10. Teacher Education Research
Paper
EFL/ESL Teachers’ level of Occupational Stress and Teacher Immunity. Individual and Organizational Differences
Morteza SaadatpourVahid, Admiraal Wilfried, Dineke Tigelaar
Leiden University, Netherlands, The
Presenting Author: SaadatpourVahid, Morteza
The chronicle experience of stress in an educational setting has concerning aftermaths such as teachers’ attrition and burnout, and up to half of the teachers abandon their job in the first five years of their professional life or during their career before retirement. Irrespective of the sources, teachers’ occupational stress resulting in several reverberations such as language teacher attrition can have traumatic impacts such as a shortage of teachers in any educational system. Therefore, recognizing those factors and strategies employed by EFL teachers to sustain effectively while maintaining instructional equilibrium is of great help to lead more productive teaching and healthy life. Language Teacher Immunity defined as a protection mechanism developed by language teachers over their career is among those factors assisting teachers to deal with daily hassles typical of the language teaching environment and thrive despite adverse conditions of a classroom setting. In line with such a stance, and to fill the literature gap, the present study aimed at discovering EFL teachers’ level of occupational stress and their immunity type, either productive or maladaptive. Additionally, an attempt was made to examine whether there are any relationships between teachers’ stress levels and the type of immunity they developed over their careers. Applying a quantitative approach and convenience sampling, the data were collected from in-service English language teachers (N=204) working in both private and public language schools in West/East Azerbaijan, Iran. The data were collected through two validated and localized questionnaires to be administered electronically. The initial analysis revealed that more than forty per cent of teachers find their profession stressful in one way or another, while men were more stressed than women. There is a positive correlation between the level of occupational stress and developing maladaptive teacher immunity. While experience correlates positively with both stress level and the development of positive immunity, other biographical differences showed no significant effects. Implications have been made to language teachers, curriculum designers, educational policymakers as well as institutions which can be of help to improve the EFL teachers' general well-being and teaching environment.
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedApplying convenience sampling, a total number of 204 in-service EFL teachers working in both public and private sectors were recruited. The rationale behind opting for in-service EFL teachers was to take account of the current conditions typical of English language classes in the context of Iran. The idea of including both private and public schools was formulated to have a comparison between the two groups and take control over the related variable. The participants were drawn based on their willingness from English language centers, high schools, and universities located in West-Azerbaijan, East-Azerbaijan, and Ardebil provinces in Iran. Participants were recruited exclusively among EFL teachers falling into different age groups, L1 backgrounds, experience, and governmental and private institutions.
Instruments
Teacher Immunity scale (TIS):
EFL teachers’ immunity type was distinguished utilizing a tool adapted from Hiver (2017). The questionnaire includes 39 items on a 7-point Likert scale., compromising 7 subscales namely self-efficacy (7 items), burnout (5 items), resilience (5 items), attitudes towards teaching (6 items), openness to change (6 items), classroom effectivity (5 items), and coping (5 items). The reported reliability indices of all the subscales in the study of Hiver (2017), presented successively, were at an acceptable level; α = 0.82, 0.80, 0.82, 0.85, 0.74, 0.81, 0.78. In our study, the reliability of the TIS estimated via Cronbach’s alpha was 0.85.
Teachers Stress Scale (TSS)
Teachers’ stress level was measured through a tailor-made 5-point Likert scale questionnaire adapted from Sadeghi & Saadatpour (2016). The initial questionnaire included 46 items (Alpha: 0.95). Following consultation with similar studies, some experts, and practicing teachers, 72 items were listed, and the feedback from the pilot test (N=153) and the subsequent analysis led to the final questionnaire with 50 items falling into 8 factors, namely Interpersonal Relationship (4 items), Students Behavior (7 items), Sociocultural (5 items), Proficiency & Knowledge (5 items), Facilities and Resources (7 items), Workload (7 items), Employment Structure (9 items), and Institutional Setting (6 items).
Procedure:
For data collection, the electronic survey forms were designed in Qualtrics. First language schools were approached and based on the management the study was announced in the school social media group. A survey link was shared in the group and teachers interested teachers could respond to the questionnaires anonymously. Before moving further with responding to the questionnaire, the participants we required to consent to participate in the study.
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsIn addressing the first research question regarding whether EFL teachers experience any levels of stress, The present investigation that nearly half of EFL teachers reported some feelings of stress, among which around one-third seemed to report being extremely or very stressed respectively. Among 8 factors measuring the level of stress, students’ behavior and employment structure are expected to be the factors with the highest impact, while Facilities and resources were the least influential factor. Among items of the questionnaire, Inadequate salary and job security seems to be the most influential stressors among all 50 items. Biographical characteristics of teachers played no role in the level of stress perceived by teachers, except for gender. Male teachers were a bit more stressed than their female counterparts. Regarding immunity, the productive form was dominant among teachers and only around one-third of teachers were characterized by maladaptive immunity type. Like teachers’ stress, there were no significant differences considering the participants' personal traits such as age, gender, experience, and educational background. In order to provide an answer to the second research question as to the possible relationship between job-related stress and the type of immunity developed by EFL teachers, a Spearman’s rho correlation was run, the results of which showed that more stressed teachers developed a productive form of immunity (p ≤ 0.05) while teachers with lower levels of stress manifested its maladaptive form, which can imply that stress can act as a motivator in developing a positive variant of immunity.
ReferencesFarrell, T. S. C. (2016). TESOL, a profession that eats its young! The importance of reflective practice in language teacher education. Iranian Journal of Language Teaching Research, 4(3), 97-107.
Ferguson, K. Frost, L., & Hall, D. (2012). Predicting teacher anxiety, depression, and job Satisfaction. Journal of Teaching and Learning, 8(1), 27-42.
Hiver, P. (2015). Once burned, twice shy: The dynamic development of system immunity in teachers. In Z. Dörnyei, P. MacIntyre, & A. Henry (Eds.), Motivational dynamics in language learning (pp. 214-237). Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
Hiver, P. (2017). Tracing the signature dynamics of language teacher immunity: A retrodictive qualitative modeling study. The Modern Language Journal, 101(4), 669-690.
Hiver, P., & Dörnyei, Z. (2017). Language teacher immunity: A double-edged sword. Applied Linguistics, 38(3), 405-423.
Kyriacou, C. (2000). Stress busting for teachers. Cheltenham, UK: Stanley Thornes.
Kyriacou, C., & Sutcliffe, J. (1978). Teacher stress: prevalence, sources, and symptoms. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 48(2), 323-365.
Lazarus, R. S., & Folkman, S. (1984). Stress, appraisal, and coping. Michigan: Springer Press.
Manthei, R., & Gilmore, A. (1996). Teacher stress in intermediate schools. Educational Research, 28(1), 3-19.
Oberle, E. & Kimberly, A., (2016). Stress contagion in the classroom? The link between classroom teacher burnout and morning cortisol in elementary school students. Social Science Medicine, 159, 30-7.
Peter D. MacIntyre, P., Ross, J., Talbot, K., Mercer, S., Gregersen, T., Banga, B., (2019). Stressors, personality, and wellbeing among language teachers. System International Journal of Educational Technology and Applied Linguistics, 82, 26-38.
Pyhalto, K., Pietarinen, J., Haverinen, K., Tikkanen, L., & Soini, T. (2020). Teacher burnout profiles and proactive strategies. European Journal of Psychology of Education, 36(2), 1-24.
Rahmati, T., Sadeghi, K., Ghaderi, F., (2019). English as a Foreign Language Teacher Immunity: An Integrated Reflective Practice. Iranian Journal of Language Teaching Research, 7(3), 91-107
Sadeghi, K. & Saadatpourvahid, M. (2016), EFL Teachers’ Stress and Job Satisfaction: What Contribution Can Teacher Education Have? Iranian journal of Language Teaching Research, 4(3), 75-96.
Talbot, K., & Mercer, S. (2019). Exploring university ESL/EFL teachers’ emotional well-being and emotional regulation in the United States, Japan, and Austria. Chinese Journal of Applied Linguistics, 41(4), 410-432.
10. Teacher Education Research
Paper
Promoting Interdisciplinary Teaching in Teacher Education
Anne-Line Bjerknes1, Åsmund Aamaas1, Andrea Hofmann1, Yvonne Sørensen2, Kristin Emilie W Bjørndal2, Anne Øyehaug3
1University of South-Eastern Norway, Norway; 2The Arctic University of Norway; 3Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences
Presenting Author: Aamaas, Åsmund;
Hofmann, Andrea
Interdisciplinarity is generally explained as connections across established disciplines and pointed out as central to developing 21st century competencies (Drake & Reid, 2018, Drake & Reid, 2020). Interdisciplinary teaching is put on the agenda in Norwegian curricula for grades 1-13 (Ministry of Education and Research, 2017). The curriculum specifies three interdisciplinary topics to focus on: 1) Public Health and Life Skills, 2) Democracy and Citizenship, and 3) Sustainable Development. Since these topics will be taught interdisciplinary in schools, interdisciplinarity must also be reflected in teacher training programs. Arneback & Blåsjö (2017) show how the organization of teacher education is influenced by school content, both in terms of didactics and the arrangement of disciplines. In teacher education, the division into disciplines stands strong. There has been little cooperation across subjects, and there is a need for restructuring and change of work habits both in how education is administered and how teaching is carried out (Biseth et al., 2022). How can we meet such changes in teacher education? We asked 13 teacher educators for their opinion on factors that promote and inhibit interdisciplinary teaching and learning in teacher education.
We did two focus group interviews at three different Universities, with 2-3 teacher educators in each group. In total, we have gathered data from 13 teacher educators with a variety of educational backgrounds and teaching experiences. We did a thematic analysis of the interviews and analyzed teacher trainers’ beliefs, based on their personal experiences, of what factors inhibit and promote interdisciplinary teaching in teacher education. In order to achieve interdisciplinarity in teacher education programs, the interviewees pointed towards a need for change in managment, leadership, methods used, and attitudes. This is in line with recommendations made Santaolalla et al. (2020) who among others suggest that teacher educators need shared spaces available so that they easier can cooperate on how to promote interdisciplinary education, and new study plans with new learning styles to achieve 21st century skills.
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedWe did six semi-structured group interviews, at three different institutions that offer teacher education programs. Two interviews were done at each institution. All six interviews were audio recorded and transcribed verbatim and anonymized before analysis. The method of thematic analysis was used to evaluate the data (Braun & Clarke, 2006), consisting of six steps: 1) familiarization with the data, 2) generating initial codes, 3) searching for themes, 4) reviewing themes, 5) defining and naming themes, and 6) producing the manuscript. Notably, this method of analysis is recursive, meaning that each subsequent step in the analysis might have prompted us to circle back to earlier steps in light of newly emerged themes or data (Kiger & Varpio, 2020).
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsAlthough it is documented little cooperation across subjects in teacher education in Norway, we find that teacher educators are favorable towards collaborating for interdisciplinary teaching, given that the necessary resources are provided. The teacher educators ask for sufficient working hours to secure interdisciplinary collaboration, supportive leadership, avoiding becoming extracurricular, dedicated colleagues, ownership in what and how they teach. They also point out that there is a need for restructuring and a change of work habits both in how education is administered and how teaching is carried out.
ReferencesArneback, E. & Blåsjö, M. (2017) Doing interdisciplinarity in teacher education. Resources for learning through writing in two educational programmes, Education Inquiry, 8:4, 299-317. doi: 10.1080/20004508.2017.1383804
Biseth, H., Svenkerud, S. W., Magerøy, S. M., & Rubilar, K. H. (2022). Relevant Transformative Teacher Education for Future Generations. Front. Educ. 7:806495. doi: 10.3389/feduc.2022.806495
Drake, S. M. & Reid, J. L. (2018). Integrated Curriculum as an Effective Way to Teach 21st Century Capabilities. Asia Pacific Journal of Educational Research, 1(1), 31-50.
Drake, S. M., & Reid, J. L. (2020, July). 21st century competencies in light of the history of integrated curriculum. In Frontiers in Education (Vol. 5, p. 122). Frontiers Media SA.
Ministry of Education and Research (2017). Core curriculum– Interdisciplinary topics. National Curriculum for Knowledge Promotion in Primary and Secondary Education and Training 2020.
Santaolalla, E., Urosa, B., Martín, O., Verde, A. & Díaz, T. (2020). Interdisciplinarity in Teacher Education: Evaluation of the Effectiveness of an Educational Innovation Project. Sustainability 12, 6748.
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