Physical Education Job Satisfaction in Wisconsin

Color poster with text, charts, and maps.There has been an increase in teacher shortage and a high attrition rate of teachers in the state of Wisconsin. The purpose of this study was to investigate on job satisfaction for physical education teacher in Wisconsin. The research focused on the correlations in between themes (such as teaching, professional development, coaching, student relations, work load, coworkers, salary/benefits, administration, parents, resources) and teachers’ job satisfaction. One hundred eighty-four Wisconsin physical education teachers participated in the study. Each participant took a 51 question Qualtrics online survey. All questions were assigned to one of the ten themes. The survey only took the survey one time, and took them 10-20 minutes. A bivariate correlation test was used to analyze correlation between the themes and overall job satisfaction. There were moderate correlations between administration (r= .58), co-workers (r= .43), and student relations (r= .42). Participants indicated that having ample support from administration, caring coworkers, and positive relationships with students have a positive impact on their positive job satisfaction. Based on the open-ended questions, participants expressed their dissatisfaction related to Act 10 and Governor Walker. We should continue to support teachers, create caring and positive work environments, which may help with job satisfaction and this could contribute to lowering attrition rate and reduce the teacher shortage in Wisconsin.University of Wisconsin--Eau Claire Office of Research and Sponsored Program