Associating Psychological Factors With Workplace Satisfaction and Position Duration in a Sample of International School Teachers

Abstract

To be an effective teacher, a combination of specific professional skills and psychological attributes are required. With increasingly fluid employment conditions, particularly in the international context, recruiters and schools are under considerable pressure to quickly differentiate candidates and make successful placements, which involves more than just determining if a candidate holds an appropriate qualification. Therefore, the aim of this cross-sectional study was to measure theoretically and empirically valuable psychological attributes in an international sample of schoolteachers to determine the most valuable correlates of satisfaction and position duration. An international sample (N = 335) of elementary, middle and high school teachers completed an online survey to capture their workplace satisfaction, position duration and measure 15 psychological attributes using validated instruments. Linear associations were estimated using hierarchical regression with this analysis complemented and compared with follow-up non-linear neural network models. Using regression, lower agreeableness (less people-oriented) emerged as the strongest correlate of longer position duration throughout the cohort. In elementary school teachers, lower impulsivity and higher organizational commitment emerged as the strongest correlates of longer position duration. In high school teachers, better stress tolerance and higher organizational commitment emerged as the strongest correlates of longer position duration. Using neural networks to suggest predictive models, low levels of neuroticism and impulsivity were the strongest predictors of longer position duration in elementary school teachers. High stress tolerance also predicted high work satisfaction in elementary teachers, whereas it was lower impulsivity that most strongly predicted higher work satisfaction in high school teachers. Innovation tendencies, perhaps surprisingly, appeared as a consistent predictor of lower levels of workplace satisfaction across teaching levels. Honesty-humility also emerged as a predictor of shorter position duration, particularly for primary/elementary teachers scoring above the mean. Taken together the results suggest an interesting balancing act that needs to be struck between hiring people-oriented and innovative teachers who may be more effective and adaptable but also at greater risk of changing position, possibly due to an increased interest and ability to transition into new social environments.

Mental Health Management of English Teachers in English Teaching Under the COVID-19 Era

“…To promote the mental health of college English teachers, it is necessary to guide the public opinion reasonably, improve the social status of college English teachers, and form a social atmosphere of respecting teachers and valuing education. Creating a healthy social environment, shaping a good image of teachers, promoting the professionalization of teachers, reducing the social burden and public pressure, establishing a social support system for teachers' mental health, and eliminating teachers' possible sense of psychological imbalance, all these aspects are very important (Hollett, 2021). At the same time, the government should continuously increase the investment in college English education, increase the number of teachers, improve the environment for college English teachers to work, study, and research, and support the innovation of college English teachers.…”

Influence Of The Matrix Structure Of Methodological Support On Teacher Job Satisfaction

“…Researchers have also identified interdependencies of teacher job satisfaction with productivity (Awang et al, 2010), quality of school results (Hardy et al, 2003), structure and functioning of the school in which teachers work (Yılmaz & Beycioğlu, 2017), teachers' attitude towards school and students (Demirtas & Nacar, 2018), duration of work (Hollett et al, 2021), school effectiveness (Hulpia et al, 2009), personality and civic behaviour (Ilies et al, 2009), with Herzberg's Two-Factor Theory (Abraham & Prasetyo, 2021), school bureaucracy (Alanoğlu & Demirtaş, 2021), availability of coaching experience (Preechawong et al, 2021).…”

International Schools in China and teacher turnover: the need for a more nuanced approach towards precarity reflecting agency

“…Our focus on short-term contracts as a strategy for coping with precarity complements recent quantitative research (Hollett, McMahon, & Monson, 2021) that explores positive psychological attributes in ISTs. Our focus in this paper offers an alternative qualitative perspective on reorienting analysis from seemingly monolithic internal resources to resilience something elastic and malleable (i.e., resilience contracts, expands, and changes shape depending on context, and the teachers' biography).…”