Satisfaction with the teaching profession: initial reflections from the Saeb 2019 questionnaires

Abstract

This study seeks to verify, at the national level, to what extent professional, territorial characteristics and educational systems are correlated with teacher satisfaction. To do so, we analyzed data from the 2019 National System for Basic Education Evaluation (Saeb) teacher questionnaire, comparing the statistics – obtained through binary logistic regression – with the results of other studies on the subject. Several studies indicate that professional dissatisfaction is related to teacher ailments and burnout syndrome, a reality that affects not only teachers but also the quality of education. Due to the relevance of the topic, the number of studies investigating the factors that may affect teacher satisfaction is increasing. However, systematic reviews found few studies on the characteristics discussed in this article and, when they do address these aspects, they do not use nationwide data. Although they are not conclusive regarding the characteristics of education systems, the results show that professional and territorial characteristics are determinants of teacher satisfaction.