EDUCATORS’ JOB SATISFACTION AND JOB-RELATED FACTORS

Abstract

It is widely accepted that one of the main assumptions of the quality of education in preschool institutions is the qualifications of educators and their competence. Educators are responsible for integrating children into the world of learning and developing all other creative activities that are of great importance for various aspects of children’s lives. In order for educators to be able to perform their work efficiently and productively, a key prerequisite is that they are satisfied with their work. Job satisfaction is one of the key factors of every organization, including educational institutions. This paper focuses on the job satisfaction of educators in preschool institutions. The aim of the paper is to investigate the role of job characteristics in predicting the job satisfaction of educators in preschool institutions. The conducted empirical research analyzed the psychological characteristics of respondents, such as the assessment of job stress, evaluation of psychological climate indicators, and assessment of psychological capital, along with jobrelated characteristics like physical environment, income, and relationships within the collective.These factors contribute to understanding educators’ job satisfaction. For the purposes of this research, we employed the Scale of General Job Satisfaction, the Scale for Assessing Educators’ Work-Related Stress and the Abbreviated Psychological Capital Questionnaire UPK-12. The study involved a sample of 238 preschool teachers from the Republic of Croatia. The objective was to determine whether there is a statistically significant difference in job satisfaction among educators concerning their psychological characteristics and the specific characteristics of the preschool institution where they are employed.