What is it about?
We measured psychological qualities that predicted the level of career engagement felt by 364 teachers. We found that conscientious teachers had higher levels of career engagement. Well, that's not really surprising; but, what we found after combining other psychological qualities is worth thinking about. Teachers' levels of career optimism actually carried the effects of their conscientiousness onto career engagement. In other words, career optimism is the bridge between conscientiousness and engagement. On the flip side, career optimism did not carry the effects of negative emotions onto career engagement.
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Why is it important?
Conscientious is a personality trait. It can be honed and developed, but it takes a lot of time and lot of effort. In any case, there is not much scope for such efforts within the crammed curricula of degrees in teaching? Career optimism, on the other hand, is far more flexible and can be developed to good effect via targeted learning programs. Remember the groundbreaking research on learned optimism by Professor Martin Seligman. The idea of enhancing conscientious teachers' career engagement by developing their career optimism raises all sorts of possibilities for how well our teachers enjoy their work. We may need to add "career optimistic" to that list of qualities! Indeed, career optimism is one of the career management skills needed in the contemporary world of work.
Perspectives
The psychological qualities of teachers is too often ignored as a factor that contributes to their professional success and, moreover, their students' learning. Like any other professional working in a busy environment without optimal resources, teachers whose psychological qualities foster resilience will likely thrive in the profession, despite the environmental challenges.
Professor Peter McIlveen
University of Southern Queensland
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Career Optimism Mediates the Effect of Personality on Teachers’ Career Engagement, Journal of Career Assessment, July 2016, SAGE Publications,
DOI: 10.1177/1069072715616059.
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