Perception of justice: reflexion about higher education teacher

Abstract

An analysis was conducted on the subject of the inverse association between perceptions of justice, job satisfaction and its association with seniority, type of institution and employment contract. Included were teachers, either under contract or lecturing at Instituto Superior Miguel Torga (ISMT) and at Escola Superior de Tecnologias da Saúde de Coimbra (ESTES). The instruments used were: Teacher Job Satisfaction Questionnaire (TJSQ), Questionnaire of Teachers’ perceptions of Justice in Higher Education (QPJ) and a Socio-Demographic Questionnaire. From those surveyed, 48 of the 81 teachers (59.3 %) are female and 33 (40.7 % ) belong to the male gender. From those with a higher participation rate 58% hold a Masters degree, 66 % have an employment contract and 28.3 % began their teaching activity in the last five years. A conclusion was reached testifying the existence of highly significant correlations between QPJ and TJSQ. The relation between QPJ and TJSQ has shown that the different factors that make up the QPJ scale and factors 1 and 2 of the TJSQ reach statistical significance, and all of the factors of QPJ reach highly significant correlations with factors 3, 4 and 5 of the TJSQ scale. ISMT shows higher average values when compared to ESTES in all QPJ factors, exhibiting no significant differences. Regarding the number of years at work, ESTES teachers who have worked fewer years have higher averages than those who have worked for longer periods, and at ISMT the lowest average values belong to those who have worked for more years. Teachers working under service providing contracts show higher average values related to their perception of justice in the different factors, in view of this, significant differences between ISMT teachers with an employment contract and a contract to provide services are exhibited in factors 1 and 4 of the QPJ.