How to mobilize social support against workload and burnout: The role of organizational identification

Recent theoretical and empirical research outlined the role of organizational identification in the stress process. We provide an empirical test of the social identity model of stress by testing a two-step mediation model of the identification-burnout link. We hypothesize that strongly identified teachers will receive more support from colleagues which, in turn, relates to perceptions of reduced workload, which finally leads to both lower work- and student-related burnout. We tested our model in a large cross-sectional sample of 2685 Swiss teachers representing half of the teacher population of Ticino Canton. Hypotheses were supported. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.     

Identifying and addressing themes of job dissatisfaction for secondary principals

Secondary principals serve in important roles that are complex, high-stress, and include demanding job responsibilities. Key stakeholders such as superintendents, school board members, and legislators must understand the challenges facing secondary principals in order to address the current themes of job dissatisfaction. Using new survey data compiled from 176 secondary principals across a state in the Midwest United States, this study shows four themes of job dissatisfaction are plaguing secondary principals: high job demands with unreasonable expectations, managing difficult stakeholders, problematic work/life balance, and lack of support. This study concludes with practical suggestions to address each theme of job dissatisfaction.     

商丘市初中教师工作倦怠状况及其社会支持的关系研究

This study surveyed the current situation of teacher burnout in a sample of 400 teachers from urban junior high school in Shangqiu of Henan Province with scales, and examined the relationship between dimensions of teacher burnout and sources and types of social support they received. The results show that Shangqiu urban junior high school teachers’ emotional exhaustion is serious; gender does not affect the score of burnout significantly; teachers with 1 year job experience recorded significantly lower scores of burnout than others, and teachers who have worked for 6–10 years is second; urban junior high school level affects the score of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization significantly, but does not affect reduced personal accomplishment; social support is most important to enhance feelings of the teacher’s personal accomplishment; among all the sources, supervisor and principal support is the most significant predictor of teacher burnout; emotional support is more significant predictor of teacher burnout than practical support; peer support increases the teacher’s emotional exhaustion. __________ Translated from Jiaoshi Jiaoyu Yanjiu 教师教育研究(Teacher Education Research), 2007, 19(3): 65–71     

高职教师的职业倦怠与工作压力的关系研究

近年来,大力发展职业教育的号角已经吹响。高职作为职业教育的“领头羊”,其教师的工作状态备受关注。同时,教师工作压力和职业倦怠问题是近年来心理学界研究的焦点之一。因此,研究高职教师职业倦怠与工作压力的关系,对高职教育的健康发展大有裨益。     

Family and nonfamily support in relation to burnout and work engagement among Italian teachers

Italy had traditionally been considered a family‐oriented culture where support from relatives is primary. The major purpose of this study was to clarify the benefits of social support inside and outside the family for schoolteachers in Italy, focusing on the teacher burnout and work engagement. Findings indicated that the family was by far the most significant source of support. School colleagues who felt close to each other resembled each other in terms of burnout and work engagement. Difficult interactions with colleagues were associated with burnout more extensively at later stages of the teaching career; supervisor support was linked with burnout at an early stage.     

Aspiring principals' perception of the challenges of beginning principals and the support that they need

This paper presents the results of an exploratory research project about the perception of aspiring principals regarding the challenges of beginning principals and the support that they need. These aspiring principals are participants on the Leaders in Education Programme (LEP) in Singapore. According to the research findings, the LEP participants perceived that the main challenges they were likely to face if and when appointed as principals would be adapting to a new environment and role; working with staff and other stakeholders; and meeting the expectations of others while trying to live true to one's values. The support they felt they would need as beginning principals was a network of professional peers; guidance from an experienced mentor; and access to the expertise of academics and continuous professional development platforms. Interestingly, while Singapore appears to have a reputation for a focus on examination results and quality assurance measures, the participants hardly mentioned any challenges or need for support in these areas. The paper calls for a greater level of understanding and support for beginning principals in doing an increasingly demanding job in a highly complex environment.     

The career paths of primary school principals in Ireland

The key purpose of this paper is to offer an exploration of the career paths of a number of Irish school principals. The information presented is part of a comparative study in the area, involving three island states: Cyprus, Malta and Ireland. The study provides an insight into how individuals become principals and how they perceive themselves in the role. The information is sourced through personal narrative. Qualitative in-depth interviewing is employed as the primary method of data gathering. Participants are posed a range of open-ended questions about their personal lives and about their initiation into their professional responsibilities. The results show that participants offer a variety of reasons for becoming teachers initially and a variety of reasons for seeking and achieving promotion to the post of school principal after a time. Family members and family experiences have an important function in influencing the lives of prospective leaders. With no formal training to prepare newly appointed principals for their roles, most report significant difficulties initially, particularly with managerial tasks and bureaucracy. In spite of these difficulties nonetheless, all participating principals report that they enjoy their roles. The results of the study demonstrate that the Irish principals interviewed in this research, experience similar challenges and rewards to those interviewed in earlier and concurrent studies internationally.     

Perceptions of elementary teachers on the instructional leadership role of school principals

In this research, elementary school principals＇ instructional leadership behavior was evaluated based on the perceptions of elementary school teachers. The research is believed to contribute to the development of instructional leadership behavior of elementary school principals for the development of school organization. A ＂semi-structured interview technique＂, one of the qualitative research methods in the literature was used in the research. The study group was made up of elementary school teachers working in Nigde, Turkey, during the 2008-2009 academic year. For the study sample, one teacher from each school was selected at random, resulting in group of twenty elementary school teachers. Based on the content analysis, five themes of instructional leadership behavior were found. These themes are： （1） determination of the school＇s purpose; （2） management of instruction; （3） evaluation of students; （4） support to teachers; and （5） creation of a regular learning-teaching environment.     

中小学校长资格证书制度研究

在世界范围内，中小学校长专业化成为现代教育的一种发展趋势，而完善中小学校长资格证书制度，必然成为实现校长专业化的一个重要保证。因此建立和完善中小学校长资格证书制度是建立和完善我国中小学校长管理制度的一个重要组成部分。     

Large-scale change and survival of school principals in Turkey

ABSTRACT

Turkey possess one of the most vibrant educational systems in the World. This study specifically aims at revealing Turkish school principals’ perceptions about the large-scale changes imposed by the Ministry of Education and the strategies they follow for coping with these changes. The study was designed as a generic qualitative study. Twenty principals from different schools at different levels were identified through snowball sampling and semi-structured interviews were conducted with each of them. The decoupling between change interventions and the needed change, inappropriate change implementation process, the passive role of the school principals in the design phase of change interventions are some of the major challenges that school principals encounter. The passivity of the principals during design phase put them into a state of reluctant activeness to find out resources, create readiness and adopt a mediating role between top authority and the teachers in order to implement the imposed changes.     

Global social issues in the curriculum: perspectives of school principals

In this article, we discuss principals’ perspectives on the priority given to the place in the curriculum of and the supporting practices related to health and sustainability education in schools in Denmark (for pupils aged 6–16). The study is situated within the discourses about critical health and sustainability education and treats the two issues as societal challenges that are important to address in schools as educational examples. We draw on the literature on school leadership challenges linked to global neoliberal trends in educational reform. The context of the study is the ongoing school reform in Denmark. The data were generated through an online survey of principals in Denmark (n = 118). The findings show that although the principals view school as an important arena for health and sustainability education, their actual support for such education lags behind. Health education is prioritized somewhat more than sustainability education; however, both are characterized by insufficient attention to teachers’ professional development and the low prioritization of collaboration within the school and between the school and community actors. Acknowledging the contradicting demands that principals face in the context of the reform, we argue for reconnecting the concept of leadership with the wider purposes of schooling and for providing space for an emergent, whole-school curriculum that addresses health and sustainability.     

台湾公立中小学候用校长遴选考试制度探析

当前台湾公立中小学候用校长遴选考试制度包括资格审查、初试、复试三个阶段,优秀者得以选拔成为公立中小学校长之高素质、专业化的后备力量。鉴于此,大陆可考虑适当提高新任中小学校长的学历要求,完善他们的专业智能结构,并可试点考试建立中小学校长准入制度。     

Storied emotional distances in the relationships between beginning teachers and school principals

Recent research has acknowledged the importance of the relationships of school principals with beginning teachers. However, little is known about how emotions inform these relationships from the beginning teacher's side. Applying the concept of emotional geographies, this paper explores the kinds of storied emotional distances that appear in the relationships between beginning teachers and their principals. Based on interviews with beginning Japanese teachers, the results indicate that such relationships may be: (1) very direct and personal; (2) acted out indirectly by the principal as personal facilitator ‘behind the scenes’ or as public gatekeeper; or (3) mediated by the teacher community. The analysis reveals beginning teachers’ personal experiences of these relationships, as well as how such relationships are influenced by organisational and cultural context. Although principals are described as distant figures within the school organisation, they are seen to play an important role in facilitating beginning teachers’ work by connecting with them at a personal level and providing good working conditions by influencing the emotional atmosphere of the teacher community or by sheltering them from parental pressure.     

中学教师职业倦怠与工作压力、社会支持的关系研究

本研究在已有研究的基础上,调查了中学教师的职业倦怠状况,旨在探讨中学教师的职业倦怠与工作压力和社会支持的关系。结果发现：中学教师的职业倦怠与工作压力和社会支持之间存在显著的相关关系;教师的工作压力和社会支持分别对职业倦怠具有显著的预测作用。     

Stability of social support during school transitions: Associations with truancy and not completing upper secondary education in normative time

Not completing upper secondary education is often presignaled by truancy from school. Student-perceived social support from family, peers, and teachers can prevent truancy and the risk of not completing education. However, prior studies have not focused on the stability of social support across school transitions. This longitudinal study of 1901 Finnish students examined the extent to which social support was stable or specific to primary, lower secondary, and upper secondary schools. Moreover, we examined whether support was associated with not completing upper secondary education in normative time and whether truancy mediated the relationship between support and not completing education. The analyses showed that most variance in social support was context-specific; family and peer support was related to truancy and not completing education; and truancy acted as the mediator. The findings underscored the importance of stable social support over school transitions in reducing the likelihood of truancy and not completing education.     

Interrogating conceptions of leadership: school principals,policy and paradox

Currently educational research literature demonstrates wide discussion and endorsement of ‘distributed’ leadership while concurrently traditional, hegemonic forms prevail in practice. This article investigates understandings about educational leadership held by Australian school principals. The article describes the contradictory conceptions about educational leadership currently in circulation. It interrogates underlying assumptions and questions how both hegemonic and newer leadership conceptions and assumptions serve educational leaders. Data from principals around the country and across education systems reinforced the predominance of un-theorised or under-theorised notions about leadership, with similar assumptions found in important policy artefacts and practices. This article emerges from interviews with 100 principals focusing on their professional learning needs, which revealed interesting ideas, issues and dilemmas concerning ‘leadership’. It fills a gap in research on distributed leadership by exploring contradictions inherent in policy, practice and understandings in this area. The article is structured into four sections. First, extant literature on this topic and the research are explained. Second, the article focuses on principals' conceptions about leadership and those inherent within important policy and practical artefacts. A discussion of the findings focuses on the discrepancy between theory and policy endorsement and the views of practitioners. Finally, the article canvasses the implications of the research.     

Emotional labour,burnout and job satisfaction in UK teachers: the role of workplace social support

Although teaching has been described as a profoundly emotional activity, little is known about the emotional demands faced by teachers or how this impacts on their well-being. This study examined relationships between ‘emotional labour’, burnout (emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation and personal accomplishment) and job satisfaction in a sample of UK teachers. Also examined was whether workplace social support moderated any relationships found between emotional labour and strain. The relationship between job experience and emotional labour was also investigated. Six hundred and twenty-eight teachers working in secondary schools in the UK completed questionnaires. Significant associations were observed between emotional labour and all outcomes, with a positive relationship found between emotional labour and personal accomplishment. Some evidence was found that social support mitigates the negative impact of emotional demands on emotional exhaustion, feelings of personal accomplishment and job satisfaction. More experienced teachers reported higher levels of emotional labour. Findings highlight the need for teacher-training programmes to raise awareness of the emotional demands of teaching and consider ways to enhance emotion regulation skills in experienced as well as recently qualified staff.     

Tenured and non-tenured school principals in Greece: a historical approach

This study deals with the question of tenure/non-tenure of the Greek school principals and its possible impact on their role in the light of the international influences. In developing our theoretical perspective, we draw on the tenure/non-tenure discourse and the centralised bureaucratic and new public management model. After examining the relevant legislation issued from 1836 up to 2015 by following the qualitative content analysis, we find out that in the 1836–1981 period, tenure had become an integral part of the centralised educational system. Since 1981, the introduction of decentralised policies along with the abolition of tenure has resulted in the renewal of the same politics. By linking in a direct way the tenure/non-tenure topic with the international policies, we support the view that in the Greek centralised educational system, school principals have limited power to bring about effective changes at schools regardless of their tenure/non-tenure status.     

Using developmental relationships in mentoring to support novice principals as leaders of learning

Mentoring is an established method of supporting principals as they begin their careers; however, early studies focus on how a veteran principal supports a novice principal in acquiring the skills to manage the school. As the role of a principal has evolved from a building manager to a leader of learning, the role of mentoring has also evolved. The purpose of this study was to explore the mentoring experiences of novice principals and their mentors in a school district’s mentoring program, and how developmental mentoring relationships support novice principals to be leaders of learning. The ?ndings suggest that a strong mentoring relationship can support a novice principal in developing skills to be a leader of learning by clarifying the mentor’s role as a leader of learning, focusing mentoring sessions to build the mentee’s capacity as a leader of learning, and a commitment to mentoring sessions that support teaching and learning.