Teacher´s working conditions and teacher´s performance.A research about how school teacher´s working conditions influence the quality of education, in regards to teacher´s performance

Abstract

This research was done in a Colombian private school. Its aim was to determine how the teacher´s working conditions, influenced the quality of education, in terms of teacher´s performance. Working conditions studied were: recruitment system, payment system and working hours. It was conducted as a study case, with a qualitative approach. To collect data, the techniques used were: surveys for teachers (self-applied), qualitative interviews (semi-structured) for directors and documental review. Among the most important findings of this study, it was found that the teacher´s working conditions do affect the quality of education, as they are a source of motivation and they help improving the quality of life of teachers; these affects the effort they do in their work (Murillo. 2007; Ontiveiros. 2006), although this is not determinant for quality. It was found, that there is a need to pay attention to payment and working hours. It also became clear, that working hours must be enough for teachers do their labor, in order to protect teacher´s personal and familiar moments. Besides, it is necessary to assign payment to extra working hours, and teachers won´t be forced to have more than one work,because this will decrease their commitment to school (Murillo. 2007). This study confirmed that quality in education is a systemic process (Comboni and Juarez. 2007), in which must be considered the teachers' working conditions to achieve quality.