What Makes the Teacher Happy?

Rahmat Aziz

, Retno Mangestuti

and Esa Nur Wahyuni

Psychology Department, Universitas Islam Negeri Maulana Malik Ibrahim Malang, Indonesia

Islamic Education Department, Universitas Islam Negeri Maulana Malik Ibrahim Malang, Indonesia

Keywords: Happiness; Job Satisfaction, Gender, Work Period

Abstract: Teacher happiness has become an important part in education context because it can be predicted to student

academic success. The study aimed to examine the effect of job satisfaction and gender on teacher

happiness. Participants were 358 teachers at Islamic kindergarten and Islamic primary school in East Java.

Data were obtained through the job satisfaction index, life satisfaction scales and approach to happiness

questionnaire. Data were analyzed by regression and variance analysis. The result showed that teacher's job

satisfaction had an effect on teacher's happiness (R = .526 p <.01), and female are happier than male

teachers (F = 6.147 p <.05).; The teacher who has shorter of work period are happier than longer of work

period (F = 3.889 p <.05).

1 INTRODUCTION

The study of happiness has become an important

part in the context of educational reform, especially

the study of teacher happiness. Studies of happiness

in the teacher have been carried out. For example, a

research examines teacher happiness in relation to

students in school (Lavy & Bocker, 2017)

examining how a teacher and student achieve

happiness together (Takayanagi, 2016), the teacher's

strategy in achieving happiness in the class (De

Stercke et al., 2015) and which focuses on happiness

of kindergarten teacher (Yang et al., 2018).

The research found that teacher happiness affects

student performance and the success of the learning

process in school (Tadić et al., 2013) the other

research has shown that the teacher happiness can be

a predictor of student happiness and it affects their

learning performance (Duckworth et al., 2009).

Expression of teacher happiness affects student

learning motivation (Sutton & Wheatley, 2003).

Based on some of these studies, it can be concluded

that teacher happiness becomes predictors of student

academic success.

At lower education levels such as Islamic

Kindergarten schools and Islamic primary schools,

teacher happiness is the key to educational success.

The students at this level are children who are in a

period of rapid growth and development that often

have problems in the education process. It can be

pressure for teachers if they have not positive

emotions such as patience, enthusiasm, and high

motivation. Positive emotions and high motivation

can grow when the teacher has happiness.

Happiness as a person's psychological condition

is understood in many ways. This diversity is due to

the individual subjective judgment of an event that

causes him to feel happy. Some definitions of

happiness are expressed by experts, among others

are Feldman (Feldman, 2008) which defines

happiness as a person's mental state and positive

emotional experience as a result of the way their

evaluate or feel events in their lives that generate

positive emotions. While, happiness occurs when

someone experiences a positive mood or emotion in

the face of situations that tend to be interpreted as

something to be desired (Lyubomirsky, 2001).

Similar definitions are also put forward which states

that one's happiness is the result of a positive

assessment of every life process (Seligman et al.,

2005).

The same opinion stated that happiness is the

extent to which a person evaluates the overall

quality of his current life as a positive whole

(Veenhoven, 2009). From various definitions of

happiness, it can be concluded that happiness is a

positive emotion resulting from the individual's

subjective judgment of an event or situation. The

judgment generates positive feelings such as

pleasure, passion, and satisfaction.

One of the factors of teacher happiness is job

satisfaction (Bota, 2013). Job satisfaction is a

pleasant emotional state resulting from one's

1458

Aziz, R., Mangestuti, R. and Wahyuni, E.

What Makes the Teacher Happy?.

DOI: 10.5220/0009929614581463

In Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Recent Innovations (ICRI 2018), pages 1458-1463

ISBN: 978-989-758-458-9

appreciation of one's own work (Dou et al., 2017). It

represents the state of the person who enjoys his

work (Fritzsche & Parrish, 2005). Being satisfied

with work is the result of a positive worker's

perception of work and the environment, and it

develops a sense of happiness (Mehta, 2012). In

general, researchers argue job satisfaction reflects

the perception of someone toward his or her job,

job-related activities, and environment. It is a

composite of psychological and emotional

experiences at work.

In the teaching perspective, teacher job

satisfaction is when students learn and have

progressed, responsible, grow and develop well.

Teachers can also experience job satisfaction when

teachers engage in activities and function their

abilities to the fullest. In this situation the individual

experiences high levels of concentration, fusion,

strength, and control. Usually, this experience is

called "flowing". In addition, job satisfaction is also

felt by teachers when they get satisfaction with

higher level needs, social relationships, rewards, and

self-actualization (Bishay, 1996).

Happiness teacher is also associated with gender.

Some studies have found different results where

there is no difference between male and female in

happiness (Lobos et al., 2016). Another study found

that men tend to be happier than women, even

though the correlation is not satisfied (Chui &

Wong, 2016). While, it is found that there is a

difference in happiness between male and female in

happiness in Asian countries (Hori & Kamo, 2017).

Happiness of teacher is also associated with the

work period. People who work longer hours turn out

to have lower happiness (Beja, 2018). He advises

that happiness in the post-midlife period occurs

because the aforementioned mismatches become

smaller or become not as relevant to people as

before. In the educational context, teacher happiness

is also influenced by the work period (Beja, 2018).

The working period is the length of time required by

a worker to donate his / her energy and his thoughts

to the company so that the expected length of time

will produce good ability and working attitude. The

length of time a teacher can provide opportunities

for teachers to gain work experience that can

enhance their ability and professionalism in

performing their duties as educators. High

professionalism is expected to affect the increasing

quality of education and teacher’s welfare.

Knowing and understanding the trigger factors to

teacher happiness is a key effort for the

advancement of education. Based on that view, this

study examines the effect of job satisfaction on

teacher happiness and how gender and work period

affect happiness on the teacher on Islamic

Kindergarten and primary school.

2 METHOD

The participants were 358 (183 female and 175

male) teachers of Islamic kindergarten and Islamic

primary school in East Java. The data was taken

from the teachers who waer attending a certification

programmed at The State Islamic University of

Malang. Detailed characteristics of respondents

based on school, gender, and work period can be

seen in table 1 below:

Table 1. The characteristics of respondents

Participant

KinderGarte

Primary School Total

F % F % F %

Gender

 Male

4 1.12 179 50 183

51.12

 Female

51 14.25 124 34.64 175

48.88

Sum 55 15.36 303 84.64 358

100

Work Period

 <15 years

22 6.15 54 15.08

76 21.23

 15 – 25

years

18 5.03 169 47.21

187 52.23

 > 25 years

15 4.19 80 22.35

95 26.54

Sum 55 15.36 303 84.64

358 100

The instrument used are The Job Description

Index (JDI), life satisfaction scale and Approach to

Happiness Questionnaire (AHQ). Explanation of the

measuring instrument is as follows:

Job Descriptive Index (JDI) is a measuring tool

for job satisfaction (Smith, 2007) and has been

modified by researchers. This instrument is a series

of statements related to job satisfaction. Job

satisfaction indicators are perceptions of work as

teachers, superiors or leaders, co-workers, salaries or

incentives, and promotions or career opportunities.

This scale initially amounted to 72 items consisting

of favorable and unfavorable items. In this study

modified into 20 items with the consideration that

respondents do not experience saturation in filling it.

This measuring tool has been tested on teachers of

247 teachers of Islamic primary school in East Java.

The results show that all items are declared valid

with reliability α=.710. Some examples of the items

used are: (1) I find the job as an educator to be very

pleasant; (2) I feel annoyed when a boss assesses my

work; (3) I have many friends who are ready to

assist in completing the work; (4) The salary I am

currently receiving does not match my workload;

and (5) I feel that the career uplift is only for certain

people.

The measurement of happiness is done by two

measuring instruments. The first measuring

instrument named Approach to Happiness

Questionnaire by Chris Peterson of the Values in

What Makes the Teacher Happy?

1459

Action Institute (Seligman, 2012). This scale is able

to reveal two indicators of happiness that is positive

emotions and acceptance of whatever happens.

Some examples of items used are: (1) When I do

anything, the time passes very quickly; and (2) I feel

that whatever I do is very meaningful to the people.

The second measuring instrument is Life satisfaction

scale (Diener & Emmons, 1985) and the validity and

reliability of this scale. The reliability test result of

this scale is α = .870. Some examples of items used

are: (1) In general, my life is close to what I aspire

to; and (2) If I can repeat my life, I will not change

anything.

3 RESULT

The result of normality and linearity test to the tested

variable shows that the variable data of happiness

and job satisfaction are normal and the relationship

between the variables tested is linear so that the

parametric statistical analysis done has fulfilled the

requirement to be used. The results of the correlation

analysis of independent variables and dependent

variables can be seen in table 2.

Table 2. Matrics correlation among variables

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Satisf

actio

.526

Caree

.299*

Colle

agues

.190*

Perce

ption

.133*

Salar

.055

Lead

.03

Happ

iness

**. Significant at 1% (p<0,01) *. Significant at 5% (p<0,05

The result of regression analysis found that job

satisfaction has an effect on happiness (R = .526 p

<.01). Among the most important indicators of job

satisfaction on happiness are career paths (R = .299

p <.01), peers or colleagues (R = .190 p <.01),

perceptions of work as teachers (R = .133 p < .05).

There are two indicators that do not correlate with

happiness: salary or incentives and leader. The

results of the variance analysis on workplace

variables, gender, and work period can be read in

table 3.

Table 3. The result of variance analysis

Variable Mean SD F

Gender



Male

76.74 13.2

6.147*



Female

80.24 13.5

Work Periode



<15 years

83.04 12.1

3.889*

 15 - 25 years

80.13 12.7

 > 25 Years

77.36 13.6

**. Significant at 1% (p<0,01) *. Significant at 5% (p<0,05

4 DISCUSSION

Happiness is a valuable psychological condition for

human life, not only because happiness is related to

oneself but it is also related to one's care towards the

happiness of others. In general, happiness is

understood as a subjective judgment of a person for

all the qualities of life that are considered good so

that the individual is happy and satisfied with his life

(Veenhoven, 2009).

Happiness can be influenced by various factors,

job satisfaction is one of them. This study has

examined the effect of teacher work satisfaction on

his happiness. The result of the analysis shows that

the teacher's job satisfaction has a positive and

significant effect on happiness level. that means, the

more the teacher feels satisfied at work, the more he

feels happy. The results of this study have supported

several previous studies (Bota, 2013; Demirel, 2014;

Dou et al., 2017).

how job satisfaction can affect the happiness of a

teacher? In general, job satisfaction is

conceptualized as an effective variable resulting

from an individual's assessment of his work

experience that elicits feelings of pleasure and

satisfaction (Fritzsche & Parrish, 2005). Feelings of

satisfaction and pleasure are also a component of

happy emotions as a result of individual positive

judgments. Job satisfaction drives the teacher’s

happiness, because his job satisfaction interacts with

the satisfaction of his life (as one indicator of

happiness) since most of the time the teacher is used

to carry out his teaching duties at school (Filiz,

2014). The psychological experience of feeling

happy, calm, and prosperous in the working life of

the teacher, not only limited in the workplace but

also transferred in his life. When a teacher is

satisfied with his work, then three things the teacher

finds are valuable workplaces, meaningful work, and

ICRI 2018 - International Conference Recent Innovation

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self-improvement. These three things cause teachers

to enjoy and feel the happiness of their lives

(Loscocco & Roschelle, 1991).

Theoretically, job satisfaction experienced by

teachers is formed from two factors, namely

individual factors and environmental factors.

Individual factors have several dimensions, among

others, age, education, skills, and work experience or

years of service. While environmental factors have

dimensions such as work climate, colleagues,

leaders, salaries, and organizational systems. All

these job satisfaction factors in detail have an effect

on happiness.

In this study, the results of the regression

analysis of each dimension of job satisfaction on the

happiness teachers showed that the dimension of

career ladder has the greatest influence, followed by

colleagues or friends, the teacher's perception of

their work. While salaries and leaders have low

contribution to happiness.

The interesting findings are that salaries and

leaders have very little influence on happiness. This

is different from the findings of existing studies,

which indicate that salaries and leaders affect job

satisfaction. Theoretically, this finding can be

explained by using the Conceptual References

Theory (CRT) which explains that every individual

has a conceptual reference to the happiness of life

that plays a role in determining a person's happiness

or not in his life (Rojas, 2016). For example, a

teacher holds that high salaries and adequate

working facilities are a source of happiness. But

other teachers may be of the view that happiness is

not because of salary and facilities received, but the

success of students in learning or appreciation of the

community it receives. Based on this, teacher

happiness is more emphasized on how they are

given the opportunity to develop through career

paths and relationships with colleagues.

Empirically the small contribution of salary and

leadership to the happiness teachers in research in

line with the results of research conducted by Irianto

and Subandi (2015). Their research showed that

teachers in the hinterland of Papua can feel

happiness as their students showed progress in

learning and move on to higher levels of education,

although their economic facilities and welfare are

lacking. The results of this study reinforce the theory

that the concept of happiness affect a person to feel

happy or not. How they are given the opportunity to

grow through career paths and relationships with

colleagues.

The results of the teacher's happiness analysis

analyzed from the gender dimension in this study

indicate that female teachers both from Islamic

Kindergarten and Islamic Primary School have more

job satisfaction and happiness than male teachers.

This study supported by a previous study (Hori &

Kamo, 2017).

This difference is due to several reasons, namely,

firstly female teachers have lower expectations than

male teachers. this can be due to the position of the

female in employment is also lower, so females are

more receptive to their work. According to Clark

(Clark, 1997) people who have lower expectations

then he will tend to be more easily satisfied with his

work and impact to be happier. Second, instinctively

female teachers have more closeness to the world of

children than male teachers. Thus, these

characteristics cause female teachers to enjoy more

work than male teachers (Şahin & Sak, 2016).

Third, there is a cultural view that men are the

backbone of the family and should be responsible

for the family's economic well-being. While working

as a teacher salary is relatively small.

In addition to the dimensions of school and

gender, another dimension also analyzed in this

study is the influence of the dimension of work to

happiness. The results of the analysis show that

teachers who have a shorter working life (under 10

years) are happier than teachers who have longer

tenure (above 20 years). In other words, the longer

the teacher taught the less the happiness. This study

is in line with research conducted by Şahin and Sak

(Şahin & Sak, 2016). In the early days of teachers

teaching, they still had a positive attitude toward

work as teachers and had more opportunities to

develop their skills as teachers. In contrast to

teachers whose working periods were longer, the

condition began to decrease as well as their

enthusiasm, even from the observations and

interviews of the respondents with longer tenure, it

is known that many of them want to retire earlier,

especially in men who start looking for other jobs to

supplement their income.

5 CONCLUSION

Happiness is a positive and valuable emotion for

everyone, unexception of teachers. it can encourage

everyone to be successful in life. The happiness of

the teacher not only affects the teachers themselves

but also for the students. Happy teachers are more

motivated to work. Happy teachers can also affect

student academic performance

Teacher happiness is a psychological condition

that is influenced by various factors. the results of

this study indicate that job satisfaction, gender, and

working period can affect teachers' happiness. From

an educational perspective, teacher happiness is

believed to enhance a student's motivation and

academic performance. Therefore, teachers'

What Makes the Teacher Happy?

1461

happiness should be efforted by both the teachers

themselves and the institution in which the teacher

works.

Individually, job satisfaction that affects the

teacher's happy feelings can be obtained when the

teacher gives a positive assessment of his work and

life. This is where the role of perception of the job as

a teacher is very influential whether the teacher feels

happy or not. Institutionally, although in the research

it was found that salary and leadership did not affect

the happiness of teachers, however institutions need

to pay attention to the welfare of teachers both

financially (salary) and social welfare (fair

leadership, conducive and harmonious work

environment, adequate working facilities) and

psychological well-being (appreciation, support, and

comfort). All of these factors will help teachers have

a positive perspective on their work.

Finally, the results of this study are expected to

be the basis for the implementation of school

management that can create a happy atmosphere in

schools by improving the welfare of teachers both

economically, socially, and psychologically. The

wellbeing and happiness of teachers is one of the

keys to student success and educational success

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