Job Satisfaction And Teachers' Performance In Public Secondary Schools In Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria

This study examined the relationship between job satisfaction and teachers' performance in public secondary schools in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. Five specific dimensions of job satisfaction were investigated, namely salary and remuneration satisfaction, working conditions satisfaction, supervision and interpersonal relations satisfaction, recognition and professional growth satisfaction, and job security satisfaction. The study adopted a correlational survey design. The population comprised 5,400 public secondary school teachers across the state's six education zones, from which a sample of 380 teachers was drawn using the Taro Yamane formula and a multi-stage sampling technique combining stratified and simple random sampling. A structured instrument, the Job Satisfaction and Teachers' Performance Questionnaire (JSTPQ), was validated by experts and trial-tested for reliability (Cronbach's Alpha = 0.82). Research questions were answered using mean and standard deviation against a criterion mean of 2.50, while the five null hypotheses were tested using the Chi-square statistic at the 0.05 level of significance, based on 365 validly retrieved responses (96.1% return rate). All five dimensions of job satisfaction were found to have a statistically significant relationship with teachers' performance, with supervision and interpersonal relations satisfaction showing both the highest descriptive rating (grand mean = 2.80) and the strongest statistical association (χ² = 40.127), while salary and remuneration satisfaction recorded the lowest descriptive rating (grand mean = 2.46) despite remaining significantly related to performance. The study concludes that job satisfaction is a significant, multi-dimensional determinant of teachers' performance in Akwa Ibom State, and recommends that education authorities pursue a comprehensive strategy combining remuneration reform, supervisory training, and structured recognition mechanisms rather than relying on any single intervention.