Teacher Participation in School Decision-Making and Job Satisfaction as Correlates of Organizational Commitment in Senior Schools in Botswana
Authors:   ,   Andrews University, Mosheti Paul 
Published: April 2023

The Problem. Two major national educational challenges in Botswana are to retain teachers and recruit more. Both retention and recruitment efforts often involve issues of teacher decision-making, teacher job satisfaction, and how these correlate with commitment to the school organization. Little was known about Botswana teachers’ views on these issues. This exploratory study investigated the relationship of teacher participation in decision-making and job satisfaction to organizational commitment among senior secondary school teachers in Botswana. Methodology. A quantitative research design was used for the study. Two hundred twenty-one completed the questionnaire. Teachers were asked to indicate level of agreement on participation in decision-making, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment using a 5-point Likert Scale ranging from Strongly Disagree to Strongly Agree. Demographic data were also collected. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and canonical correlation generated from statistical tests using SPSS. Results. Teachers reported high participation in decision-making when guiding students in their academic progress and future career choice, but less participation in decision- making on development/operation of the school budget, matters of school governance, and school personnel issues. Teachers reported moderate satisfaction with their overall career as a teacher, their contribution to student success, assistance to students, but less satisfaction with income, opportunity for promotion, and career advancement. On the degree of commitment to teaching, they reported high commitment to the success of students, to the teaching profession, to continuing to seek professional development, and a willingness to do more than is expected to help the school. Teacher participation in decision-making was higher for those 41 years and older than for those 31-40 or those 21-30. No gender differences were noted in all the three variables. In commitment to their current school, teachers with qualifications other than a master’s degree scored higher than did teachers with a master’s degree. Those in the Central Region scored higher in participation in school decision making and job satisfaction in their current school than did those teaching in the South Central region. The teachers who reported stated a high passion for the success of students, a commitment to the teaching profession, and a continued commitment to seek professional development to improve their teaching skills were significant goals that teachers endeavored to attain in order to achieve greater satisfaction. Conclusions and Recommendations. School leaders need to find ways for more teacher participation in school decision making. This is especially needed for those in the age group 31-40 who constitute a majority of the teachers (57%), and who expressed less satisfaction with issues across the board. I recommend that teachers and school principals work together to develop creative ways to get teachers more involved as a way to potentially improve their satisfaction and commitment. Further research is needed to explain the link between Botswana teachers’ commitment and student performance inside and/or beyond the classroom. Also, further research would explain in more detail the mechanisms or progress for improving all three variables: teacher participation in school decision making, job satisfaction, and school organization. This study showed the strong relationship between participation in decision-making, job satisfaction, and school organizational commitment.