How Georgia may learn from changes in principal support and supervision internationally Introduction The role of a modern school principal, with the focus on becoming an instructional and learning leader for school society, rather than being only a building manager, is changed from the past in myriad countries. New practices and job requirements lead to the issues of principal preparedness for the role, challenges in providing effective support to principals and changes in the form of principal supervision. An increased role in this process is played by middle-tier agencies. Their closer involvement in the process of principal support and supervision requires them to redesign their traditional methods of supervision and to depart from prior practices of controlling principals to supporting and coaching them. The papers in this volume of JEA provide a good overview of how different countries are approaching and grappling with the abovementioned issues. Georgia is a country situated in the South Caucasus bordering the Black Sea, Turkey, Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia. Its ancient history, starting since the fourth century BC, as well as its geographic location on the border of two continents, Europe and Asia, has resulted in both western and eastern cultures influencing the creation and development of Georgian civilization. Georgia was absorbed into the Russian Empire in the nineteenth century. It existed for three years (1918-1921) as an independent democratic republic, followed by the Russian Socialist revolution when Georgia was forcibly incorporated into the USSR. After the Soviet Union was dissolved in 1991, the country regained its independence. Despite the fact that Georgia is a small country (69,700 km 2), it has varied landscapes and urban and rural areas with a population of diverse ethnic, religious and cultural backgrounds. A total of 2,085 public schools in the country differ in size and range from very small schools in rural, mountainous villages with 2-3 students of different ages to large schools accommodating 2,000 or more student in the cities. There are also schools with students from ethnic minorities, as well as from internally displaced families as a result of the Russian occupation of 20 percent of Georgian territories. Alongside political, economic and social reforms, intensive educational reforms have been taking place in Georgia since 2004 as the nation has broken away from the practices of highly centralized educational systems that existed in the countries of the former Soviet Union. Despite frequent changes in the Office of the Ministry of Education (now the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport) and decisions by leadership causing the processes to flow from centralization to decentralization, and vice versa, at different periods, many steps and reforms have been made forward in the creation of a new national curricula, upgrade of textbooks, teacher retraining, school governance and principal training, new use of technologies in the educational process and other small-or lar...
The intensive reforms taking place in general education field in Georgia impose considerable stress to those engaged in teaching profession. This may gradually lead to the condition of professional burnout of teachers. According to the conducted research some teachers have experienced burnout while others did not. The purpose of the present research is to identify how the personal quality such as control of locus may have influenced the level of burnout in Georgian teachers. Two self-assessment instruments, Rotter Scale and Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), were used in this research to measure control of locus type and level of burnout among Georgian teachers. Two questionnaires were distributed among 407 teachers at Public schools of Georgia. After dismissing inaccurately filled out questionnaires the analysis was conducted based on the data received from 373 questionnaires. The research findings revealed that Georgian teachers with internal locus of control are less likely to become professional burnout victims. Significant correlations proved to exist between locus of control orientation and teacher burnout on Emotional Exhaustion (EE) and Personal Achievements (PA) subscales of MBI. The article explores the opportunities to change locus of control from external to internal as a part of teacher professional development activities guided by school Principals and through redesigning of teacher preparation programs in order to make teachers more resistant to professional burnout. Key words: teacher burnout, locus of control, teacher preparation programs.
The study aimed to identify personal and social factors having impact on teacher burnout in Georgia. The survey was conducted on 373 Georgian school teachers. Teacher burnout phenomena was studied in connection with psychological factor such as locus of control and social factors - school climate dimensions: Principals' attitude to teachers, teachers' attitude to colleagues and to students. Qualitative and quantitative methods were used for the research. The highest teacher burnout was identified on Emotional Exhaustion subscale of burnout. Correlatios were confirmed between burnout and locus of control, school climate variables and burnout, teacher burnout and number of students. The research findings are important as teacher burnout identification and its prevention is closely connected to teacher well-being and health ultimately having impact on teaching quality. Key words: burnout, locus of control, principal, school climate, teacher.
Modern schools have multiple demands to teachers causing prolonged stress often resulting in professional burnout. Research on teacher burnout is conducted at various countries of the world. Taking into account the significance of such research, two pilot research studies were conducted in Georgia. The objectives of the studies were to test the hypothesis that the majority of Georgian teachers are experiencing high burnout and simultaneously to test the adopted translated instruments for measuring burnout and proactive coping strategies. The first study surveyed 85 subjects and the second study - 193 subjects. For conducting pilot surveys an abridged version of Maslach–Burnout Self Test in combination with Greenglass’s 4 point-scale Proactive Coping Inventory and Maslach Educators Survey (MBI-ES) translated into Georgian language were used. The results of the first pilot study, in contrary to the hypothesis expecting to identify high burnout among Georgian teachers, showed that teachers have little signs of burnout and have high and moderate coping skills. In the second pilot study the hypothesis was partially confirmed in the Emotional Exhaustion aspect of burnout. For Emotional Exhaustion subscale the majority of the surveyed teachers showed moderate and high burnout. Teachers showed high scores on Personal Accomplishment subscale and low burnout on Depersonalization subscale. Key words: burnout, coping, distress, stress, teacher.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
customersupport@researchsolutions.com
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.