Administration or Finance Positions vs Teaching. Seeking Work Satisfaction and Professional Development

The question why some teachers either select or are being forced (?) or led to transference in different work position than teaching, which is the position they have been hired initially, constitute the aim of the present work. The aim of this study is to investigate a) the reasons which incited teachers to take the decision to transfer, b) the degree of satisfaction and the problems they face, and c) the professional development in the new working environment.

For the data collection of this research a questionnaire was used. Finally, 126 questionnaires have been answered by teachers that transferred into administrative positions from 24 Administration offices of Primary and Secondary Education in Greece.

The results of the research showed that the transference teachers driven this option for personal, family and economic reasons, among which is the distance from the place of residence and the living cost. The feeling of security against the fear of dismissal, the interest for the new object desk is in addition to the reasons of the venture. Additionally, the results of the investigation showed that the majority of the transferred teachers declares satisfaction with new job but appears positive towards the probability of returning into the classroom. Teachers who decided voluntarily their transference are more satisfied overall with their new work compared to mandatory transference.

There is no satisfaction from the working environment, neither from the possibility of professional progress, for which the host institution seems not to apply specific strategies. The organization should "exploit" the talented and experienced personnel by strengthening the mentoring and coaching.

Another outcome of the investigation showed that the majority of the transferred teachers consider, the cooperation with their colleagues, the continuing education and upgrading, as well as their basic training, the most important factors of their professional development, factors that rank in the first places of the research’s results, while attending post-graduate programs and the search for knowledge in the internet rank in the last positions.