ABSTRACT

Teaching is a stressful profession, and rates of departure are high. We examined whether teachers’ levels of psychological capital (PsyCap), a concept integrating four positive psychological resources (hope, self-efficacy, resilience, optimism), affects their job satisfaction and burnout. Israeli schools are now required to be inclusive; consequently, teachers in standard educational settings teach children with special needs, despite a lack of training. Our sample comprised 123 Israeli teachers: 56 from special education schools and 67 from standard education system. As hypothesised, higher levels of PsyCap were correlated with higher job satisfaction and lower burnout among all teachers. Also as hypothesised, there were differences in job satisfaction and burnout: special education teachers reported more job satisfaction and less burnout. Both groups had similar levels of PsyCap, thus not supporting our hypothesis. The findings suggest the need to rethink working conditions for teachers in standard education when classes are required to be inclusive. As it is possible to improve PsyCap through intervention programmes, researchers and policymakers may consider designing and testing interventions for teachers.

摘要

教师是一个压力很大的职业，离职率很高。我们研究了教师的心理资本（PsyCap）水平是否会影响他们的工作满意度和倦怠，心理资本是一个整合了四种积极心理资源（希望、自我效能、韧性、乐观）的概念。以色列学校现在必须具有包容性；因此，尽管缺乏培训，标准教育环境中的教师仍会教授有特殊需要的儿童。我们的样本包括 123 名以色列教师：56 名来自特殊教育学校，67 名来自标准教育系统。正如假设的那样，较高水平的心理资本与所有教师较高的工作满意度和较低的职业倦怠相关。同样正如假设的那样，工作满意度和职业倦怠也存在差异：特殊教育教师的工作满意度更高，职业倦怠更少。两组的心理资本水平相似，因此不支持我们的假设。研究结果表明，当要求课程具有包容性时，需要重新考虑标准教育教师的工作条件。由于可以通过干预计划来改善心理资本，研究人员和政策制定者可以考虑为教师设计和测试干预措施。