A Teacher’s Professional Competence and Occupational Well-being – a Survey for Finnish Health Care Sector Teachers

Author(s):

Kari Hyvärinen (submitting) Kerttu Tossavainen (presenting) Terhi Saaranen

Conference:

ECER 2015

Network:

01. Continuing Professional Development: Learning for Individuals, Leaders, and Organisations

Format:

Paper

Session Information

01 SES 06 A, Teacher cooperation, collegiality and wellbeing

Paper Session

Time:

2015-09-09

15:30-17:00

Room:

203.Oktatóterem [C]

Chair:

Heinz Guenter Holtappels

Contribution

Teachers’ professional competence is an essential factor in successful teaching, enabling good learning outcomes as well as a notable element of teachers’ occupational wellbeing. A Health Care Sector Teacher, per se, needs to master both the knowledge and the skills of two complex and wide fields: Education and the Health care sector where she/he is teaching. (Holopainen 2007.)

The purpose of this study was to describe the professional competence of health care sector teachers as well as how it can be improved thereby providing a greater sense of occupational well-being, and the respondents’ contentment with the occupational well-being in their own work community. Moreover, the research explains whether the respondents’ background variables, such as organizational background, formal pedagogical competence and experiences in clinical health care work as well as teaching in health care sector, bear any relation to how professional competence is experienced, and its needs to advance and occupational well-being. Finally, the respondents’ satisfactions with their ability to use their knowledge and expertise in their work were investigated.

The specific research questions were:

How did the respondents describe their own state of the occupational well-being and the occupational well-being of their own work community as a whole?
How did the respondents describe their satisfaction with their own professional competence and what were the needs for development of it?
How did the respondents’ background variables, such as organizational background and work experience, bear any relation to how professional competence is experienced, and its needs to advance and occupational well-being?

This study is based on the larger research and development project in the Department of Nursing Science of the University of Eastern Finland of promoting the Occupational Well-being of School Staff. This larger project was part of an international Schools for Health in Europe (SHE) study (see http://www.uef.fi/en/hoitot/promotion).

Method

The target group consisted of health care sector teachers, working in Finnish speaking universities of applied sciences (6) and in vocational institutions (11) in the region of the former Province of Southern Finland. The response rate of the survey was 38.1% (n=250) being slightly higher in vocational institutions 41.4% (n=145) in comparison to universities of applied sciences 33.9% (n=105). The survey data was acquired using an Internet based index questionnaire on occupational well-being (Saaranen et al. 2012a, 2012b, 2015). The respondents’ own perception of their know-how in the different areas of professional competence was evaluated with Likert scale (1-5; 1=very poor, 2=quite poor, 3=moderate, 4=quite good and 5=very good) variables. To evaluate the need for development in the issues presented in the questions (1=needed very much, 2=much needed, 3=somewhat needed, 4=hardly needed, 5=not needed at all). The questionnaire form included also an open-ended question field, where the respondents could write their own perceptions of professional competence and work wellbeing related questions in their current work. The quantitative data was analysed using statistic methods (descriptive statistic methods, constructing average variables based on principal component analysis, the Mann-Whitney and the Kruskall-Wallis tests and cross-tabulation). The qualitative data was analysed adapting content analysis.

Expected Outcomes

The results of the quantitative data indicated that the respondents assessed their own occupational well-being higher than the occupational well-being of their own work community as a whole. The respondents were mostly satisfied with their own ethical competence in their work as a teacher as well as their opportunities to use their skills and know-how in teaching. Skills concerning ADP (automatic data processing) and educational technology were issues with which the respondents were least satisfied. As the occupational experience of a health care sector teacher grew, the satisfaction concerning their interaction skills with an individual student decreased. However, as it grew, the teacher’s satisfaction with their management of a group as well as in complex situations increased. Teachers in vocational institutes were more satisfied with their professional competence in general than teachers in universities of applied sciences. However, teachers in universities of applied sciences were more often content with their interaction skills and clinical competence. The findings of the qualitative data indicated that the double-orientation of a health care sector teacher, mastering two different fields of expertise was a significant element of the respondent’s professional identity. The teacher’s experiences in clinical competence in teaching and aspirations to develop the competence were widely shown in the qualitative data. The most significant obstacle in developing the competence was the lack of time among the teachers who worked in the Universities of applied sciences, and the lack of funding in the vocational institutions. These results support the conception that professional competence and the development of it are notable elements of occupational well-being. These results cannot be used to generalize the occupational well-being and professional competence of all health care sector teachers. However, the results can be utilized in educational institutions when planning a programme of in-house development. (Hyvärinen 2012.)

References

Holopainen A, Hakulinen-Viitanen T & Tossavainen K. 2007. Nurse teacherhood: Systematic descriptive review and content analysis. International Journal of Nursing Studies 44(4), 611−623. Hyvärinen K. 2012. Professional competence as a part of occupational wellbeing – a survey for health care sector teachers. Master’s Thesis, University of Eastern Finland, Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Nursing Science. Saaranen T, Sormunen M, Pertel T, Streimann K, Hansen S, Varava L, Lepp K, Turunen H & Tossavainen K. 2012a. The occupational well-being of school staff and maintenance of their ability to work in Finland and Estonia - focus on the school community and professional competence. Health Education 112 (3), 236–255. Saaranen T, Pertel T, Kalle T, Hansen S, Varava L, Lepp K, Turunen H. & Tossavainen K. 2012b. School staffs’ experiences of work and working conditions in Finnish and Estonian schools. The Open Public Health Journal 5, 55–69. Saaranen T, Pertel T, Streimann K, Laine S & Tossavainen K. 2015. The Occupational Well-being of School Staff: Experiences and results from an action research project realised in Finland and Estonia in 2009–201. University of Eastern Finland, Reports and Studies in Health Sciences 16. Kopio Niini Oy, Kuopio.

Author Information

Kari Hyvärinen (submitting)

Metropolia University of Applied Sciences, Helsinki Finland

Health Sciences

Helsinki

Kerttu Tossavainen (presenting)

University of Eastern Finland, Finland

Terhi Saaranen

University of Eastern Finland, Finland

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