TEACHER JOB SATISFACTION IN CYPRUS: THE RESULTS OF A MIXED-METHODS APPROACH Michalinos Zembylas. & Elena Papanastasiou Intercollege, Cyprus Introduction Recent studies carried out in a number of countries have drawn attention to the degree of job satisfaction among teachers and have shown that teachers’ work “intensification” (Hargreaves, 1994) mirrors societal trends toward overwork (Naylor, 2001). Imposed and centralized system accountability, lack of professional autonomy, relentlessly imposed changes, constant media criticism, reduced resources, and moderate pay all relate to low teacher satisfaction in many developed countries around the world (e.g., Dinham and Scott, 1998b, 2000a; Scott et al., 2001; van den Berg, 2002; Vandenberghe and Huberman, 1999). The effects of these trends include declining job satisfaction, reduced ability to meet students’ needs, significant incidences of psychological disorders leading to increased absenteeism, and high levels of claims for stress-related disability (Farber, 1991; Troman and Woods, 2000). Most importantly, though, teacher dissatisfaction appears to be a main factor in teachers leaving the profession in many countries (Huberman, 1993; Woods et al., 1997). Thus, research into teacher satisfaction is becoming more and more important given not only that a growing number of teachers leave the profession but also that dissatisfaction is associated with decreased productivity (Tshannen-Moran et al., 1998). In terms of definitions, there is no generally agreed upon definition of teacher job satisfaction or of what constitutes teacher satisfaction although there might be some international trends such as, the notion that teachers are most satisfied by matters intrinsic to the role of teaching: student achievement, helping students, positive relationships with students and others, self growth and so on (Dinham and Scott, 2002; van den Berg, 2002). In general, though, it is argued that context seems to be the most powerful predictor of overall satisfaction (Dinham and Scott, 1999, 2000a, 2000b). As Cherniss points out: “People can make their lives better or worse but what they think, how they feel and what they do are strongly shaped by the social contexts in which they live” (1995, p. 166, added emphasis). In this paper, we examine job satisfaction and motivation among teachers in Cyprus. Although past research has shown motivation to be related to job satisfaction (Friedman and Farber, 1992; Rosenholtz, 1991; Thomas and Velthouse, 1990) in the context of developed countries, research linking motivation to teachers’ satisfaction in developing countries does not exist (Garrett, 1999). Therefore, we have conducted two studies—one study using quantitative methodology and another one using qualitative methodology—to explore the effect of some of the trends identified earlier—e.g., imposed and centralized system accountability, lack of professional autonomy, relentlessly imposed changes etc.—on the satisfaction and motivation of teachers and administrators in the social context of Cyprus. 1