From Intensified Work to Professional Development

Teachers often feel that they have to mount enormous hills in their daily work. Teaching can be demanding, distressing and even painful, but it can also be very rewarding, just as the climber who reaches the top can feel intrinsically satisfied. These facets and consequences of teachers' work are apparent in the studies presented in this book.
Some studies report that teachers experience a diversity of stresses, while others find that teachers in general report work satisfaction and only moderate levels of work-related stress. There are various reasons as to why this might be, and this book's objective is to explore some of these and their effects on teachers' working lives. Another objective is to explore what schools as organisations do (or can do) to facilitate teachers' professional development and well-being.
The book gives a European perspective on issues relating to teachers' professional development and well-being in an age of reform-pressure and deregulation common to schools in most European countries.

Autorentext

The Editors: Jan Löwstedt is Professor in Business Administration at Mälardalen University in Sweden. He has published books and articles on organisational change, managerial and organisational cognition and the role of school management.
Pär Larsson is Assistant Professor at Stockholm School of Economics in Sweden. His primary research interests are organisational learning and change in schools and other organisations.
Sjoerd Karsten is Professor of Educational Policy and Organisation of Vocational Training, Adult Education and Life Long Learning at the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. His research centres on vocational education, pupils at risk and choice.
Rolf Van Dick is Professor of Social Psychology at the Department of Psychology, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt, Germany and Professor of Organisational Behaviour at Aston Business School, Aston University, Birmingham, United Kingdom. His research centres around applications of social identity theory in organisational settings.

Inhalt
Contents: Sture Nordh: Preface Rolf Van Dick/Sjoerd Karsten/Pär Larsson/Jan Löwstedt: Climbing the Mountain: An Introduction to the Journey Katrijn Ballet/Geert Kelchtermans: Teacher's Experience of Intensification Barrie Jones/Rolf Van Dick: Thank God It's Friday! Jorge Ávila de Lima: Contextualising Teachers' Professional Development Sjoerd Karsten/Ina Koning/Erik van Schooten: Individual and School-related Aspects of Stress and Job Satisfaction Jon Frode Blichfeldt: Supporting Good Work Matti Meriläinen/Janne Pietarinen: Stress as a Barrier to Professional Development Pär Larsson/Johan Berglund/Jan Löwstedt: Creating an Attractive School Pär Larsson/Jan Löwstedt: Organising Competence in Schools Rolf Van Dick/Christian Stierle/Hristos Govaris/Patrick Tissington/Anastassios Kodakos: Teachers' Well-being and Job Satisfaction: An Analysis across Countries Pär Larsson/Jan Löwstedt/Sjoerd Karsten/Rolf Van Dick: Back again: Experiences from the Journey Pär Larsson/Jan Löwstedt: Refining the Expedition: Individual, Team and Organisational Development.