Teachers' Prosocialness and Their Professional Well-Being: Mediated by Teacher Engagement in Family-School Partnership Activities

• In Event: 45.067 - Family-School Partnerships: The Conditions and Benefits for the Teachers, Students, and Parents

Abstract

Objectives: The aim of the present paper was twofold. Firstly, we examined whether prosocialness would positively predict professional well-being (job satisfaction and work-related self-esteem) in a sample of German teachers. Secondly, we examined whether this connection would be mediated by teacher engagement in family-school partnerships activities (FSP).

Framework: Based on self-determination theory (SDT: Deci & Ryan, 2000), a number of studies (e.g., Martela & Ryan, 2015; Martela & Ryan, 2016; Weinstein & Ryan, 2010) suggested that people’s prosocialness—their behaviors intended to help others—is connected to the enhancement of their own well-being through basic needs satisfaction (autonomy, competence, and relatedness). To our knowledge, this connection has not been tested in the school context yet. In this paper, we assumed that FSP might promote teachers’ social relationships at work, thereby enhancing their sense of relatedness. Only in recent years, research on FSP has received greater attention among German scholars. Vodafone Foundation, in a collaboration with a scientific expert committee, developed twelve indicators for strong FSP in German schools for the first time (see Sacher, Sliwka, Tschöpe-Scheffler, Walper, & Wild, 2013). Based on these indicators, we developed, in this paper, a new instrument to assess teachers’ perceptions of their engagement in four aspects of FSP: (a) maintaining regular and routine information exchange, (b) using the variety of ways and forms of communication, (c) allowing participation of parents at school, and (d) encouraging parents to support their children.

Methods: Participants were 218 teachers (72% females; M age = 44.78 years, SD = 12.07; 65% working at secondary schools; 50% having more than 10 years’ teaching experience), who participated in an online-survey in summer 2016. Responses for all study measures were given on a four-point rating scale. We used reliable and valid instruments from previous studies to assess teachers’ prosocialness (13 items; Caprara, Steca, Zelli, & Capanna, 2006), teachers’ job statisfaction (7 items; Ho & Au, 2006; Spector, 1997) and teachers’ work related self-esteem (9 items; Kanning & Schnitker, 2004). Teacher engagement in FSP was assessed by using a new instrument (4 scales; 20 items) developed on the basis of the recent study by Yotyodying, Dettmers, and Jonkmann (2018).

Results: In line with SDT, the results showed that teachers’ pro-socialness was associated with greater professional well-being while controlling for teacher age, gender, and work experience. As expected, this connection was partially mediated by teacher engagement in FSP. Teacher gender and work experience were negatively associated with teachers’ prosocialness.

Significance: The results of this paper add to the SDT literature in the sense that teachers’ prosocialness prompts their readiness to become highly involved in FSP, thereby increasing their satisfaction with teaching career and self-esteem at work. These associations appear to vary depending on teachers’ individual background: Male teachers and teachers with more work experience tend to be less pro-socially oriented. Our results highlight the role of FSP in promoting teachers’ professional well-being. To implement such programs for improving FSP in schools, teacher factors should be therefore taken into consideration.

Authors

• Sittipan Yotyodying, TU Dortmund University

• Swantje Dettmers, Fernuniversität in Hagen

• Kathrin Jonkmann, Fernuniversität in Hagen