The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic caused significant disruptions and changes to the educational process worldwide, and higher education institutions rapidly shifted from onsite to online ...education. This study aimed to explore the association between a perceived lack of academic social interactions in the online learning environment and learning and self-regulation difficulties experienced during online studying. More specifically, the mediating role of students’ senses of life disruption caused by the pandemic and their general adjustment to online studying in the previously described association was explored. A total number of 464 university students from Croatia took part in an online questionnaire. The results revealed that students who perceive a greater lack of academic social interactions also report more learning and self-regulation difficulties during online studying. Further, the perceived lack of academic social interactions affects students’ perceptions of life disruption caused by the pandemic and adjustment to online studying. Both of these mediators, in turn, affect the level of experienced learning and self-regulation difficulties. The obtained results can be helpful for introducing certain measures that could support students’ learning and reduce the possibility of adverse effects of the pandemic.
The present study explored motivation for teaching career choice within the FIT-Choice framework among different types of prospective teachers in Croatia. A total number of 634 prospective teachers ...enrolled in different initial teacher education programmes participated in this study (prospective preschool, classroom and subject teachers). Results revealed that the intrinsic value of teaching, the social value of teaching and perception of own teaching abilities were the most important motives for choosing a teaching career, while the fallback career motive had the lowest ratings across the groups. Analyses also revealed that the motivation of prospective preschool and classroom teachers is very similar and that the importance of intrinsic utility value and social utility value was somewhat less pronounced among subject teachers. Although all prospective teachers expressed a relatively high level of satisfaction with career choice, group comparisons revealed that prospective subject teachers' satisfaction level was lower compared to the other two groups.
Social norms in general have an important role in the regulation of intergroup relations. However, the effects of one specific type of social norms-in-group norms about intergroup contact-have not ...yet been extensively studied, especially among groups of different status or in different intergroup contexts. The purpose of this research was to examine the effects of three types of contact norms (peer, parental and school) on four intergroup outcomes (in-group bias, social distance, tendency to discriminate, prosocial behaviour towards the outgroup) among ethnic majority and minority adolescents from four different intergroup contexts of the Republic of Croatia, as well as to test for moderating effects of age, social status and intergroup context in the strength of these effects. The research was carried out on a sample of 1440 elementary and high school students, members of Croatian majority, and Serbian, Hungarian, Czech, and Italian minority. The results indicated that although all three types of norms predict most of the intergroup outcomes, their relative importance depends on the specific type of intergroup outcome (attitudinal or behavioural), group social status (majority or minority), intergroup context (history of a recent intergroup conflict or not), and for peer norms on the age of the adolescent.
Interest in the motivation for the choice of the teaching profession has been growing in the last few decades. Although the literature recognizes the importance of exploring non-academic factors that ...affect the quality of teaching and teachers’ well-being, studies exploring these factors within the context of the teaching career choice are rather underrepresented. The aim of this study was to explore the predictive value of personality traits, emotional competence, and life-satisfaction of prospective teachers in explaining prospective teachers’ motivation for the choice of the teaching profession. A total of 591 prospective teachers participated in this study. The data were analyzed by the hierarchical regression analyses, and the results indicated that almost all personality traits and the ability to regulate and manage emotions predicted the importance of intrinsic value and the social utility value of teaching, whereby neuroticism was a negative predictor of these motives. Also, life-satisfaction was predictive of the importance of both of these motives and the importance of the personal utility value of teaching.
Introduction: Changes caused by the COVID-19 pandemic significantly altered the functioning of different social systems, including the educational one. Closing educational institutions and ...transferring the educational process to online platforms posed new challenges for students’ academic functioning and well-being in these unexpected circumstances. Aims: This study aimed to explore the role of university students’ academic functioning and personality in predicting their subjective well-being during the online studying implemented in Croatia due to the pandemic caused by the coronavirus. Methods: A sample of 505 university students from different Croatian faculties participated in the online survey, which included their ratings of adjustment to the online learning environment, related difficulties in learning and self-regulation, perception of the online education’s quality, the level of life disruption caused by the pandemic, personality traits, and subjective well-being measures (life satisfaction, positive affect, and negative affect). Results: Results generally revealed that certain aspects of students’ academic functioning during online studying as well as their personality explained a significant proportion of the subjective well-being measures’ variance. Also, the perceived level of life disruption caused by the pandemic and neuroticism were the strongest predictors of students’ subjective well-being, followed by extraversion and conscientiousness. Conclusions: Obtained results indicate that some aspects of academic functioning upon the transition to online studying could contribute to students’ subjective well-being and should be considered when planning interventions to increase their well-being and enhance the quality of the online learning environment in these challenging times.
The aim of this study was to explore gender differences in motivation for choosing teaching as a profession and perceptions of men's demotivation for the choice of this profession. 279 preservice ...subject teachers from the University of Zagreb, Croatia, filled in the FIT-Choice Scale (Watt and Richardson, 2007) and the Demotivation of Men for Teaching Career Choice Scale. Results revealed that, regardless of their gender, preservice subject teachers were primarily motivated by the intrinsic and social utility values of teaching, while specific gender differences imply the importance of the role of social factors in men's choice of this career. Low status of the teaching profession was perceived as the dominant reason for demotivation of men to choose it. Women were more likely than men to assume that men are demotivated to choose teaching because it is a "women's profession". Policy implications of findings on men's (de)motivation for teaching are discussed.
The literature recognises the importance of teachers’ emotional competence for various aspects of the teaching profession, as well as the importance of attracting motivated and quality prospective ...teachers and retaining them in the profession. However, studies relating to the motivation to teach and some personal characteristics of prospective teachers are still relatively scarce. Therefore, this study aimed at contributing to this field of research by exploring the association between prospective teachers’ emotional competence and their motivation for the choice of a teaching career as proposed by the Factors Influencing Teaching (FIT)-Choice model. This study used a quantitative methodological approach. Prospective teachers who were enrolled in a primary school initial teacher education programme (N=423) participated in this study. The data were analysed using cluster analysis and multivariate analysis of variance. The results obtained revealed that the importance of almost all motives for the decision to pursue a teaching career, and the perception of demandingness of the teaching profession are rated higher by pre-service teachers with higher emotional competence. Finally, pre-service teachers with higher emotional competence also expressed a higher level of satisfaction with their career choice compared to those with a moderate level of emotional competence.
The study presents results founded upon the Factors Influencing Teaching Choice scale validation and the relations between personality traits and motivation for teaching in Croatia. A sample of 374 ...first-year preservice teachers from three universities participated in the study. Confirmatory factor analysis of the items comprising the Croatian version of the FIT-Choice scale provided support for its construct validity following the omission of six items with low factor loadings. Personality dimensions of the five-factor model provided a set of theoretically meaningful relations with the specific motivational factors determining the choice of teaching profession. In line with previous studies, our results showed that personality traits better predicted intrinsic motivation compared to extrinsic motivation. Two interpersonal dimensions, extraversion and agreeableness, were significant predictors of intrinsic career value, but also of satisfaction with the choice of this profession. Extraversion also predicted ability, whereas agreeableness demonstrated positive relations with social utility value motivations for a teaching career.
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to analyse resilience of preschool teachers and certain aspects of their readiness for developing children’s resilience, as well as to examine the relationship ...between these two constructs.
Design/methodology/approach
Two instruments (the Resilience Scale For Adults and the Questionnaire on the Readiness of Preschool teachers for Developing Children’s Resilience) were used to collect data on resilience and readiness for developing children’s resilience of 191 female preschool teachers. Obtained data were analysed by factor analysis and a two-way analysis of variance.
Findings
Results indicate relatively high level of preschool teachers’ resilience and their supportive attitudes towards programmes for building children’s resilience, as well as willingness to implement such programmes in their everyday practice. Those kindergarten teachers who perceive themselves as more resilient also consider that they are more competent for developing resilience in children. Additionally, preschool teachers who perceive their kindergarten’s institutional climate as supportive, express higher level of competence for fostering resilience in children, and are at the same time more willing to implement programmes for building children’s resilience.
Research limitations/implications
The findings suggest that higher level of institutional supportiveness can have effects on preschool teachers’ competence and willingness to foster resilience in children. Additionally, teachers’ competence for developing resilience in children can be related to their own resilience. These results suggest that general institutional climate and resilience of those adults who work with preschool children are important aspects of early educational environment, and should be taken into consideration when planning implementation of programmes for building children’s resilience.
Originality/value
This research is the first Croatian research of resilience in the context of early childhood education. It also represents contribution to a relatively small number of studies that link preschool teachers’ resilience and certain indicators of their readiness to foster resilience in children.
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