Teacher's professional health formation issues

Фотографии: 

ˑ: 

Ph.D., Professor V.A. Vishnevskiy
Postgraduate student N.R. Usaeva
Surgut State University, Surgut

 

Keywords: teacher's occupational health, health culture, formation.

Introduction. Teacher is a key person in the school educational process. According to his status, professional and social role the teacher is not just the one possessing special knowledge but the one who personifies ethical standards, a paragon of good conduct, healthy lifestyle and adequate health behavior 5. According to the findings, that deterioration in students’ health is mostly due to a stressful milieu which is created by teachers too. However, the profession of a teacher itself can be considered as the one of increased risk [1].

The concept of “occupational health” in the context of the profession of a teacher has another essential feature which can be seen when he needs to be not only a subject teacher and educator but a health teacher too. In this case, in addition to the ability to keep and strengthen health it we should mention the ability to implement health promoting and health forming pedagogics. To fulfill these major tasks, A complex and effective set of measures on protection and promotion of occupational health of public education workers is required 6.

The purpose of the study is to prove the efficacy of the complex program for formation of teacher’s occupational health.

Materials and methods. Teachers of the schools of Surgut and Surgut District were involved the study. The following characteristics were assessed: adaptive reactions at the vegetative level using statistical, time, histographic and spectrum analyses of heart rate [2]; level of maturity and self-development of health culture [4]; preparedness for application of health protecting pedagogics [3]. The complex program of teacher’s occupational health formation included six modules: organizational; diagnostic; informative and cognitive; correctional and preventive; consultative; pedagogical [3].

Results and discussion. The findings show that only 11.1 % of teachers of examined schools have a satisfactory type of adaptation. Most of specialists (73.3 %) are in the prenosological stage of the borderline state and have to make serious efforts to release stress and perform other correction work. At last, 15.6 % of the teachers have a decompensated type of adaptation, a critical tension of the regulation system and they need to restore functional capacities immediately. These data differ from the results of self-rating of health. According to these results 69.7% of the teachers consider their health as good and perfect, 21.2 % – as satisfactory, and only 9.1 - poor.

In the state of rest the vegetative balance in the major part of the teachers (46.6 %) is shifted towards the sympathetic division. The situation is further aggravated by the functional load applied (active orthostatic test). Thus, if all vagatonics have responded to the test with a reaction of optimal normotonic type, then only 50 % of the persons with initial eutonia have had such type of reaction, other persons have had hypersympathicotonic (40.9 %) and asympathicotonic (9.1 %) types of vegetative reactivity. The optimal reaction has been detected in only 27.3 % of sympathicotonics but the cases of hypersympathicotonic (45.5 %) and asympathicotonic (27.3 %) reactivity have increased. Having exhausted themselves in the state of rest hypersympathicotonics respond only with sympathicotonic (60 %) or asympathicotonic (40%) reactions. Optimal vegetative maintenance of activity is inherent in only 15.6 % of the teachers and normal rehabilitation period - in 20 %.

There is a reliable relationship of the teacher's preparedness to implement health protecting pedagogics as a part of educational technology with the attitude to health and healthy lifestyle (r = 0.472, p < 0.05), with gnostic (r = 0.335, p < 0.05) and constructional (r = 0.333, p < 0.05) skills. In particular, the attitude to health and healthy lifestyle significantly correlates to such teacher's professional qualities as constructional (r = 0.787, p < 0.05), design (r = 0.723, p < 0.05) and organizational (r = 0,615, p < 0,05) skills, it also correlates to the strength of character traits (r = 0.596, p < 0.05), teacher’s abilities (r = 0.587, p < 0.05), focus on the profession (r = 0.545, p < 0.05).

The level of maturity of health culture was 50.7% of the possible one (Table 1). Meanwhile, the above average level has been demonstrated by the teachers of physical education and life safety, while teachers of other subjects have had the lower level. Among individual components of health culture, the motivational and value component and the orientational component were comparatively strong but the operational component and especially experience were the weakest. The teachers of physical education and life safety clearly left behind other teachers, and teachers of other specializations were inferior to others in the experience of health-improving activityies.

The correlations of individual health culture components with the overall level of competence development were representative: experience – r = 0.881, p < 0.01; operational component – r = 0.849, p < 0.01; orientational component – r = 0.599, p < 0.01; motivational and value component – r = 0.527, p < 0.01; cognitive component – r = 0.439, p < 0.01. Thus, the detected level of teachers’ preparedness to form the healthy and safety lifestyle culture of pupils is basically reached by means of motivational and value, orientational and cognitive components. However, experience and knowledge of health-promoting methods and technologies are very important but at the same time they are a weak point in the teacher training.

Table 1. Health culture maturity level of teachers and support services of educational institutions of Surgut, М±σ









Parameters

 

In total,

n = 125

Support services,

n = 26

Physical education and life safety teachers, n = 39

Teachers of other subjects,

n = 59

scores

%

scores

%

p-level

scores

%

p-level

scores

%

p-level

Overall level of maturity

128.2±

32.4

(50.7%)

136.9±

35.3 (54.1%)

0.22

140.7±

30.6

(55.6%)

0.05

116.8±

28.8

(46.2%)

0.03

Motivational and value component

25.7±

4.0

(82.9%)

26.4±

3.8

(85.2%)

0.67

26.5±

3.6 (85.5%)

0.26

24.9±

4.3

(80.3%)

0.25

Cognitive component

23.7±

5.8

(55.1%)

24.8±

4.9

(57.7%)

0.24

23.7±

6.8

(55.1%)

0.71

23.3±

5.5

(54.2%)

0.73

Orientational component

14.2±

4.8

67.6

15.9±

4.9

(75.7%)

0.10

15.3±

4.7

(72.9%)

0.31

12.9±

4.5

(61.4%)

0.06

Operational component

37.3±

14.2

43.9

41.1±

1.1

(48.4%)

0.18

41.1±

14.5

(48.4%)

0.18

33.2±

11.9

(39.1%)

0.07

Experience

27.7±

11.8

37.9

29.9±

12.7

(41.0%)

0.49

31.6±

11.4

(43.3%)

0.04

23.8±

10.7

(32.6%)

0.05

Management actions taken regarding the formation of teachers’ occupational health, have resulted in positive changes in the experimental group (Table 2).

Table 2. Dynamics of results of professional and health-promoting activities, teacher's personality and vegetation regulation when management actions are applied, М±






 

Parameters

Control group

(n = 14)

Experimental group

(n = 19)

Before

After

Before

After

Activity results,

scores

3.1±0.7

3.3±1.2

3.2±1.0

3.5±1.1

Teacher’s knowledge level,

scores

3.8±1.0

3.8±1.1

3.8±1.1

3.9±1.1

Gnostic skills,

scores

4.0±0.8

4,0±1,0

3,9±0,9

4,5±1,2*

Design skills,

scores

3.6±0.9

3,7±1,1

3,8±1,0

4,3±1,1*

Constructional skills,

scores

3.9±0.7

4,1±0,7

3,9±1,2

4,1±1,1

Organizational skills,

scores

3.9±1.0

3.8±1.1

4.1±1.2

4.5±1.1*

Communication skills,

scores

3.9±0.8

4.3±0.9

4.0±1.0

4.3±1.5

Attitude to health and healthy lifestyle, scores

3.1±0.9

3.2±1.1

3.4±1.2

4.5±0.7*

Academic progress quality, %

65.0±22.4

68.1±19.9

61.2±21.2

70.0±22.2

Fulfilling teaching technology requirements, scores

3.9±0.2

4.0±0.3

4.1±0.4

4.5±0.2*

Fulfilling lesson requirements, scores

4.0±0.2

4.1±0.3

4.2±0.1

4.6±0.1*

Regular stress index, c.u.

137±79

121±83

128±63

120±77

Vegetative reactivity, c.u.

2.09±1.1

1.99±1.2

2.0±1.0

1.35±0.5*

Recovery, c.u.

1.0±0.6

0.99±0.8

0.99±0.5

0.5±0.3*

Note. * The changes are valid (p < 0.05) in comparison with the control group.

As expected, the greatest changes have occurred in the attitude of the teachers to the problems of health and healthy lifestyle and to their preparedness to implement the principles of health protecting pedagogics. It is also worth noting a positive progress in gnostic, design and organizational skills. In spite of the fact that the regulatory stress index in the state of rest remains reliably unchanged, the introduction of the experimental group teachers into active health-promoting process has led to the improvement of the vegetative reactivity as a response to the orthostatic test and led to faster recovery in the clinostatic test.

Conclusion. Involving of teachers into health creative activity contributes to the growth of their professional skills and the ability to actually implement the health-protecting and health-promoting pedagogics and the functional state improvement.

References

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Corresponding author: apokin_vv@mail.ru