Work Engagement: A Descriptive Qualitative Study on the perception of teachers
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https://doi.org/10.14689/enad.38.1811Keywords:
Work engagement, teacher education, focus group, qualitative research, teachersAbstract
Work engagement is a state of mental motivation that allows workers to achieve success in the workplace. However, due to high work demands and exhaustion, teachers might find it difficult to engage in work. Teachers can develop work engagement if they intervene in the barriers that prevent them from doing their work by providing facilitators. The aim of this study was to describe teachers' perceptions of work engagement at different stages of education. A descriptive qualitative study was designed. Four focus groups were conducted with a total of 26 Spanish teachers. Three main themes and six sub-themes emerged from the analysis of the data: (1) Causes of the generation of work engagement: personal facilitators and facilitators of the environment; (2) Barriers to generating work engagement: individual and environmental; (3) Effects of work engagement: positive consequences and negative consequences. These findings indicate that there are several facilitators and barriers that promote and/or hinder the generation of work engagement in Spanish teachers. However, it should be noted that the study presents transferable results for other countries dealing with similar issues. In conclusion, training teachers in certain skills would improve their ability to solve complex situations and increase their levels of work engagement.
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