Browsing by Subject "http://www.yso.fi/onto/yso/p1835"
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(2024)Teachers’ well-being at work is an important factor for both teachers themselves and school community. This Master’s Thesis focuses on teachers’ well-being at work in a certain elementary school in Helsinki Metropolitan Area during one school year. Aim of the research was to find out 1) level of teachers’ well-being at work during one school year, 2) which factors teachers find decreasing their well-being at work, 3) which factors teachers find supporting their well-being at work. The level of well-being at work is measured by five different factors: stress, strain caused by teaching and guiding, burnout, work engagement and meaningfulness of the work. The research is a mixed methods case study. The level of teachers’ well-being at work was studied through quantitative data and both decreasing and supporting factors of well-being at work was studied through qualitative data. The quantitative data was analysed by studying statistics and averages and the qualitative data was analysed by tools of data-driven and theory-driven content analysis. Research material consists of answers of questionnaires which measure teachers’ well-being at work. The material was collected as a part of ”KILO Työhyvinvointia / KILO Well-being at work” -project during school year 2022–2023. The project was funded by OAJ’s Occupational Wellbeing Fund (Trade Union of Education, Työhyvinvointirahasto), Finnish Basic Education Unit of city of Espoo and Elementary School of Kilo. Findings of the research show that teachers’ well-being at work was on relatively good level during the whole school year. Amount of stress, strain caused by teaching and guiding and burnout remained at reasonable level and at the same time experiences of work engagement and meaningfulness of the work were strong. Factors that especially decreased teacher’ well-being at work were different demands towards the work of a teacher and pressure as well as pupils and teaching group. Most often mentioned demands towards the work of a teacher were tasks outside of teaching work, amount of the work and lack of time. Among factors that put a strain on teachers and were connected to pupils and teaching group were mentioned behaviour of pupils and pupils that need support, and tasks related to this supportive work. The study shows that the most important factors that increased teachers’ well-being at work were delimitation of the work, work community and support it can offer, as well as focusing and investing in both physical and mental well-being. Results of the research indicate that it is important to focus on teachers’ well-being at work also in the future. This Master’s Thesis produces important information about factors that cause stress and strain in teachers’ work, and which should be taken into account. In addition to this, research points out factors that teachers can use, in order to support their well-being at work.
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(2021)Goals. The aim of this study was to examine Finnish school principals’ job-related emotions during the COVID-10 pandemic in the Spring 2020. The goal of the study was to examine what sort of emotion profiles it is possible to identify among school principals, and how these groups differ in job performance, ability to work, and gender. The theory of achievement emotions, in which emotions are described by valence, activation, and object focus, was used to examine principals’ emotions. It is important to examine the connection between emotions and job performance and ability to work, because emotions have a significant impact on individual’s behaviour and wellbeing. The study’s character was mainly explorative. Methods. The data (n = 552) was collected from Finnish school principals during the Spring and early Summer 2020 as part of the second Principal Barometer. Of the respondents, 59 % were women. Participants filled in a questionnaire measuring emotions, job performance, and ability to work. The emotion profile groups among school principals were examined by Two Step Cluser analysis. Group differences between the emotion profiles in job performance and ability to work were examined by analysis of variance, and gender differences were examined by cross-tabulation and X2 independence test. Results and conclusions. Four different emotion profiles were identified among school principals. The first profile described principals who experienced only little both positive and negative emotions. The group was named as mild emotions profile. The second profile described principals who mostly experienced positive emotions, and was named as positive emotions profile. The third group experienced both positive and negative emotions higher than average, and was named as strong emotions profile. The fourth profile described principals who mostly experienced negative emotions, and was named as negative emotions profile. The groups varied partly in job performance and ability to work. Principals belonging to the positive emotions profile expressed higher job performance and ability to work than the other groups. In contrary, principals belonging to the negative emotions profile experienced lower job performance and ability than the other groups. Principals belonging to the mild emotions profile and to the strong emotions profile did not differ from each other in job performance and ability to work. No gender differences were found between the groups. This study shows that school principals experienced a great variety of emotions during the COVID-19 pandemic. The strongest positive and negative emotions are associated with job performance and ability to work. In the future, it would be important to study, how school principals’ emotions change in different work circumstances and how emotions are connected to the wider wellbeing of school principals.
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(2022)Finnish principals experience high levels of stress in their work, which has raised a strong interest to identify factors that could support principal well-being. This study explores, first, the connection between principals’ perceived self-efficacy and physiological stress, and second, the changes in the stress and self-efficacy levels from 2019 to 2020. As earlier research has mostly focused on the self-reported stress and self-efficacy, this study raises further implications on the link between perceived self-efficacy and the physiological stress on school principals. The theoretical framework of the study is the social cognitive theory by Albert Bandura. Bandura suggests that the stress-protective role of self-efficacy should result in diminished physiological stress responses. Present study tests two hypothesis. According to the first hypothesis, principals with high self-efficacy are less stressed than principals with lower self-efficacy. According to the second hypothesis, the self-efficacy of the principals’ stays relatively stable from 2019 to 2020. Data of the study consists of questionnaire data and physiological measurements. The self efficacy levels of the participants were measured by using the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire-II. The physiological measurements were collected with mobile heart rate monitoring device Firstbeat BodyGuard 2. Altogether 30 principals participated the study in 2019 and 14 principals in 2020. In the study, statistical analysis was conducted with the SPSS Statistics programme. The data was analysed using the Pearson correlation, linear regression analysis and paired sample t-test. The study showed that the self-efficacy levels and physiological stress levels are statistically significantly connected. Consistent with the first hypothesis, principals with high self-efficacy are less stressed during office hours than principals with lower self-efficacy on both years. In addition, the connection between age and the stress levels and self-efficacy levels were studied. The analysis shows that principals with higher age had more physiological stress than their younger colleagues in 2019. However, in 2020, age was not connected to higher stress levels. The results indicate that the self-efficacy levels and age of the participants are not connected in both years. No evidence was found that the stress and self-efficacy levels of the Finnish principals would have changed from 2019 to 2020. This study contributes to a comprehensive understanding of self-efficacy and stress of Finnish principals, and these findings could support principals’ wellbeing and their commitment to work.
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