Workforce redesign at a Teacher Academy School: impacts of an innovative team-based staffing model on teacher job satisfaction

Teachers’ job satisfaction has decreased in the U.S. and worldwide. One way to increase job satisfaction and relieve stress among teachers might be a school workforce redesign that distributes classroom teachers' responsibilities among a cadre of novice, experienced, and expert teachers. This study used survey, interview, and focus group data from a school with a workforce redesign and a traditional one-teacher-one-classroom school to examine teacher job satisfaction through teachers’ self- and collective efficacy and school climate. Through surveys, teachers in the school with a workforce redesign demonstrated higher job satisfaction, as evidenced by more consistently positive views of teaching self-efficacy, collective teacher efficacy, and school climate, than teachers in the traditional one-teacher-one-classroom school. Interview data corroborated the survey results, with teachers in the workforce redesign reporting more consistently positive views of themselves, their peers, and their school than teachers in traditional one-teacher-one-classroom schools. Policy makers and district personnel might consider a workforce redesign to increase teachers’ job satisfaction.