The transformation of educational institutions into learning organisations promotes diverse learning opportunities, improves the learning environment and diversifies teaching approaches for students and school staff, both within the educational institution and in collaboration with other organisations [1]. As a result, schools become organisations with a high level of professional competence in management, teaching and academic staff; strategic operational vision; responsibility and autonomy ^[2][3][2,3]. They implement more effective cooperation between employees and management of financial and professional resources, and the transfer of knowledge and good practices is implemented more successfully.

Several SLO models have been developed around the world, the best known of which is the OECD Wales model, which includes seven dimensions: developing and sharing a vision centred on the learning of all students; creating and supporting continuous learning opportunities for all staff; promoting team learning and collaboration among all staff; establishing a culture of inquiry, innovation and exploration; embedding systems for collecting and exchanging knowledge and learning; learning with and from the external environment and larger learning system; and modelling and growing learning leadership ^[4][5][6][7][4,5,6,7].

At the level of education systems, the features of the SLO approach can be seen in the Singapore School Excellence Model ^[8][9][8,9], and the SLO approach is being introduced in the national education system in Greece, with particular attention being paid to such SLO characteristics as learning analytics ^[10][11][10,11]. The SLO approach can be found in the education systems of Portugal, Denmark, Finland and other countries ^[5][12][13][5,12,13].

The SLO approach has also been introduced in the education system in Latvia, as it is embedded in the refined competence-based curriculum ^[14][15][14,15]. Learning organisation indicators, such as continuous professional development of staff, learning from the external environment, developing systems of knowledge accumulation and collaborative teamwork in school, are used by the State Education Quality Service [16] to measure the quality of education available in schools and to develop the school self-assessment process in line with the SLO performance indicators.

Employee job satisfaction in relation to the implementation of learning organisation in the workplace is viewed through the following professional practices: opportunities for continuous learning and professional development; fostering a culture of research and dialogue; collaboration and team learning; systems to identify and share good practice within the organisation; participation in the development of a shared vision; the organisational environment; and strategic management and learning leadership [17].

Employees who are satisfied with their work in an organisation are physically and mentally healthier, experience a higher quality of life, are more motivated and productive [18], and are less likely to be absent from work [19]. This is why job satisfaction also influences employees’ attitudes, loyalty and support for the achievement of the organisation’s common goals [20]. However, the relationship between employee job satisfaction and productivity is not always statistically significant, as it is also influenced by factors such as intrinsic motivation and competition with colleagues ^[21][22][21,22].

Job satisfaction is linked to an employee’s affective and cognitive behaviour regarding specific aspects of their job [23]). Organisations that offer resources to employees and support employees’ learning and continuous professional development provide significant psychological benefits and increase employee job satisfaction ^[24][25][24,25]. Offering regular learning opportunities, combined with the establishment of a learning-promoting system in the organisation and employee empowerment, which are also important elements of learning organisations, contribute to employee job satisfaction in the long term ^[26][27][26,27]. Employee empowerment, employee training and teamwork have significant positive effects on job satisfaction ^[28][29][28,29]. Providing learning opportunities increases an employee’s confidence in their professional competence, enhances job satisfaction [30], as well as motivates them to improve and engage in the achievement of organisational goals [31].

This is also applicable to educational institutions, where teachers who experience greater support at school, which primarily manifests as support and encouragement from school management to engage in decision-making and provision of learning opportunities, experience greater job satisfaction and contribute to the achievement of common goals ^[32][33][32,33]. Teachers who feel more satisfied with their jobs show greater loyalty to their organisation [34]. Therefore, the implementation of the learning organisation in school management practices has the potential to positively influence the job satisfaction of school staff.

In educational sciences, the concept of satisfaction is related to the mental, physical and environmental satisfaction that an employee derives from their work. In addition, data show that a teacher who is satisfied with their job provides better support for students and contributes to the achievement of the school’s common goals [35]. This is essential in the context of the learning organisation, where expanding students’ learning experiences and improving their achievements are key goals of the SLO implementation [6]. OECD points out that teacher job satisfaction is reflected in teachers’ professional competence, attitudes and beliefs, professional practices and development activities [36], which can be negatively affected by conditions such as a lack of support, increased stress levels, overwork and professional burnout ^[37][38][37,38], as well as social comparison with other employees [39]. Therefore, the SLO is proposed as an alternative school management model that offers teachers specific mechanisms for professional development, peer learning, professional support, and collaboration at the organisational level while having the potential to enhance job satisfaction.

School staff job satisfaction—which is related to professional fulfilment; self-efficacy; optimism about the future of the profession; participation in school life; personal development relationships with colleagues, students and parents; as well as management support for quality; and performance of daily tasks and innovation—have been identified in research as important preconditions for schools to become learning organisations ^{[6][7][12][32][40][41][42]}[6,7,12,32,40,41,42].

A study conducted in Greece underlined the need to change the school principal’s current role in Greece. “The teachers expressed the view that the role of the school heads should be mainly associated with the creation of a work environment that enhances the collaboration with the local community, fosters teamwork, mentoring and teacher participation in decision-making at school level as well as the facilitation of opportunities for teacher training and professional growth and development.” [43] (p. 47–48). In comparison, another study conducted in Greece has concluded that the more an organisation prioritises the creation of an environment that enables employees to learn at work, the higher the employees’ satisfaction with their work [11].

Concern for the job satisfaction of school staff is also a characteristic feature of the Finnish education system. Job satisfaction in Finland is fostered by nurturing features of the SLO approach in the organisation, such as teacher autonomy and freedom and a culture of trust, support and collaboration ^[12][44][12,44]. Another study on the implementation of the SLO principles in Wales (UK) reported that fostering team learning and collaboration among school staff, creating a culture of inquiry and experimentation within the school and modelling learning leadership in the school are factors that help improve staff job satisfaction [45].

Studies analysing the effectiveness of the SLO approaches have found that schools that implement the SLO principles have higher levels of teacher job satisfaction, which is particularly influenced by the implementation of SLO dimensions, such as shared vision, growing leadership and teamwork. Furthermore, a particularly strong correlation between the implementation of the SLO elements and teacher job satisfaction and personal efficacy has been found to exist in Nordic countries—Finland, Sweden and Norway—and in East Asian countries, such as Japan, Korea and Taiwan [40].