A study of teacher perceptions of job satisfaction related to the use of interdisciplinary teams at the middle school level in the state of California

Purpose. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of interdisciplinary teams (IDT) upon teacher job satisfaction. Procedure. Two hundred teachers participating on interdisciplinary teams were surveyed for the study, 107 teachers responded. The teachers were from the 115 Foundation and Partnership Middle Schools in the State of California. The instrument used was a portion of the Education in the Middle Grades: A National Survey of Trends and Practices, developed by Epstein and Mac Iver, and additional questions specifically related to teacher job satisfaction. The 11 hypotheses addressed in the study were analyzed by the statistical procedures of the Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient, the t-test, and the analysis of variance (ANOVA). Findings. There was no significant relationship between teacher job satisfaction and the use of IDT, with six exceptions in the area of teacher collegiality. A positive relationship existed between amount of common planning time and teacher collegiality (p less than $.01). A significant relationship existed between the activity of revising students\u27 schedules and teacher collegiality (p less than $.05). The problems of not enough planning time, teachers not sufficiently trained in IDT, and teachers find it difficult to relate to both subject matter and IDT, were related to teacher collegiality (p less than $.05). The benefit of use of other team members as a source of social support and understanding was significantly related to teacher collegiality (p less than $.01). Implications for further study. Replications of this study might be made nationally and a study in which the amount of common planning time will be a minimum of two hours per week. Teacher personality types related to teacher implementation of IDT and perception of job satisfaction might be studied. To determine teachers\u27 perceptions of the factors affecting the successful implementation of IDT, a case study of the implementation of IDT is recommended. A study of middle school students might include information on student learning and student discipline with the use of IDT