Teachers’ Perception of Their Work Environment: Evidence from the Primary and Secondary Schools of Bangladesh

Abstract

The work environment includes conducive aspects such as (1) organizational encouragement, (2) supervisory encouragement, and (3) workgroup support, as well as toxic conditions like (4) teaching impediments and (5) workload pressure; the objective of the research is which of the factors and what are the elements of those factors teachers perceive as constituting the conducive and toxic environment. The research also outlines the effects of years of experience and the level of teaching on the specified factors. The study used a quantitative-based cross-sectional survey to analyze teachers’ perceptions of their work environment. A questionnaire comprised some background information, and 34 close-ended questions were used to elicit the responses. About 368 (230 males and 138 females) teachers participated in the survey. Structural equation models were constructed, where the five mentioned factors were part of two second-order formative constructs. Independent sample t-test was estimated to outline gender-wise and teaching level-wise (primary and secondary) variation, whereas Pearson correlation coefficients were calculated to check whether the experience was correlated with any of the perceived factors of the work environment. It is found that workgroup encouragement, particularly having good relations with the principal, is the most important factor in the conducive environment of the school. The physical facilities were the least, whereas promoting positive behavior by avoiding conflict and ensuring fairness was the most important aspect of organizational encouragement. Teaching impediments were mostly shaped by how often teachers require dealing with disruptive and violent pupils. Teachers perceived too many after-school meetings, unreasonable deadlines, and office staffs’ inspections enhance their workload pressure. The more a teacher became experienced, the more he or she positively perceived the conducive environment of the school. The findings can serve as a guide for educational policymakers and school administrators to identify which factors in the school environment need urgent attention and modification.