Lithuanian distance education teachers’ job satisfaction

Abstract

Purpose - To identify the job satisfaction of distance education teachers. Research methodology. In order to reach the research purpose, an exploratory study was selected. Exploratory study – a preliminary study to find out the content of the problem, composition and directions for its further decision. Research methods - analysis of literature; exploratory study (quantitative survey using the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ)); mathematical statistics. Findings – distance education teachers with low levels of job satisfaction are most likely to feel dissatisfied with their job for the following reasons: compensation, working conditions, supervision - technical, responsibility, recognition, achievement, supervision – human relationships. Research limitation - It was an exploratory study so the results cannot be generalised across all of the Lithuania population. Value - despite the growing popularity of distance education, in Lithuania there are not enough teachers (in general). At this moment in time in Lithuania, there is a lack of about 200 teachers. So these two criteria require extra attention in relation to the distance education teacher’s job satisfaction.