Browsing by Subject "työn kuormittavuus"

Objective of the study. The beginning of teacher’s career, in other words, the induction phase, has been noticed in previous studies to be very challenging and stressful for them. During the induction phase teachers often decide on the continuation of their careers. In previous studies related to teachers in the induction phase, it has been noticed that they have higher stress levels than more experienced teachers. They also feel that their workload is excessive. This master’s thesis objective was to study the induction phase teachers’ workload forms and factors. I also make subject teachers’ workload risk profiles with person-oriented research. The main objective of this thesis is to increase understanding of the induction phase subject teachers’ workload to improve teachers’ working conditions. Methods. The data of this thesis consisted of six induction phase subject teachers’ interviews. The interviewed subject teachers were chosen at discretion for this study. The data on my study was collected as a part of a larger joint research project of the Universities of Tampere, Helsinki, and Easter Finland funded by the Academy of Finland entitled “Early career Teachers’ Professional Agency across four European countries -Key for Sustainable Educational Change?”. The data from these interviews were analyzed qualitatively with theory-based content analysis. Result and conclusions. In the induction phase subject teachers experienced a lot of workload. Teachers were burdened by stress the most. Stress was caused by excessive workload, time pressure, and the lack of support. According to the results, prolonged stress caused burnout. All the burnout dimensions (cynicism, decreased professional self-esteem, and exhaustion) came up in teachers’ speeches. This master’s thesis showed that in the induction phase subject teachers had a risk to become exhausted due to excessive workload. Subject teachers’ workloads are important to identify in order to improve teachers’ well-being at work.