Browsing by Author "Valkonen, Elina"

Objectives. The work of a school teacher is constantly transforming because of the rapid changing of society and at the same time the well-being of teachers at work seems to have worsened in many respects. The changes in working life also affect the job descriptions and tasks of home economics teachers. The aim of this thesis is to find out what home economics teachers with over 15 years of working experience consider to be the most significant changes in their work and how these changes have affected their well-being. The second aim is to find out what kind of support home economics teachers have received for their well-being and what kind of factors help them to endure in their work. In this thesis well-being at work is examined especially from the perspective of change, and at the same time acounting its holistic nature. Methods. A qualitative research strategy was applied in this study. The data consisted of six (6) semi-structured interviews, which were carried out as telephone conversations. The home economics teachers taking part in the research resided in different parts of Finland and had various backgrounds in terms of their professional education. The interviews were transcribed, the data were thematised, and analyses applying qualitative content analysis. “Windows of well-being” (Gerlander & Launis, 2007) was applied in interpreting the results of the research. Results and conclusions. The results imply that, the most essential changes in the work of home economics teachers seems to be connected to students. The teachers had experienced the weakening of handcraft skills and different kinds of problems increased among students. On the other hand the results indicate an increase in co-operation between schools and homes with new technology. Additionally, changes in the physical working environment because of indoor air issues seem to challenge the well-being of home economics teachers. The things that bring joy, motivate and help teachers to manage with their work are strongly connected to students, the work community and their own personal life. Attributes related to the teachers’ personalities were also emphasized in the experienced well-being of home economics teachers. The results of this research highlight themes that can be helpful and useful in supporting the well-being of home economics teachers in their future in-service training.