Features of Coping Strategies among Teachers with Various Teaching Experience and Speciality

Abstract

Introduction. The choice of coping behavior strategies is a factor in increasing the efficiency of professional activities of educators. Despite the large number of publications on this topic, there is a lack of research on teachers’ choice factors regarding coping strategies. The authors suggest that the choice of coping strategies is determined not only by the teaching experience, but also by the special subject a teacher has to teach. Materials and Methods. The methods, used in the study are the following: Ways of Coping by R. Lazarus and S. Folkman and Questionnaire by E. Heim. The survey group was 475 teaching employees with various lengths of teaching experience and teaching specialities. For statistical processing, MANOVA, the Kruskal-Wallis H-test, and the χ² criterion were used. Results. In the course of analysis of variance, it was found that the choice of preferred coping strategies depends not only on the length of teaching experience, but also on the speciality area taught. This refers to both specific strategies (Distancing, Self-control and Positive Revaluation) and productive, relatively productive and unproductive strategies in general. Based on the severity of coping behavior strategies, two groups of pedagogical workers were identified: with a more evident (preschool educators, psychologists and subject teachers) and less evident (primary school teachers and teachers of additional education) coping strategies. Discussion and Conclusion. The specificity of the choice of both productive and unproductive strategies for coping behavior is determined not only by the length of teaching experience, but also by the specialization taught. The authors have highlighted coping strategies that are most typical for various groups of teaching staff. The results obtained can be useful for educational psychologists who provide psychological support for teams of educational organizations. The revealed specificity of coping behavior of teaching staff can serve as a basis for the development of preventive measures to offset professional burnout.