Pojdi na slovensko stran članka / Go to the article page in Slovene
Exploring the sustainability of the teaching profession: A thematic analysis of teachers' perspectives
Elinor Schad, Katalin Niklasson & Oliva Gronowitz
Full text (pdf) | Views: 153 | 
Written in English. | Published: September 16, 2022
https://doi.org/10.20419/2022.31.562 | Cited By: CrossRef (0)
Abstract: Teacher shortage and turnover is a growing problem in Sweden, yet little is known about the organisational factors associated with these problems. The current study explores teachers’ experiences of organisational processes and aims to identify relevant job demands and resources linked to professional sustainability for teachers. In this study, semi-structured focus group-interviews were conducted with five groups. In total, 44 teachers (33 women and 11 men) working in southern Sweden participated. The interviews were analysed using thematic analysis. Three key themes illustrating aspects of teachers’ perceptions were identified: Hindrances, Culture, and Leadership. The findings indicate that the participants experienced poor organisational structures effecting both their professional and personal lives. The results contribute to a deeper understanding of what impacts professional sustainability for teachers in Sweden.
Keywords: focus groups, Sweden, professional sustainability, teacher, wellbeing, working conditions
Cite:
Schad, E., Niklasson, K., & Gronowitz, O. (2022). Exploring the sustainability of the teaching profession: A thematic analysis of teachers' perspectives. Psihološka obzorja, 31, 540–549. https://doi.org/10.20419/2022.31.562
Reference list
Bakker, A. B., & Demerouti, E. (2007). The job demands-resources model: State of the art. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 22(3), 309–328. CrossRef
Bandura, C. T., Kavussanu, M., & Ong, C. W. (2019). Authentic leadership and task cohesion: The mediating role of trust and team sacrifice. Group Dynamics: Theory, Research, and Practice, 23(3–4), 185–194. CrossRef
Banerjee, S., & Mehta, P. (2016). Determining the antecedents of job stress and their impact on job performance: A study among faculty members. IUP Journal of Organizational Behavior, 15(2), 7–24.
Boone, H. N., Jr., & Boone, D. A. (2007). Problems faced by high school agricultural education teachers. Journal of Agricultural Education, 48(2), 36–45. CrossRef
Boström, M., Björklund, C., Bergström, G., Nybergh, L., Schäfer Elinder, L., Stigmar, K., Wåhlin, C., Jensen, I., & Kwak, L. (2020). Health and work environment among female and male Swedish elementary school teachers – A cross-sectional study. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(1), Article 227. CrossRef
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77–101. CrossRef
Canrinus, E. T., Helms-Lorenz, M., Beijaard, D., Buitink, J., & Hofman, A. (2012). Self-efficacy, job satisfaction, motivation, and commitment: Exploring the relationships between indicators of teachers' professional identity. European Journal of Psychology of Education, 27, 115–132. CrossRef
Check, J., & Schutt, R. (2012). Qualitative methods: Observing, participating, listening. In J. Check & R. Schutt (Eds.), Research methods in education (pp. 187–212). SAGE Publications. CrossRef
Cheng, H. G., & Phillips, M. R. (2014). Secondary analysis of existing data: Opportunities and implementation. Shanghai Archives of Psychiatry, 26(6), 371–375.
De Carlo, A., Girardi, D., Falco, A., Dal Corso, L., & Di Sipio, A. (2019). When does work interfere with teachers' private life? An application of the job demands-resources model. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, Article 1121. CrossRef
Demerouti, E., Bakker, A. B., Nachreiner, F., & Schaufeli, W. B. (2001). The job demands-resources model of burnout. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86(3), 499–512. CrossRef
Derks, D., Duin, D., Tims, M., & Bakker, A. B. (2015). Smartphone use and work-home interference: The moderating role of social norms and employee work engagement. Journal of Occupational & Organizational Psychology, 88(1), 155–177. CrossRef
Evers, A. T., Yamkovenko, B., & Van Amersfoort, D. (2017). How to keep teachers healthy and growing: The influence of job demands and resources. European Journal of Training and Development, 41(8), 670–686. CrossRef
Fereday, J., & Muir-Cochrane, E. (2006). Demonstrating rigor using thematic analysis: A hybrid approach of inductive and deductive coding and theme development. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 5, 80–92. CrossRef
García, E., & Weiss, E. (2019). The teacher shortage is real, large and growing, and worse than we thought. Economic Policy Institute.
Hartnell, C. A., Ou, A. Y., Kinicki, A. J., Choi, D., & Karam, E. P. (2019). A meta-analytic test of organizational culture's association with elements of an organization's system and its relative predictive validity on organizational outcomes. Journal of Applied Psychology, 104(6), 832–850. CrossRef
Helms-Lorenz, M., Van de Grift, W., & Maulana, R. (2016). Longitudinal effects of induction on teaching skills and attrition rates of beginning teachers. School Effectiveness and School Improvement, 27(2), 178–204. CrossRef
Herman, K. C., Hickmon-Rosa, J., & Reinke, W. M. (2018). Empirically derived profiles of teacher stress, burnout, self-efficacy, and coping and associated student outcomes. Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, 20(2), 90–100. CrossRef
Holmberg, I., & Tyrstrup, M. (2010). Well then – What now? An everyday approach to managerial leadership. Leadership, 6(4), 353–372. CrossRef
Ingersoll, R., Merrill, L., & May, H. (2012). Retaining teachers: How preparation matters. Educational Leadership, 69(8), 30–34.
James, L. A., & James, L. R. (1989). Integrating work environment perceptions: Explorations into the measurement of meaning. Journal of Applied Psychology, 74(5), 739-751. CrossRef
Leithwood, K., Harris, A., & Hopkins, D. (2020). Seven strong claims about successful school leadership revisited. School Leadership & Management, 40(1), 5–22. CrossRef
McIntyre, T. M., McIntyre, S. E., Barr, C. D., Francis, D. J., & Durand, A. C. (2017). Towards a dynamic integrative theory of educator stress. In T. M. McIntyre, S. E. McIntyre, & D. J. Francis (Eds.), Educator stress: An occupational health perspective (pp. 261–289). Springer. CrossRef
Molway, L. (2019). "It's all about coping with the new specifications": Coping professional development – The new CPD. London Review of Education, 17(2), 97–111. CrossRef
Pearson, L. C., & Hall, B. W. (1993). Initial construct validation of the teaching autonomy scale. The Journal of Educational Research, 86(3), 172–178. CrossRef
Podsakoff, N. P., LePine, J. A., & LePine, M. A. (2007). Differential challenge stressor-hindrance stressor relationships with job attitudes, turnover intentions, turnover, and withdrawal behavior: A meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 92(2), 438–454. CrossRef
Schad, E. (2017). No time to talk! Teachers' perceptions of organizational communication: Context and climate. Journal of Educational Management & Administration, 1–22.
Schad, E. (2019). Lacking structures of communication for teachers in Sweden, a focus group study. Lund Psychological Reports, 19(2).
Schad, E., & Johnsson, P. (2019). Well-being and working conditions of teachers in Sweden. Psychology in Russia: State of the Art, 12(4), 23–46. CrossRef
Schonfeld, I., Bianchi, R., & Luehring-Jones, P. (2017). Consequences of job stress for the mental health of teachers. In T. McIntyre, S. McIntyre, & D. Francis (Eds.), Educator stress: An occupational health perspective (pp. 55–75). Springer. CrossRef
Smylie, M. A. (1999). Teacher stress in a time of reform. In R. Vandenberghe & A. M. Huberman (Eds.), Understanding and preventing teacher burnout: A sourcebook of international research and practice (pp. 59–84). Cambridge University Press. CrossRef
Sokmen, Y., & Kilic, D. (2019). The relationship between primary school teachers' self- efficacy, autonomy, job satisfaction, teacher engagement and burnout: A model development study. International Journal of Research in Education and Science, 5 (2), 709–721.
Stake, R. E. (2010). Qualitative research: Studying how things work. Guilford Press.
Statistics Sweden. (2017a). Lärare utanför yrket: Temarapport 2017:02 [Teachers outside the profession: Report 2017:02]. https://www.scb.se/contentassets/121ea989f1614ddd991b687b631edec5/uf0549_2016a01_br_a40br1702.pdf
Statistics Sweden. (2017b). Trender och Prognoser 2017: Befolkningen, utbildningen, arbetsmarknaden med sikte på 2035 [Trends and forecasts 2017: Population, education and labour market in Sweden – Outlook to year 2035]. https://www.scb.se/contentassets/60312e5030114512b5b58a94a4ae25e2/uf0515_2017i35_br_am85br1701.pdf
Statistics Sweden. (2018). Personal i Grundskolan efter Utbildning 2018 [Personnel in elementary school by education 2018].
Tanggaard, L. (2011). Stories about creative teaching and productive learning. European Journal of Teacher Education, 34 (2), 219–232. CrossRef
Taylor, J. L. (2013). The power of resilience: A theoretical model to empower, encourage and retain teachers. Qualitative Report, 18 (7), 1–25. https://eric.ed.gov/contentdelivery/servlet/ERICServlet?accno=EJ1043493
Travis, J., Kaszycki, A., Geden, M., & Bunde, J. (2020). Some stress is good stress: The challenge-hindrance framework, academic self-efficacy, and academic outcomes. Journal of Educational Psychology, 112 (8), 1632–1643. CrossRef
Tyrstrup, M. (2014). I välfärdsproduktionens gränsland: organisatoriska mellanrum i vård, skola och omsorg [In the border areas of welfare production: Organisational in-betweens in healthcare, the school system, and care sector]. Entreprenörskapsforum.
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation. (2005). United Nations decade of education for sustainable development, 2005–2014: Draft international implementation scheme. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000139937
Vangrieken, K., Grosemans, I., Dochy, F., & Kyndt, E. (2017). Teacher autonomy and collaboration: A paradox? Conceptualising and measuring teachers' autonomy and collaborative attitude. Teaching and Teacher Education, 67, 302–315. CrossRef
Vänje, A., & Brännmark, M. (2017). Walking around the pyramids: Managers' shop-floor activities in Lean-inspired organizations. Economic & Industrial Democracy, 38 (3), 495–512. CrossRef
Wibeck, V. (2010). Fokusgrupper: om fokuserade gruppintervjuer som undersökningsmetod [Focus groups: About focused group interviews as a research method]. Studentlitteratur.
Woods, P. A. (2016). Authority, power and distributed leadership. Management in Education, 30(4), 155–160. CrossRef
