the last decade there has been an
increase in the annual amount of government money provided to public kindergartens, as
well as the encouragement of the local authorities and parents’ associations for the
establishment and operation of new kindergartens (especially community ones).
Private kindergarten schools are relatively autonomous schools of choice that operate
for profit and are established and supported by the owners of the school. Although they
maintain a considerable degree of independence in their operation and curricula, the
1
The size of Cyprus is 9.251 km2 (3.572 mile2) and its population is 750,000. Although the per capita income is
currently estimated at US $14,342, Cyprus cannot be considered a developed country as it lacks depth in research
and development, industry and other capabilities that will ensure continued demand for its goods (mainly
agriculture) and services (mainly tourism and financial services). Thus, Cyprus may be characterized as ‘‘a more
advanced’’ developing country. The pay for teachers (who are public servants appointed by the government) is
above the average and starts at US $17,450 (it is the same for everyone).
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majority of them are registered with the Ministry of Education and Culture and comply
with certain curriculum and facility requirements mandated by law. Private kindergarten
schools cater for children not accommodated in the government sector and attract pre-
schoolers of middle- or high-income families. The fees for attending a private kindergarten
tend to be much higher than the fees of public or community schools. More specifically, the
fees of private kindergartens can be as much as £200 ($440)/month, while public
kindergartens typically charge £35 ($77) and community kindergartens £25 ($55)/month
for every student. Therefore, private kindergarten schools typically have much more
resources than public or community schools. Teachers in private kindergartens though are
paid much less than public school teachers. For example, the starting salary for a public
school kindergarten teacher is £850 ($1870)/month, while the starting salary for private
kindergarten teachers is approximately £350 ($770)/month.
In general, according to the Department of Statistics and Research (2003) in Cyprus, the
country has a total of 642 nursery schools and kindergartens. The private kindergarten and
nursery schools compose 21.18% of school population, while the other 78.82% are public
schools. It is interesting to note, though, that the total number of pre-school children in
public kindergarten schools is 14,389 while those in private kindergarten schools is 12,066.
It is also interesting to observe that although the majority of the schools are public, only
50.00% of the teaching personnel work in public schools. As a result, the student-teacher
ratio for public schools is 17.21, while the ratio for private schools is 14.4.
The major obstacles to the development of public and private pre-primary education in
Cyprus are reported to be the following (Stavrides, 2000): (a) The teachers who work in
private kindergartens receive low salaries; (b) the number of qualified teachers for
employment in the private kindergartens is limited due to the number of qualified
kindergarten teachers who work in primary education; (c) there is much intrusion in the
teacher’s jobs by local authorities and parents’ associations; (d) there is a shortage of
suitable school buildings; (e) the government plan for the expansion of public
kindergartens has been terminated because of lack of funding.

3. Job satisfaction: private vs. public schools

Generally speaking, job satisfaction is an affective response to one’s situation at work.

Thus, teacher job satisfaction refers to a teacher’s affective relation to his or her teaching
role and is a function of the perceived relationship between what one wants from teaching
and what one perceives it is offering to a teacher (Zembylas & Papanastasiou, 2004). Over
the last two decades, there have been numerous studies focused on the factors influencing
teacher job satisfaction and dissatisfaction (e.g. see Farber, 1991; Friedman & Farber,
1992; Kyriacou, 1987; Kyriacou & Sutcliffe, 1979; Mykletun, 1984; Shann, 1998; Spear
et al., 2000; Thompson et al., 1997). As is the case with all white-collar jobs, both intrinsic
and extrinsic factors have been found to affect teacher job satisfaction.
Intrinsic satisfaction for teachers can come from classroom activities with children
(Papanastasiou & Papanastasiou, 1998). Additional factors include developing warm,
personal relationships with children, the intellectual challenge of teaching and autonomy
and independence (Shann, 1998). In contrast, teachers view job dissatisfaction as
principally associated with work overload, poor pay and perceptions of how teachers
are viewed by society. In addition, studies have found variations in the job satisfaction
levels of teachers, depending on certain individual, student and school characteristics
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(Spear et al., 2000). Also, several studies have found that these factors are related to
teacher burnout, stress and attrition (Farber, 1991; Vandenberghe & Huberman, 1999). In
general, intrinsic factors seem to play a paramount role in motivating individuals to enter
and remain in the teaching profession, since most teachers stay in teaching because they
enjoy working with young people (Shen, 1997). Very few teachers seem to enter the
profession because of external rewards such as salary, benefits or status (Dinham & Scott,
1998b, 2000a). However, while intrinsic factors may primarily motivate people to become
teachers, extrinsic conditions can influence their satisfaction and their desire to remain in
teaching (Perie et al., 1997).
Extrinsic factors have also been associated with teacher satisfaction, including salary,
perceived support from administrators, availability of resources, and problems related to
teacher load and expectations for assuming extra-curricular assignments (Thompson et al.,
1997). These and other aspects of teachers’ working environment have been identified as
factors that contribute to increased teacher dissatisfaction and to teachers leaving the
profession. Research on teacher job satisfaction has examined several of these factors in an
attempt to find how they are related to satisfaction in teaching, and what support teachers
need so that their working conditions are improved. This is significant because it has been
shown that when teachers are not satisfied with their working conditions, they are more
likely to leave the profession (Macdonald, 1999; Travers & Cooper, 1996; Tye & O’Brien,
2002).
The needs of teachers with respect to their working conditions and job satisfaction
constitute important components of a school organizational culture (Hallinger &
Leithwood, 1996a, 1996b; Reyes & Pounder, 1993). Sarason (1990) wrote extensively
about the importance of organizational culture and explained its power in resisting and
promoting new ideas and practices in schools. Simply defined, organizational culture is the
way things are done in a particular context (Schein, 1985). That is, an organizational
culture includes assumptions about working conditions, expectations, shared values and
beliefs (Schein, 1996). According to this view, experiences within an organizational culture
create a particular form of perspective about things among members in an organization,
and this perspective of things forms assumptions that guide employees ‘‘how to perceive,
think about, and feel about things’’ (Schein, 1985, p. 6). An example is the influence of an
organizational culture on an individual’s affective and motivational to organizational life
(Harris & Mossholder, 1996). As Harris and Mossholder argue, individuals with values
and attitudes congruent to those of the organization are more likely to feel satisfied.
Studies in the United States over the last decade have indicated that private school
teachers report higher levels of satisfaction and morale than public school teachers (Alt &
Peter, 2002; Henke et al., 2000; Perie et al., 1997). Teacher satisfaction is shaped by
workplace conditions such as student motivation to learn, school learning environment,
class size, support from parents, social status of the teaching profession, staff cooperation,
student discipline and behavior, salary, and support from administration. However,
workplace conditions have a positive relationship with a teacher’s job satisfaction
regardless of whether a teacher is in a public or private school (Perie et al., 1997). In
particular, the NCES report ‘Private Schools: A Brief Portrait’ (Alt & Peter, 2002) has
examined matters of control over various teaching practices (e.g. selecting teaching
techniques, selecting curricula and textbooks, evaluating students) and several teaching
policies (e.g. establishing curriculum, in-service training, evaluating teachers). This report
has reiterated that teachers in private schools—compared to their colleagues in public
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schools—enjoy a considerable degree of professional satisfaction and are not entangled in

complex and bureaucratic regulations that control them or mistreat them as professionals.
In fact, the issue of teacher empowerment has come to be an important measure of
teacher satisfaction (see Rinehart & Short, 1994; Short & Greer, 1997; Sweetland & Hoy,
2000). According to Sweetland and Hoy (2000), research on teacher empowerment
indicates that teacher participation in decision-making—such as, curriculum development,
student life, and fiscal matters—is an essential dimension of empowerment, but for that
involvement to be meaningful, two conditions must be met. First, decisions must focus on
areas important to teachers, such as issues related directly to teaching and learning: school
operations and management, students’ school experiences, teachers’ work lives, and
control of classroom instruction (Marks & Louis, 1997). Second, teachers must feel that
their participation actually affects the decisions made (Short & Greer, 1997). With respect
to the issue of private vs. public schools, Finn, Manno, and Vanourek (2000) write that the
biggest plus for private school teachers is ‘‘professional empowerment’’ (p. 89). In their
review of research on charter schools, Bulkley and Fisler (2002) provide several examples
in which charter school teachers feel more empowered within their classrooms and more
satisfied with some of the working conditions in their schools than their counterparts’
experiences in public schools.
Finally, previous international studies of private schools have found them to be more
effective in terms of cost and efficiency than public schools (Lockheed & Jimenez, 1996;
Toma, 1996; Tsang, 1995). Obviously, private schooling around the world, in both
developed and developing countries, has taken various forms, responding to the demand
for education that the public schools do not fulfill. Although, for example, there have been
several studies comparing the achievement of students in public schools to those in private
schools (see e.g. Carnoy, 1998; Tooley, 2000), these studies hardly addressed issues of
teacher job satisfaction.
Consequently, we believe that there is a significant reason to engage in this study,
because empirical evidence—especially in developing countries—is limited. Job satisfaction
is selected as the focus of our study because it is obvious that this dimension of
understanding teachers’ ability to do their jobs effectively is neglected. The angle of
‘‘private vs. public schools’’ adds a key element in our investigation because very few
reports attempt to explore the factors affecting teacher satisfaction along these lines. It is
hoped that this study will further contribute to a better understanding of how policy and
practice can be formulated to offer appropriate incentives and support in order to enhance
teacher satisfaction, regardless of whether a teacher works in a public or a private school.

4. Methodology

The main purpose of this study is to examine the differences in the job satisfaction of
public and private kindergarten teachers in Cyprus. These comparisons will take place
from the perspectives of the teachers themselves and how they perceive certain situations in
their own schools. More specifically, this study will attempt to predict whether the teachers
are employed in private or public schools based on (a) the motivational factors that
influenced them to enter the teaching profession, (b) their satisfaction with their working
conditions, (c) the status and recognition that they receive, and (d) their satisfaction with
the work of educational boards and associations. These aspects are chosen because one of
the primary areas of investigation in the literature on job satisfaction is focused on
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organizational dimensions (Conley, 1991). The above four aspects capture a major part of
a school’s organizational culture (Scott & Dinham, 2003).

4.1. Sampling and data collection

The sample in this study included a convenience sample of 347 kindergarten teachers
from all over Cyprus since the teachers were not selected via a random sample. However,
an attempt was made to include a number of teachers from each city that was proportional
to the percentage of teachers per city in the population, as well as to the percentage of
teachers who are in public or private schools. Of those teachers, 48.4% of the sample were
employed in public schools (compared to 48.36% in the population), while the other
51.6% were employed in private schools (compared to 50.52% in the population)
(Department of Statistics and Research, 2003). Table 1 presents the breakdown of the
percentage of teachers in the sample and the population by the type of school and the city
that they are employed at.
All of the teachers in the sample were female, which is not surprising since according to
the statistics of education in Cyprus, only 2.21% of all kindergarten and nursery school
teachers are male (Department of Statistics and Research, 2003). The average age of the
teachers in the sample was 32.49 years old. The average age of the teachers in public
schools was 36.28 (SD ¼ 9.80), and the average age of private school teachers was 28.97
(SD ¼ 6.93).
An 80.6% of the sample included regular kindergarten teachers, 3.8% were vice
principals, and 15.5% were principals. The majority of the teachers in the sample (52.7%)
had a college degree, while 33.7% had a University degree and 6.6% had a degree from the
Cyprus Pedagogical Academy (a 3-year teacher training college). Only 2.6% of the sample
indicated that they also had a masters’ degree. A breakdown of these variables by school
type is presented in Table 2. In public schools, there are fewer principals in the sample
compared to private school teachers. In addition, the majority of the public school teachers
have University degrees (59.1%), compared to the majority of the private school teachers
(84.2%) who have college degrees.
According to the teachers in the sample, the average class size for the public school
teachers was 21.7 students (SD ¼ 5.65), while the average class size of the private schools
was 17.88 (SD ¼ 5.79) (Table 2). The average tuition cost for private schools, based on
what these teachers reported, was £33.22/month (SD ¼ 13.63), while the average tuition
cost for public schools was £79.23 (SD ¼ 28.61).

Table 1
Population and sample proportions by city

Sample (%) Population (%)

Nicosia 56.4 41.0

Limassol 25.3 24.7
Larnaca 11.3 21.5
Paphow 3.5 5.3
Famagusta 3.5 7.4
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Table 2
Demographics by school type

Public (%) Private (%)

Teacher 84.5 77.3

Vice principal 7.5 0.6
Principal 8.1 22.2
Pedagogical academy degree 11.9 2.3
College degree 23.9 84.2
University degree 59.1 12.9

Mean (SD) Mean (SD)

Age 36.28 (9.80) 28.97 (6.93)
Class size 21.7 (5.65) 17.88 (5.79)
Tuition costs (per month) £33.22 (13.63 £79.23 (28.61)

4.2. Instrumentation

The data in this study were collected in the fall of 2004 with the use of a questionnaire
created by the International Teacher 2000 project (Dinham & Scott, 1996a, b, 1997,
1998a, b, 1999, 2000a, b, 2002). The purpose of the creation of this questionnaire was to
investigate the consequences for teachers and administrators of the changes to education
systems as a result of globalization and other trends (Zembylas & Papanastasiou, 2004).
More specifically, the aims of the Teachers 2000 project are:
to identify and quantify the sources and relative strength of factors contributing to
teacher satisfaction/dissatisfaction in the countries under study and to distinguish
general patterns and trends in teacher and school executive satisfaction, motivation
and health from contextual factors in each country, and to account for these
differences. (Dinham & Scott, 2000a, p. 1)
So far, this questionnaire has been utilized in many English speaking countries such as
Australia, England, New Zealand and the USA (Scott, Stone, & Dinham, 2001), while
replications of the study are also taking place in Malta, (Dinham & Scott, 2002), Israel,
Romania, France, and Morocco. This questionnaire has been translated in Greek and
adapted into the context of Cyprus. The translated questionnaire had then been reviewed
by two Cypriot experts in psychometrics, while it has also been pilot tested with a focus
group of 10 teachers. In the final version of the questionnaire, certain parts of the original
questionnaire were omitted in order to ensure the brevity of the questionnaire, as well as to
help ensure that all questions were relevant to the culture and background characteristics
of Cyprus.
The first part of the Greek version of the questionnaire included background questions
for the teachers, while the second part asked questions related to factors that have
influenced the participants to follow the teaching profession. These questions were on a
nominal scale, where they had to respond with a ‘yes’ or a ‘no’, depending on if they were
influence by these factors to follow this profession or not. The third part of the
questionnaire asked the respondents questions related to their level of satisfaction with
various aspects of the teaching profession, (e.g. satisfaction with their ability to influence
students success and attitudes; satisfaction with their contribution to the school and
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education system, with their work hours and salary, with their opportunities for promotion
etc.). The questions on this section of the questionnaire were measured on a 7-point Likert
scale that ranged from 1 ¼ highly dissatisfying, to 7 ¼ highly satisfying. Finally, the last
part of the questionnaire included general questions where the respondents were asked to
indicate how important the achievement of certain goals were to them (e.g. having a close
and satisfying relationship, obtaining rewards and recognition, retaining or achieving
financial well-being, etc.). The responses to these questions were also measured on a
7-point Likert scale, that ranged from 1 ¼ not at all important to 7 ¼ extremely important.
However, the data from this last section of the questionnaire were beyond the scope of this
paper and were not used for this paper.
The Cronbach’s a reliability of the sub-sections of the questionnaire were also estimated
on this sample of kindergarten teachers. However, the reliability was only estimated for the
third and fourth sections of the questionnaire which where closed ended questions or
questions measured on a Likert scale. The reliability of the third part of the questionnaire
that dealt with the satisfaction levels of the teachers was very high (0.956). The reliability of
the last section of the questionnaire was a bit lower although still adequate (0.874).

4.3. Data analysis

A series of three logistic regressions were performed to try to predict whether the
kindergarten and nursery school teachers in the sample were employed in public or private
schools in Cyprus. The first model that was examined tried to predict the type of school
that the teachers were employed at based on the motivational factors that had influenced
them to join the teaching profession. The independent variables used in the second model
dealt with the status and recognition that the teachers received, while the last model
examined the satisfaction level of the teachers in relation to the work done by various
educational boards and associations, including the government. The logistic regression
analyses that were performed were preferred over a regular ANOVA, because we were
aware that differences between the two groups exist. Therefore, it was considered more
interesting to examine whether the differences were big enough to enable us to predict
the type of school sector that the teachers were in, based on their responses to the
questionnaire. Eventually, these data analyses would enable us to distinguish where the
differences lie, between the private and public kindergarten teachers in Cyprus. However, a
MANOVA was also performed to determine whether there were differences in the
satisfaction levels of teachers in public and private schools.

5. Results

5.1. Motivational factors

The first logistic regression model tried to predict whether there were differences in the
motivational factors that had influenced these individuals to become kindergarten
teachers. The four independent variables that were used in this analysis were those of
‘‘always wanting to become a teacher,’’ as well as becoming a teacher because of ‘‘pressure
from their families,’’ because of ‘‘the hours and holidays,’’ and because of the ‘‘salary.’’
The overall chi-square (w2 ) test for the logistic model was significant w24 ¼ 44:074 (p ¼ 0:00)
which indicates that there were significant differences between the two groups of teachers
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based on the four motivational factors that had influenced them to choose the
kindergarten teaching profession. The Hosmer and Lemeshow test was non significant
(w23 ¼ 4:529, p ¼ 0:21) which indicates that there was a good model fit, since the data did
not significantly deviate from the model. The Cox and Snell test, indicating the percentage
of variance of the dependent variable explained equaled R2 ¼ 12:5%, while the Nagelkerke
R2 explained 16.7% of the variance. Based on this analysis 35.6% of the teachers who were
in public schools were classified correctly, and 91.1% of the teachers in private schools
were classified correctly. Thus, 64.1% of the teachers in the sample were classified correctly
based on this logistic regression.
In terms of the variables themselves, the ones in which there were significant differences
between the groups were the variables of ‘‘always wanting to become teachers’’, as well as
the variable that had to do with being influenced to enter the teaching profession because
of ‘‘pressure from the family’’, and because of ‘‘the salary.’’ By looking at Tables 3 and 4, it
is clear that there was a larger majority of teachers in the private sector who always wanted
to become teachers, while there were more teachers in the public sector who were
influenced to enter the profession because of extrinsic factors such as those of pressure
from family, because of the hours and holidays, and because of the teacher’s salary.

5.2. Status and recognition

The second logistic regression tried to predict the type of school that these teachers were
employed at, based on the recognition that they received and their self-perceived status.
This included the recognition that they received from people in their school, from the
school system, from the parents in the community, as well as their satisfaction with their
status and reputation in the community, in the school system, and in how teachers are
portrayed in the media. The overall w2 test for the logistic model was non-significant
w27 ¼ 7:293 (p ¼ 0:40) which indicates that there were no significant differences between the

Table 3
Logistic model of motivational factors for entering the teaching profession

Motivational factors B S.E. Wald df Sig. Exp (B)

Always wanted to become a teacher .426 0.134 10.077 1 0.002 1.531

Pressure from family
1.641 0.767 4.575 1 0.032 0.194
Hours and holidays
.412 0.324 1.616 1 0.204 0.662
Salary
1.567 0.458 11.706 1 0.001 0.209

Table 4
Percentage of teachers influenced by various factors to choose the teaching profession

Public Private

Always wanted to become a teacher 83.7% 89.8%

Pressure from family 9.3% 2.3%
Hours and holidays 35.8% 13.5%
Salary 26.5% 4.7%
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two groups of teachers based on these variables. However, the Hosmer and Lemeshow test
was also non-significant (w28 ¼ 9:320, p ¼ 0:316) which indicates that the data fit the model
well. The Cox and Snell test, indicating the percentage of variance of the dependent
variable explained equaled R2 ¼ 2:6%, while the Nagelkerke R2 explained 3.5% of the
variance. Based on this analysis 62.1% of the teachers who were in public schools were
classified correctly, and 51.1% of the teachers n private schools were classified correctly.
Overall, 56.9% of the teachers in the sample were classified correctly based on this analysis.
An examination of Table 5 indicates that none of the independent variables were
significant in predicting the type of school at which teachers were employed based on their
satisfaction with their status and recognition that they receive. However, a descriptive look
at Table 6 shows that the private school teachers tend to be more slightly satisfied with the
status and recognition that they receive in general. This is consistent for all seven variables
that were included in the model.

5.3. Educational boards and associations

The last logistic regression tried to predict the type of school at which teachers were
employed at, based on their satisfaction with the relationship they had with the school
board, teacher unions, educational professional association, as well as with their in-service
activities and with the way that the government works for the betterment of education. The
overall w2 test for the logistic model was significant w26 ¼ 49:961 (p ¼ 0:00) which indicates
that there were significant differences between the two groups of teachers based on these
variables. However, the Hosmer and Lemeshow test was also significant (w28 ¼ 17:973,
p ¼ 0:021) which indicates that there was significant misfit between the data and the model.
The Cox and Snell test, indicating the percentage of variance of the dependent variable

Table 5
Logistic model of teachers’ status and recognition

B S.E. Wald df Sig. Exp (B)

How satisfying do you find the amount of
0.216 0.179 1.449 1 0.229 0.806
recognition you receive for your efforts from
people in your school?
How satisfying do you find the amount of 0.062 0.147 0.175 1 0.675 1.064
recognition you receive for your efforts from
your system/employer/school governing
body?
How satisfying do you find the amount of
0.100 0.172 0.334 1 0.563 0.905
recognition you receive for your efforts from
parents and the community?
How satisfying do you find the status of
0.180 0.136 1.747 1 0.186 0.836
teachers in society?
How satisfying do you find your status/ 0.140 0.183 0.580 1 0.446 1.150
reputation in your school/community?
How satisfying do you find the reputation of 0.155 0.165 0.880 1 0.348 1.168
your school in the community?
How satisfying do you find the image of 0.152 0.107 2.016 1 0.156 1.165
teachers portrayed in the media?
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Table 6
Descriptive statistics of satisfaction with teacher’s status and recognition

Mean Std. deviation

Public Private Public Private

How satisfying do you find the amount of recognition you 5.68 5.94 1.068 1.064
receive for your efforts from people in your school?
How satisfying do you find the amount of recognition you 5.39 5.75 1.151 1.207
receive for your efforts from your system/employer/school
governing body?
How satisfying do you find the amount of recognition you 5.72 5.97 1.102 1.014
receive for your efforts from parents and the community?
How satisfying do you find the status of teachers in 5.40 5.53 1.022 1.134
society?
How satisfying do you find your status/reputation in your 5.64 6.02 0.980 1.025
school/community?
How satisfying do you find the reputation of your school 5.72 6.18 1.062 1.078
in the community?
How satisfying do you find the image of teachers 4.36 4.67 1.305 1.399
portrayed in the media?

explained equaled R2 ¼ 22:6%, while the Nagelkerke R2 explained 30.1% of the variance.
Based on this analysis 95.6% of the teachers who were in public schools were classified
correctly, and 6.7% of the teachers n private schools were classified correctly. Therefore,
68.2% of the teachers in the sample were classified correctly based on this logistic
regression.
An examination of Table 7 indicates that the only variable that was significant in
predicting the type of school at which the teachers were employed was that of satisfaction
with the ways in which teacher unions work for the betterment of education. More
specifically, public school teachers are more satisfied on this variable, which is not
surprising since these unions typically represent public school teachers who work for the
betterment of the public schools that they are employed at. A descriptive look at the
average satisfaction levels of the teachers in public and private schools in Table 8 also
shows that public school teachers are more satisfied with the way in which educational
boards, associations, as well as the government works for the betterment of education,
compared to their private school counterparts.

5.4. Satisfaction with work conditions

Finally, a MANOVA was performed to determine whether there were differences in the
satisfaction levels in the working conditions of the teachers in private and public schools.
The overall analysis was significant (F ¼ 28:64, p ¼ 0:000). The dependent variables
examined were those of working hours, the salaries, the physical working environment as
well as teacher satisfaction with the way that promotion and merit occurs in their school
system. All dependent variables included in this analysis were statistically significant,
indicating that there were differences in the ways in which the teachers in public and
private schools responded to these questions. Table 9 presents the test of between subject
effects for this analysis.
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Table 7
Logistic model of relationship with educational boards and associations

B S.E. Wald df Sig. Exp (B)

How satisfying do you find your dealings
0.031 0.100 0.099 1 0.753 0.969
with your school’s Board of Trustees/
Governors/Council/system?
How satisfying do you find the way that 0.057 0.194 0.086 1 0.770 1.059
teacher unions represent the interests of their
members?
How satisfying do you find the way that
0.526 0.245 4.606 1 0.032 0.591
teacher unions work for the betterment of
education?
How satisfying do you find the way that 0.153 0.201 0.582 1 0.446 1.165
educational professional associations work
for the betterment of education?
How satisfying do you find the way that
0.057 0.240 0.056 1 0.813 0.945
governments work for the betterment of
education?
How satisfying do you find the range of 0.208 0.229 0.825 1 0.364 1.231
professional in-service courses/programs/
consultancy/support offered to teachers?

Table 8
Descriptive statistics of satisfaction with educational boards and associations for pubic and private schools

Mean Std. deviation

Public Private Public Private

How satisfying do you find your dealings with your 5.71 5.00 1.11 1.59
school’s Board of Trustees/Governors/Council/system?
How satisfying do you find the way that teacher unions 4.96 3.70 1.43 1.70
represent the interests of their members?
How satisfying do you find the way that teacher unions 4.95 3.60 1.39 1.71
work for the betterment of education?
How satisfying do you find the way that educational 4.76 3.85 1.29 1.60
professional associations work for the betterment of
education?
How satisfying do you find the way that governments 4.38 3.63 1.54 1.66
work for the betterment of education?
How satisfying do you find the range of professional in- 4.34 3.77 1.61 1.85
service courses/programs/ consultancy/support offered to
teachers?

Table 10 presents the means and standard deviations of the teacher’s responses on the
satisfaction variables, depending on the type of school that they were employed at. An
examination of Table 10 indicates that teachers in public schools were more to be satisfied
with their official working hours and with their current salaries. However, the teachers in
private schools were more satisfied with their opportunities for promotion based on merit,
and by their school’s physical working environment. The largest differences in the amount
of satisfaction are in terms of the official working hours and holidays and in the salary,
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Table 9
MANOVA results for teacher satisfaction by school type

Source Dependent variable Type III sum df Mean F Sig.

of squares square

Corrected Working hours and holidays 121.589(a) 1 121.589 43.641 0.000

model Salary 273.468(b) 1 273.468 89.665 0.000
Opportunities for promotion? 36.411(c) 1 36.411 12.031 0.001
Physical working environment 8.194(d) 1 8.194 6.163 0.014
Promotion on merit in your school 68.340(e) 1 68.340 21.425 0.000
system
Intercept Working hours and holidays 6435.680 1 6435.680 2309.916 0.000
Salary 4860.953 1 4860.953 1593.816 0.000
Opportunities for promotion? 3800.511 1 3800.511 1255.762 0.000
Physical working environment 8319.198 1 8319.198 6256.791 0.000
Promotion on merit in your school 3591.411 1 3591.411 1125.937 0.000
system
Public Working hours and holidays 121.589 1 121.589 43.641 0.000
Salary 273.468 1 273.468 89.665 0.000
Opportunities for promotion? 36.411 1 36.411 12.031 0.001
Physical working environment 8.194 1 8.194 6.163 0.014
Promotion on merit in your school 68.340 1 68.340 21.425 0.000
system
Error Working hours and holidays 665.880 239 2.786
Salary 728.922 239 3.050
Opportunities for promotion? 723.323 239 3.026
Physical working environment 317.781 239 1.330
Promotion on merit in your school 762.340 239 3.190
system
Total Working hours and holidays 7480.000 241
Salary 6161.000 241
Opportunities for promotion? 4680.000 241
Physical working environment 8681.000 241
Promotion on merit in your school 4358.000 241
system

Corrected Working hours and holidays 787.469 240

total
Salary 1002.390 240
Opportunities for promotion? 759.734 240
Physical working environment 325.975 240
Promotion on merit in your school 830.680 240
system

(a) R2 ¼ 0.154 (adjusted R2 ¼ 0.151), (b) R2 ¼ 0.273 (adjusted R2 ¼ 0.270), (c) R2 ¼ 0.048 (adjusted R2 ¼ 0.044),
(d) R2 ¼ 0.025 (adjusted R2 ¼ 0.021), (e) R2 ¼ 0.082 (adjusted R2 ¼ 0.078).

with the public school teachers being more satisfied with these factors. However, private
school teachers appear to be a bit more satisfied with their school’s working environment
than their public school counterparts, as well as with the way that promotion on merit
occurs in their school systems.
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Table 10
Descriptive statistics of satisfaction with working conditions in public and private schools

Mean Std. deviation

Public Private Public Private

How satisfying do you find the ‘‘official’’ working hours 5.85 4.51 1.53 1.97
and holidays in teaching?
How satisfying do you find your current salary? 5.44 3.49 1.61 2.01
How satisfying do you find your opportunities for 4.39 3.67 1.60 1.92
promotion?
How satisfying do you find the physical working 5.61 6.01 1.20 1.35
environment of your school?
How satisfying do you find the way that promotion on 3.38 4.35 1.81 1.77
merit has occurred in your school system?

6. Discussion and implications

The overall results of this study show that very few kindergarten teachers in private
schools indicated that they had entered the profession as a result of pressure from their
families, the hours and holidays, and the salary. This is not surprising since private
kindergartens in Cyprus tend to provide fewer extrinsic benefits to their employees. Private
school teachers in Cyprus earn less salary, they have to work longer working hours, while
they also have a lot less holidays compared to their public school counterparts.
Consequently, it should not come as a surprise that private kindergarten teachers in this
sample were not as satisfied with their working hours and with their salaries compared to
the public kindergarten teachers. This is similar to previous findings in many developing
and developed countries in which teachers, regardless whether they are teaching in private
or public schools, are dissatisfied with their working hours and with their salaries (Dinham
& Scott, 1998b, 2000a; Evans, 1998; Zembylas & Papanastasiou, 2004).
On the other hand, private kindergarten teachers tended to be more satisfied with their
working environments (e.g. school building, facilities, etc.). This result may be explained in
that private kindergartens in Cyprus tend to make considerable investments to improve
their physical working environment and thus remain competitive in the market. In
contrast, public kindergartens in Cyprus rely on funding from the government and are
therefore limited in the amount of improvements that may be performed to their physical
working environment.
Furthermore, teachers in public kindergartens indicated that they were less satisfied with
the way that promotion on merit occurred in their school system. The results of this study
have confirmed our findings from previous studies with public school teachers in Cyprus—
both elementary and secondary school teachers (see Zembylas & Papanastasiou, 2004,
2005, 2006). This happens because the current promotion system in public schools in
Cyprus is the same for kindergarten, elementary and secondary education, and is not based
on merit (see Kyriakides, 1999; Kyriakides & Campbell, 2003, 2004). Promotions in
Cypriot public schools tend to be solely based on years of experience, and not on the
quality of a teacher’s work. Consequently, it is not surprising that private school
teachers—who do not have to deal with the government’s promotion system—are more
satisfied on this aspect than their public school counterparts.
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The logistic regression that was performed on the differences in the status and
recognition of teachers had no independent variables that were significant. However, this
only indicates that it is harder to predict the type of school that the teachers are employed
at based on such variables. There are similar findings on this in the US (Perie et al., 1997).
On the other hand, it is interesting to note that a descriptive examination of the average
satisfaction levels of teachers on these variables shows that private school teachers are
more satisfied with their status and the reputation they have in their schools, communities
and the society in general. This result may be explained by the fact that private schools in
Cyprus attract more children from higher income families and are therefore considered to
have a higher status than public schools. Consequently, the private kindergarten teachers
themselves may be looked upon as having higher status, even though their salaries are
much lower than those of public kindergarten teachers.
Finally, the public kindergarten teachers in our sample appear to be a lot more satisfied
with the ways in which the government, educational boards and associations work for
educational improvement. This again is consistent with the fact that all these associations
have members mostly from public schools. Kindergarten teachers in private schools are
not as organized in forming unions compared to public kindergarten teachers. In general,
private kindergarten teachers are underrepresented in meetings of various educational
organizations and unions. As a result, their problems and needs are frequently ignored by
such organizations, something that may explain the private kindergarten teachers’
dissatisfaction with the ways in which such organizations work for educational
improvement.
This study extends our knowledge on the differences between private and public schools
in terms of teacher job satisfaction. It is important that this study has taken place in the
context of a developing country, because it has focused on issues of current and future
concerns for educators and researchers. These issues are relevant to the complexities of
teacher job satisfaction in light of the increasing privatization of education in developing
countries (Tooley, 2000). The findings of this study could assist educators in other
developing countries to consider policies with which teacher job satisfaction could be
enhanced. Here we want to suggest three ways in which these findings provide information
to policy makers interested in increasing the satisfaction levels of teachers regardless of
whether kindergarten schools are private or public.
First, the findings of this study suggest that teacher job satisfaction is fragile and is
associated with a variety of complex aspects that need to be better understood. Regardless
of the context, i.e. whether the school is public or private, educators need to take a closer
look at how teacher job satisfaction is constructed and maintained in school cultures.
Simply defined, school culture includes what members of a group think about teaching and
learning, shared educational values, and professional and intellectually realities (Lortie,
1975). This means that supportive working conditions are an important aspect of school
culture and contribute immensely to teacher job satisfaction. The results of this study
support the idea that schools with better working conditions, or more ample economic
resources for the support of teaching, have more satisfied teachers. Focusing on working
conditions, therefore, is a feasible way to improve teacher satisfaction. Regardless of the
type of school, an attractive working environment and supportive working conditions are
connected with high levels of teacher satisfaction.
Second, if, as the literature suggests, teacher satisfaction relates to both teaching quality
and retention rates (Thompson et al., 1997), focusing on policies related to satisfaction
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
E.C. Papanastasiou, M. Zembylas / Int. J. Educ. Res. 43 (2005) 147–167 163

may contribute towards improving teaching and learning in schools. Increased teacher
satisfaction promotes teacher retention; this is a critical issue both for private and public
schools, given the high levels of burnout and attrition in the teaching profession
(Vandenberghe & Huberman, 1999). The findings of this study indicate that there are a
number of aspects of working conditions that are within the realm of education policy and
are associated with teacher satisfaction. However, there are many cultural elements that
must to be explored before one can have a full appreciation for the complexity of the
relationship among school culture, working conditions and teacher job satisfaction.
Finally, the findings amply demonstrate that there is an urgent need for policy-makers to
recognize the fact that teacher compensation, professional development and morale are
central components of effective policy-making. For example, payment of adequate salaries
is also linked to increased teacher satisfaction although low teacher salary is not necessarily
a negative motivating force to those who want to become teachers. However, while teacher
salary is one among many other important factors, it must reflect teachers’ status and their
valuable contribution to the society (VSO, 2002). Reform processes must incorporate
mechanisms to ensure teacher development and teacher participation in the process of
planning, implementation and evaluation of change in education. It is for everybody’s
benefit—national governments, local school boards, parents, and teachers’ organiza-
tions—to support teacher motivation in order to enhance teacher satisfaction and
therefore contribute to a higher quality education.

7. Conclusion

This study highlights that teacher job satisfaction has a wide variety of implications in
policy and practice, and that the context—public or private schooling—complicates things
further. What is now needed is serious consideration of how this understanding may be
meaningfully applied to efforts to improve teachers’ working lives. The findings indicate
that policy makers need to recognize the fact that educational quality is largely related to
teacher job satisfaction. Unfortunately, teacher satisfaction is often a critically ignored
factor in education policy-making. However, improving teachers’ working lives is not an
optional extra, but a central component of effective policy-making (Hargreaves, 1994;
Pollard, Broadfoot, & Croll, 1994). Teachers are not technicians but rounded professionals
with complex and varied needs. It is often assumed that ‘‘happier teachers are better
teachers’’ (Hean & Garrett, 2001); thus an objective of any ministry of education or private
enterprise should be to maximize teacher satisfaction and minimize dissatisfaction not only
for the benefit of teachers themselves but for the sake of students as well. It must also be
emphasized that teachers and teachers’ organizations have a part to play in claiming their
space in education discourse.
Future research in this area may further examine a variety of interesting issues—not
only at the kindergarten level but also at the primary and secondary levels. For example,
what is the effect of teacher job satisfaction on student attitudes, depending on the whether
a teacher teaches in a public or a private school? Do satisfied teachers become more
committed and empowered teachers? Does this have to do with the context (private or
public) in which one teaches? Finally, do empowered teachers help students have higher
achievement? Again, does this have to do with the context (private or public) in which one
teaches? Answers to these questions in both private and public school contexts could
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164 E.C. Papanastasiou, M. Zembylas / Int. J. Educ. Res. 43 (2005) 147–167

further enrich our understanding the influence of school organizational culture on teacher
job satisfaction.

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E.C. Papanastasiou, M. Zembylas / Int. J. Educ. Res. 43 (2005) 147–167 167

Elena C. Papanastasiou has received her Honors B.Sc. in Elementary Education from The Pennsylvania State
University, and her Ph.D. in Measurement and Quantitative Methods from Michigan State University. Since
2001, Dr. Papanastasiou has worked at the University of Kansas, the University of Cyprus, and Intercollege,
Cyprus. Dr. Papanastasiou is mostly interested in quantitative research in the areas of assessment, computer
adaptive testing, and in comparative education in the areas of teacher satisfaction, mathematics and science
education. In addition, a large portion of her research is more methodological in nature.

Michalinos Zembylas is an Associate Professor of Education at Intercollege, Cyprus, 46 Makedonitissas Avenue,

Nicosia 1700, and adjunct professor of teacher education at Michigan State University. His research interests are
in the areas of curriculum theory, philosophy of education, and science/technology education. His recent articles
have appeared in Educational Theory, Journal of Research in Science Teaching, Science Education and Teaching
and Teacher Education. He recently published the book Teaching With Emotion: A postmodern Enactment
(Information Age Publishing, 2005).