Exploring an Effective Work Engagement Process for Elementary Schoolteachers: Trial Examination of Regional Difference

Abstract

[Purpose]

This exploratory study’s purposes were to (1) examine an effective process of work engagement for elementary schoolteachers, and (2) examine regional differences in work engagement and its related factors.

[Methods]

From an urban ward in Tokyo and a rural city in Nagano Prefecture, 139 elementary schoolteachers were assessed via a questionnaire on work engagement: relationships with pupils, parents, colleagues, and local residents; worries about overloaded routines; and pupils’ home conditions. After the questionnaire, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 teachers about their work engagement and its related factors.

[Results]

Whereas work engagement was indirectly affected by colleagues’ support, it was directly affected by worries about overloaded routines, parents and local residents’ cooperation, and pupils’ prioritizing after-school lessons and/or cram schools. Regarding regional differences, teachers in Tokyo experienced less cooperation from parents and local residents had more pupils prioritizing after-school lessons and/or cram schools and more pupils skipping breakfast. On the other hand, there were no differences between the two regions regarding work engagement, support from parents and pupils, worries over their overloaded routines, and support from colleagues.

[Discussion]

These results suggested that pupils’ prioritizing after-school lessons and/or cram schools, directly affecting a teacher’s work engagement, might be linked to teachers’ decreasing motivation. On the other hand, decreasing worries over their overloaded routines, which burdens teachers with a high physical and mental workload, might produce greater work engagement.