Browsing by Author "Savolainen, Katri"

Tiivistelmä - Referat - Abstract Aims. The aim of this bachelor’s thesis was to investigate which factors are related to teacher’s well-being and coping at work. Coping at work is a multidimensional phenomenon, and in this thesis, it is approached from the perspectives of both the negative and the positive side of occupational well-being. The concepts of stress and burnout are central to the negative side of occupational well-being. As for from the perspective of the positive side of occupational well-being, the key concepts are job satisfaction and work engagement. The purpose of this thesis is to review research results that have been obtained on the subject, and survey what kind of research would be necessary to conduct in the future on teacher’s well-being and coping at work. Methods. This thesis was conducted as a descriptive literature review. For this thesis, a total of 9 studies on the well-being of teachers and principals were considered. The results of the studies were presented from the perspectives of both the negative and the positive side of well-being at work, and these results were compared. Results and conclusions. According to this thesis, the teachers were exposed to burnout by factors related to job strain and basic personality structure as well as different contextual variables. The biggest stress factor in teachers’ job was overwhelming workload. Out of the contextual variables, factors related to the prestige and respect of the profession as well as uncontrolled changes emerged as those factors that expose teachers to burnout. In turn, good school leadership and managerial work, the teacher's professional skills and professional competence, as well as encouraging colleagues, became factors that promote teachers’ well-being. Teachers’ well-being was also related to the subject and teaching level of the teacher. According to this thesis more research is needed in the area of assessing the effectiveness of particular intervention strategies to help teachers reduce stress. It would be necessary to carry out research on those factors of teachers’ well-being on which teachers are able to affect. In particular, attention should be directed to vocational teachers as their well-being was at the lowest level.