Abstract:
The purpose of this research is to compare morale of teachers in private and government schools and to indentify factors influencing it, particularly those arising from limitations in working conditions. Teachers are the most important factor in the success of education. If their morale is high it means that they will be eager to work hard. On the contrary it their morale is low they will be poorly motivated to work. Therefore teachers morale is very important to education administration and development in many ways. If we ascertain teachers morale and identify the factors influencing it, we will be able to help education administrators in their implementation of the nations education development plan. Teacher in private and government schools work under different conditions. This study aims at finding these different conditions and their impact on the teachers morale. The findings confirm the general observation that private schools conditions are not conducive to strengthening teachers morale. The hypothesis guiding the collection and analysis of data in this study are as follow : 1.There is a difference in the level of morale of private and government school teachers 2.There is a relationship between morale and administrative policies of the schools. 3.There is a relationship between morale and relationship with supervisors. 4.There is a relationship between morale and relationship with fellow teachers. 5.There is a relationship between morale and factors about the schools welfare measures and facilities. 6.There is a relationship between morale and the schools policies regarding pay scale, promotion and other financial rewards. 7.There is a relationship between morale and opportunities for professional advancement and self development. 8. There is a relationship between morale and participation in school activities and administration. 9.There is a relationship between morale and sense of occupation security. 10. There is a relationship between morale and the nature of communication of information within the schools. The data for this thesis were collected by means of questionnaires sent to two groups of teachers, one from four private schools and the other from four government schools in Bangkok. In large schools random samples of teachers were chosen from the prepared lists by means of casting lots to get the required member while in smaller schools all teachers were included in the sample. The finding of the research confirm all the hypothesis, that is : 1.The morale of private school teachers is lower than that of the government school teachers, 20.5% of the former has high morales as compared with 57.4% of the latter. In both private and government schools, male teachers have lower morale than female teachers. 2. As to the relative importance of different factors influencing morale, in private schools the order of importance are : administration policies, pay scale, welfare measures, professional advancement, job security, relationship with fellow teachers, relationship with supervisors, internal communication, and participation in administration. In government schools the influencing factors are in this order : relationship with fellow teachers and professional advancement (about same importance), administrative policies, job security, relationship with supervisors, welfare measures, pay scale, participation in administration, and internal communication.