Browsing by Subject "harmien välttäminen"

Objectives. Teachers have an important social role and a great responsibility in creating the basis of the education for young students. The student's temperament has an important effect on the process of teaching, learning, and studying, but so does the teacher's temperament. Teachers usually experience a lot of stress, so it's interesting to see whether the applicants for teacher education are more sensitive to stress because of their temperament (harm avoidance and emotionality), and whether sensitivity to stress is connected to advancing in teacher education's entry examinations. Methods. The participants applied for teacher education in University on Helsinki in 2011–2014, and were included in SeSTE study. For analyses the applicants were grouped into those who didn't pass the written exam (n=640), those who didn't pass the suitability test (n=284), and those who got accepted in the teacher education program (n=185). The applicants were also compared to the main population with the data collected in the Young Finns study (n=2102). Multinomial logistic regression was used for the analysis. Sensitivity to stress was measured by two temperament traits: harm avoidance was measured via TCI questionnaire, and emotionality via EASI questionnaire. Results and conclusions. The applicants for teacher education were, on average, less sensitive to stress than the rest of the population – meaning that their harm avoidance and emotionality were lower. The applicants were more likely to be female, and younger than the rest of the population. The applicants who didn't pass the written exam were more likely to be male and slightly older than those who passed the written exam. Compared to the people that got accepted in the teacher education program, the ones who didn't pass the written exam were more emotional. However, harm avoidance wasn't connected to advancing in the entry exams. These results suggest that there are other reasons behind the high frequency of stress in teachers' occupation than higher sensitivity to stress among teachers, but further research is needed on the subject.