Conference Program

Studying teachers’ job satisfaction is crucial for understanding not only the quality of their work - an issue of increasing political and scientific concern - but also the broader quality of the education system. The way teachers perceive their work offers valuable indications about school functioning, organizational climate, and the sustainability of the profession itself. Since schools largely depend on those who inhabit and shape them on a daily basis, teachers’ job satisfaction becomes a strategic lens through which to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the system. Moreover, their well-being is closely intertwined with interpersonal dynamics within schools and with students’ learning experiences. More generally, job satisfaction represents the subjective dimension of job quality (Rose, 2003; de Bustillo Llorente & Macías, 2005). For this reason, it has gained increasing attention in public debate and policy agendas concerned with promoting individual well-being (Clark, 2015). The existing literature suggests that satisfaction is a multidimensional construct. Classic need-based approaches, such as the Two-factor theory (Herzberg et al., 1959), distinguish between extrinsic aspects of work (e.g., pay, job security, working conditions) and intrinsic or motivational dimensions (e.g., autonomy, recognition, responsibility). At the same time, interactionist perspectives (Edwards, 1991; Schneider, 2001) emphasize that job satisfaction results from the interplay between job characteristics and individuals’ values and socio-demographic traits. Together, these insights provide a framework for analysing how teachers interpret and evaluate their professional experience.
Drawing on recent data from the Quarta Indagine sulle Condizioni di Vita e di Lavoro degli Insegnanti Italiani, this study explores how teachers assess their job and the conditions under which it is carried out. The findings portray a professional group that, while operating within a context marked by structural constraints and limited external recognition, expresses an overall positive evaluation of its occupational position. Satisfaction appears to rest primarily on intrinsic dimensions of teaching – such as its perceived social usefulness, its relational component, and the opportunity to engage in meaningful work – whereas more strictly extrinsic aspects, including pay and career prospects, remain critical yet do not undermine the general assessment of the profession.
Importantly, teachers’ job satisfaction emerges as a relative and dynamic construct: it is shaped by comparison processes involving personal expectations, prior experiences, alternative career paths, and different stages of the life course, as well as by broader transformations in the labour market. This perspective highlights the importance of the interactionist approach in studying job satisfaction of Italian teachers.