Irena Burić

A mixed-method approach to the assessment of teachers’ emotions: development and validation of the Teacher Emotion Questionnaire

Abstract Existing research indicates that emotions are integral components of teachers’ jobs and lives, but knowledge regarding functional relations between teachers’ emotions, their antecedents and their effects on teachers, teaching and students is still quite scarce. One possible reason for this knowledge gap is the lack of adequate operationalisation of the teacher-emotion construct. Thus, the aim of this research was to develop a psychometrically grounded and contextually specific multidimensional self-report instrument aimed at assessing the specific emotions teachers experience in relation to their work and profession. Based on the contemporary component definition of emotion, and using a mixed-method approach (qualitative and quantitative), through a series of five empirical studies (N1 = 25, N2 = 300, N3 = 315, N4 = 391 and N5 = 1314), the Teacher Emotion Questionnaire (TEQ) has been developed. The instrument contains scales assessing emotions of joy, pride, love, fatigue, anger and hopelessness. All scales have adequate psychometric characteristics and are theoretically meaningfully related to the criterion variables examined. Added value of the TEQ scales over the more general measures of affect is also demonstrated.

The voice of Croatian elementary school teachers: qualitative analysis of the teachers’ perspective on their profession

Abstract With regard to the increase in complex demands on teachers within the current social context, the teachers’ perspective on their own profession imposes itself as a very important research question. Given the lack of studies directed towards this issue in transitional countries such as Croatia, the aim of this qualitative study was to gain deeper insight into the Croatian elementary school teachers’ perspective on their profession. The study included specialist subject teachers working in higher levels of primary school education in Croatia. Using data obtained in four focus group discussions (total N = 29) and semi-structured interviews (N = 25), this paper reports on four themes relating to issues of perspective which emerged from the thematic analysis. First, teachers experience their profession as demanding and underestimated, but extremely important with regard to many changes in modern society. Second, difficulties in the work of elementary school teachers can be broadly summarized into four categories: student related, work-team related, parent related and education system-related, whereby the education-system category is the richest by content. Third, teachers’ descriptions of their job satisfaction, intention of leaving the profession, and willingness to recommend the job to young people are presented here with regard to the emergent sources of attitudes to work: the job itself, working hours, job security, low status of teachers, and current education system. Thereby, the job itself, working hours and job security may be described as sources of positive attitudes, while low status of teachers and current education system contribute to negative work attitudes. Finally, the article reports the teachers’ perspective on possible changes and improvements in the system within which they work.