Scale Description

The International Teacher 2000 (IT2000-56) is an assessment scale developed by Dinham and Scott in 2000 to examine teachers’ job satisfaction within the educational environment.

According to the source document, the scale has been used in several English-speaking countries and has also been applied in other national contexts, including France, Malta, and Greece.

The IT2000-56 provides a multidimensional approach to teacher job satisfaction by examining several aspects of teachers’ professional experiences. Rather than focusing exclusively on overall satisfaction, the instrument considers different characteristics of the school and professional environment that may contribute to teachers’ satisfaction or dissatisfaction.

Objective

The primary objective of the IT2000-56 is to measure teachers’ job satisfaction and, more specifically, to investigate the effects of changes within the educational system on teacher satisfaction.

The scale can therefore contribute to understanding how teachers evaluate different aspects of their professional environment and how educational changes may be associated with their overall occupational experience.

Scale Dimensions

According to the source document, the IT2000-56 includes nine factors:

Leadership and School Climate: Addresses teachers’ experiences of leadership and the broader climate within the school environment.

Relationships with Parents and the Community: Examines aspects of teachers’ relationships and interactions with parents and the wider community.

Counselling and Guidance: Concerns the counselling and guidance dimension of teachers’ professional experience.

Student Achievement and Behavior: Examines satisfaction associated with students’ achievement and behavior.

Workload: Addresses the demands and volume of teachers’ professional responsibilities.

Recognition: Examines teachers’ perceptions of recognition for their work and professional contribution.

Professional Development and Advancement: Concerns opportunities for professional growth, development, and career advancement.

Salary and Working Hours: Examines satisfaction with financial remuneration and working hours.

Unionism: Addresses the union-related dimension of teachers’ professional experience.

Scoring

The IT2000-56 consists of 56 items, which are answered using a five-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 to 5:

1 = High Dissatisfaction
2 = Dissatisfaction
3 = Intermediate Level
4 = Satisfaction
5 = High Satisfaction

The source document explicitly defines the scale endpoints as 1 (High Dissatisfaction) and 5 (High Satisfaction).

Higher scores therefore indicate greater teacher job satisfaction, whereas lower scores indicate greater job dissatisfaction.

Statistical Analysis

According to the source document, the IT2000-56 produces an overall score calculated by summing the scores of the individual items.

The resulting total score represents the teacher’s overall level of job satisfaction. Higher total scores indicate higher levels of satisfaction.

The nine factors can also provide a more differentiated representation of satisfaction across the various areas of teachers’ professional experience.

Descriptive statistics may be used to summarize responses across the scale and its dimensions, while comparative analyses can examine differences in teacher satisfaction between relevant groups.

Validity and Reliability

According to the source document, the International Teacher 2000 was linguistically and culturally adapted to the Greek context by Iliophotou and colleagues in 2014.

Within the Greek sample, the reliability coefficients for the nine factors, as well as the overall reliability coefficient of the scale, were considered satisfactory.

The source document reports a Cronbach’s alpha (α) of 0.92 for the overall scale, indicating high internal consistency within the sample in which it was evaluated.

Applications

The IT2000-56 can be used in research focusing on teacher job satisfaction, school climate, educational leadership, and the effects of changes within educational systems on teachers’ professional experiences.

Its multidimensional structure allows researchers to examine both overall job satisfaction and specific aspects of teachers’ working environments.

The scale may therefore provide useful information for studies investigating how leadership, relationships with parents and the community, student behavior, workload, professional recognition, career development, salary, working hours, and union-related factors are associated with teachers’ job satisfaction.

Interpretation of Results

Interpretation of the IT2000-56 follows the direction of its scoring system:

Higher Scores → Higher Teacher Job Satisfaction

Lower Scores → Higher Teacher Job Dissatisfaction

The overall score provides a general indication of teachers’ job satisfaction, while examination of the nine individual factors can provide a more detailed understanding of the specific areas associated with satisfaction or dissatisfaction.

Results should therefore be interpreted within the educational and organizational context in which the scale is administered.

References

Authors: Dinham, S., & Scott, C.

Greek Adaptation: Iliophotou, M., et al.