Teachers’ metaphors and beliefs about teaching and their relationship with job satisfaction

Löfström, Erika (author), Poom-Valickis, Katrin (author), Rumma, Kirsti (author)

This research focuses on Estonian teachers’ beliefs about teaching, the metaphors of their knowledge base, and the emotions connected with being a teacher. The relationships between these aspects and teacher job satisfaction were explored. In total, 658 mathematics, English language, biology, and class teachers participated in the research. The research applied a mostly quantitative design involving a mixed methods approach. The results highlight the complexity of teachers’ understanding of their role. Statistically significant differences were found between the teacher groups participating in the study. The results showed that the affective connotations of metaphors teachers attach to their work are related to teachers’ job satisfaction. However, there were no significant differences between teacher groups based on the nature of their metaphor and their beliefs about teaching. However, the results indicate that teachers expressing student-centred beliefs were more satisfied with their job environment than those with teacher-centred beliefs. The study suggests the importance of considering beliefs, knowledge base, and emotions in understanding job satisfaction.

• Language: English
• Keywords: beliefs about teaching, emotions, job satisfaction, metaphors, teachers’ knowledge base
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: PEF - Faculty of Education
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2026
• Number of pages: Str. 227-251
• Numbering: Vol. 16, no. 1
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-181741
• UDC: 37.011.3-051
• ISSN on article: 2232-2647
• DOI: 10.26529/cepsj.1768
• COBISS.SI-ID: 201925379
• Publication date in RUL: 15.04.2026

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: CEPS Journal: Center for Educational Policy Studies Journal = revija Centra za študij edukacijskih strategij
• Publisher: Pedagoška fakulteta, Univerza v Ljubljani
• ISSN: 2232-2647
• COBISS.SI-ID: 254029824

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Title: Metafore in prepričanja učiteljev o poučevanju ter povezave z zadovoljstvom pri delu

Abstract

Ta raziskava se osredinja na prepričanja estonskih učiteljev o poučevanju, metaforah iz njihovih baz znanja in o čustvih, povezanih z delom učitelja. Raziskane so bile povezave med temi vidiki in zadovoljstvom učiteljev pri delu. V raziskavi je sodelovalo 658 učiteljev matematike, angleškega jezika, biologije in razrednega pouka. Uporabljena je bila pretežno kvantitativna zasnova, ki je vključevala pristop mešanih metod. Rezultati poudarjajo kompleksnost učiteljevega razumevanja svoje vloge. Med skupinami učiteljev, ki so sodelovali v raziskavi, so bile ugotovljene statistično pomembne razlike. Rezultati so pokazali, da so afektivne konotacije metafor, ki jih učitelji povezujejo s svojim delom, povezane z zadovoljstvom učiteljev pri delu, vendar pa med skupinami učiteljev ni bilo pomembnih razlik glede na naravo njihovih metafor in prepričanj o poučevanju. Rezultati pa kažejo tudi, da so bili učitelji, ki so izražali prepričanja, osredinjena na učence, bolj zadovoljni s svojim delovnim okoljem kot tisti s prepričanji, osredinjenimi na učitelje. Študija kaže, da je pri razumevanju zadovoljstva pri delu pomembno upoštevati prepričanja, bazo znanja in čustva.

• Keywords: prepričanja o poučevanju, čustva, zadovoljstvo pri delu, metafore, baza znanja učiteljev, učitelji, zadovoljstvo na delovnem mestu