Htqe.2024.05

https://doi.org/10.22364/htqe.2024.05 | 63-76 | PDF

Primary School Teachers’ Professional Well-Being: Views of Teachers and School Leaders

Ligita Stramkale, Ilze Ušpele
University of Latvia, Latvia

Abstract
The paper focuses on the need to promote the professional well-being of primary school teachers. The study aims to analyse and compare the views of primary school teachers and school leaders on the professional well-being of primary school teachers. The study involved 72 (n = 72) primary school teachers and 20 (n = 20) school leaders. The study addressed two research questions: RQ1: What is the professional well-being of primary school teachers from the point of view of school leaders and teachers themselves? RQ2: Is there a difference between the views of the primary school teachers and the school leaders regarding professional well-being? For data collection, two structured questionnaires were planned and designed to gather information about the following study scales: (1) teaching duties, (2) cooperation with colleagues, (3) professional development, and (4) methodical work. The SPSS 22 was used for processing and analysing the quantitative data. The study revealed that school leaders’ views on the professional well-being of primary school teachers are generally more unfavourable than teachers’ views. Primary teachers and school leaders agree that teachers’ methodical work is well valued and feedback provided to primary school teachers is growth-oriented. The study found a statistically significant difference in the views of primary school teachers and school leaders on teaching duties and cooperation with colleagues. For these two scales, the primary school teachers are more optimistic than the school leaders. The study concluded that despite the statistically significant differences in the views on two out of the four scales, there was generally no statistically significant difference in the views of primary school teachers and school leaders on the professional well-being of primary school teachers. The study findings are essential in promoting the professional well-being of primary school teachers.

Keywords: Primary education, primary school teachers, professional well-being, school leaders, teachers’ support.

In: Human, Technologies and Quality of Education, 2024. Proceedings of Scientific Papers = Cilvēks, tehnoloģijas un izglītības kvalitāte, 2024. Rakstu krājums.  Ed. L. Daniela. Riga: University of Latvia, 2024. 564 p.
ISBN 978-9934-36-301-6  
https://doi.org/10.22364/htqe.2024