Master of Education Roosa Yli-Pietilä's doctoral dissertation examines the development of Finnish class teachers' professional agency and its relation to the well-being of teachers and students.
The findings indicate that Finnish primary school teachers generally experience strong professional agency in terms of learning. They feel capable of and skilled at flexibly and collaboratively adapting teaching methods and learning environments to meet the needs of the students. Moreover, they demonstrate a willingness to develop professionally by reflecting on their own practices.
Yli-Pietilä analyzed professional agency using structural equation modeling based on two longitudinal datasets. The first dataset, collected in 2011 and 2016, included responses from 815 primary school teachers. The second dataset, collected from 2017 to 2019, included 1,920 teachers and 1,893 fourth-grade students at the first measurement point.
Longitudinal analyses showed that teachers experience strong professional agency, with only a few reporting significant changes in this experience over time. Yli-Pietilä identified four profiles describing the trajectories of professional agency: strong and stable agency, moderately strong agency, increasing agency, and decreasing agency.
“The majority of teachers belonged to the profile of strong and stable agency, about a quarter to the profile of moderately strong agency, and only a very small portion to the profiles of increasing or decreasing agency. Teachers’ professional agency appears to strengthen slightly with increased work experience,” Yli-Pietilä explains.
A strong sense of professional agency protects teachers
Yli-Pietilä also explored in her dissertation how teachers' professional agency relates with their own well-being and the well-being of their students.
“A strong sense of professional agency seems to protect teachers from feelings of inadequacy, which can manifest as perceived challenges in managing difficult interactions with students or as feelings of failure in their work”, Yli-Pietilä says.
In addition to feelings of inadequacy, Yli-Pietilä examined two other symptoms of teacher’s socio-contextual burnout, cynicism and exhaustion.
“Teachers with lower levels of professional agency reported significantly higher levels of these symptoms," she continues.
Burnout in the classroom challenges teachers
For the first time, the study also examined teachers' sense of professional agency in relation to: 1) their self- and co-regulation of work-related stress and workload, and 2) students’ well-being in the classroom. A strong and stable sense of professional agency was found to be associated with teachers' perceived ability to manage their workload, set boundaries, and especially to collaboratively address workplace challenges in the teacher community.
Previous research has shown that burnout can be contagious among students and teachers. In Yli-Pietilä’s dissertation, a spread experience of burnout in the student class group emerged as a specific challenge to teachers' professional agency.
“These findings highlight the intertwining of teachers' professional agency and well-being. While strong professional agency promotes well-being, sustaining it requires supportive structures and practices within the school community," Yli-Pietilä emphasizes.
Yli-Pietilä says that supporting teachers' professional agency, for example by providing opportunities for professional learning and development, is one way to enhance the well-being of both teachers and students.
“This must be accompanied by structural and procedural changes within schools, ensuring adequate time for teachers and school professionals to discuss, anticipate, and collaboratively resolve stressors that challenge work and studying”, she adds.
Roosa Yli-Pietilä is originally from Tampere, Finland, and currently works in the “Future School of Comprehensive Well-Being (SchoolWell)” research project funded by the Strategic Research Council of Finland.
Public defence on Friday 17 January
Master of Education Roosa Yli-Pietilä’s dissertation in the field of education, Teacher’s Professional Agency and Well-being in the Classroom, will be publicly defended at the Faculty of Education and Culture at Tampere University on Friday, January 17, 2025, at 12:00 in the Linna building auditorium K103 (Kalevantie 5, Tampere). The opponent will be Emerita Professor Anne Edwards from the University of Oxford. The custos will be PhD, Research Director Tiina Soini from the Faculty of Education and Culture at Tampere University.