Stress is an unavoidable part of professional and private life. In professions that offer aid to people or those that involve working with people, stress is inherent to the type of work itself. The work of special and rehabilitation pedagogues is intense and entwined with quick change, which demand good adaption skills. In the workplace they face a variety of conditions that are taxing and cause occupational stress. The mentioned conditions relate to the work environment, interpersonal relationships as well as challenges to balance professional demands and personal life.
The main end of the master thesis was to explore which factors of occupational stress are wearisome for special and rehabilitation pedagogues in Pomurje and how these are experienced with regard to the mobility of the pedagogic profile. In the research section we used a descriptive and causal non-experimental method of pedagogical research and a quantitative research approach. We conducted the research on grounds of a non-random sample of special and rehabilitation pedagogues (N=46). We sent the anonymous survey via email to elementary schools and elementary schools with adaptive programs in Pomurje.
The results show that almost half of special and rehabilitation pedagogues assess their occupation as quite or very stressful. We did not find a statistically significant correlation between how stress is experienced and professional skillset. The most stress causing factors as identified by contributing pedagogues were administrative work, time pressure, workload, lack of discipline and interest in work in students. We found that the lack of suitable spaces for work with students the most exhausting in the work environment for participants of the research. The data shows that the work environment is perceived as slightly more stressful for mobile special and rehabilitation pedagogues than for others, but the difference was statistically insignificant. With regard to interpersonal relationships, the participants felt accepted by co-workers and considered themselves part of the team. Furthermore, in connection to work life balance we found that than half of participants also worked at home. Results show that for mobile special and rehabilitation pedagogues the balance between work demands and private life was statistically significant more demanding.
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