The Relationship Between the Well-Being and Professional Performance of Teachers

Abstract

The article "The relationship between the concept of the well-being of teachers and their professional and personal performance" is based on the practically applied dimension, on the way of valorising at the level of the school organization the general model of positive personality that influences the performance of teachers. thus, the way in which personal values are connected to professional values is followed, pursuing a common goal of career success and the achievement of a state of well-being at a personal and professional level. from this point of view, the study wants to emphasize that the generation of positive emotions are the ones that make it more efficient, but also contribute to the improvement of the professional performance of teachers, so subjects who have high satisfaction and a positive mood at work will be much more involved in tasks, more creative strategically and will be dominated by an intrinsic motivation which in the long term ensures an increase in productivity in teams and a better functionality of it. Also, a better focus of the individual on himself, on his capacities, skills and professional competences, on the development of intrinsic motivation and how to adapt to the professional environment by connecting to the same vision shared at the workplace, adherence to the team's common objectives leads to increase employee performance and a high level of their well-being.

Keywords: Professional success, professional performance, self-determination and personal development, teaching staff, well-being

Introduction

The new social and professional reconstructions also consider the concept of professional identity and well-being. For educational institutions, it was a challenge to build and ensure an educational environment defined by well-being, in the context where for almost two years the instructional and educational activities were carried out online. This aspect concerned the institutional strategy, the way in which at the institutional level there were resources to ensure the balance of professional life in the digital context, to find solutions for professional overload and the generation of unit management to adapt the individual to the new professional conditions that do not lead to an increased level of stress, but to increase professional performance (Cuc, 2013, 2014, 2019a, 2019b, 2019c, 2020a, 2020b, 2020c).

Problem Statement

Happiness being "a barometer of health and emotional well-being...underlines the idea that the personal degree of happiness is an indicator of the functionality of the individual's emotional intelligence" (Hughes & Terrell, 2017, p. 120) becomes a fundamental concept for the professional performance of the teaching staff at the level of the school organization. The emotional resonance of an individual allows him within the work team through the skills, attitudes and competences developed to be effective at the personal level, at the professional team level, but also at the school organization level. Developing this capacity is a continuous process that the individual is required to manage from one event to another with great efficiency. Success, professional performance is ensured by the development of these capacities, attitudes, skills that help the individual to function in optimal parameters and to have the maximum yield Through the status he acquires at the level of the school organization, this being conditioned by the degree of training, professional training, of the acquired expertise, but also of the ability to adapt and flexibility. Thus, “the measurement of happiness precedes the measurement of career success.........and the induction of positive emotions leads to the improvement of work-related performance” (David, 2017, p. 289).

Research Questions

In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, professional performance, implicitly professional success at the level of educational institutions, was influenced by the quality of interpersonal relationships that teachers managed with colleagues, learners, community representatives, but also by the way during this time teachers were concerned with self-determination and personal and professional development. Under the influence of the effects of the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, the teaching staff have reset the concept of well-being on a personal and professional level and the way in which it influences their professional performance and implicitly the human ecosystem built within the institution.

The study, under the influence of the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, aimed to answer the question:

To what extent do personal and professional values influence the increased level of well-being, satisfaction with life and career in the pandemic context, but also the increase in professional performance?

This research question comes in the context of changes at the level of the curricular, legislative framework and working methodology applied in the educational reality of the education system, implicitly in the educational units. in this context, the managers of school institutions have realized the importance of the concept of positive leadership applied in the professional life of the institution by increasing the “awareness by subordinates of the vision and mission of the workplace, thus creating commitment to common goals” (David, 2017, p. 293).

Purpose of the Study

In this pandemic context, the teaching staff reflected on the way in which they can cultivate on a personal level ah the professional team and at the institution level Concern, the ability to understand, self-determination, Empathy, but also unconditional acceptance in order to build the concept of well-being both at the level personal as well as professional team, to contribute to increasing the quality of interpersonal relationships at the workplace, a human ecosystem based on success. By managing at the institutional level an authentic leadership policy, an environment conducive to increasing the level of self-esteem of employees was built, which contributed to the positive connection of interpersonal relationships but also to the decrease in the level of stress and interpersonal conflicts (Bharrwaney, 2020).

The purpose of the research was the analysis of the professional strategies implemented in educational institutions that contributed to raising the level

Research Methods

Findings

In the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, the fundamental objective was the reconfiguration of the educational act from the perspective of digitization, which led to new challenges for teachers at any school subjects in the teaching-learning-evaluation process through the capabilities developed in the use of new technologies to communicate the professional expertise, the human quality of the agents involved in the educational act and their credibility. The years under the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic have facilitated the development of the skills of teaching staff in the field of digital learning; developing the professional capacity to teach digitally and to support learners in digital learning contexts, to build curriculum or teaching teams, to provide learning opportunities and facilitate proactive involvement in the educational act of learners.

More than ever, this period offered solutions to the questions related to job satisfaction and the well-being of teachers, how they achieve a balance between family life and professional life in this context, managing the stress due to family-conflict work, which, for the employee, thus contributes to his emotional exhaustion, lack of energy, defining states of exhaustion, implicitly the burnout syndrome. Thus, a percentage of 34% of teachers specified the intensity of the feelings of dissatisfaction they experience in various circumstances of their personal, family or even professional life, which led to a decrease in the quality of relationships in the family or at the professional level leading even at the risk of separation or a divorce as a couple. The respondents mentioned the fact that the lack of connection to the partner, family members, the work team, the events generated by the context of the COVID-19 pandemic generated states of anxiety and depression, a decrease in the quality of individual life at the level of physical and mental health or even spiritual, have often led in established relationships to not having a Positive state of mind that would allow the subject to resonate with the interlocutor and have a positive impact of the emotions generated at work or in the family. most of the time the state of mind was influenced by the respondents answer by their physical health, by their psychological health and their ability to adapt, by their personal values, spiritual beliefs or standards of conduct thus influencing the well-being of the subject. In this context, a percentage of 87% of the respondents emphasized the fact that the managers of the institution were concerned at the workplace with the well-being of the employees, implicitly with the state of mind they have in the educational act and the way in which influence their behaviour in the classroom. From this point of view, a strategy was managed within the organization by strengthening social support, rethinking cooperation and collaboration relationships that lead to the development of trust at the team level and at the institutional level, being an anchor for achieving a fundamental institutional objective, the shared vision; the development of a supportive leadership style both in work teams, specialized commissions, but also at the level of the manager to emphasize and support both personal and institutional success, but to identify effective solutions for failure (Cuc, 2013, 2014, 2019a, 2019b, 2019c, 2020a, 2020b, 2020c). Also, 68% of the interviewees specified the harmful effects that the existing conflicting relationship between personal goals has on the personal feeling of happiness and the level of frustration, with effects on job satisfaction, on the respondents' ability to cope with the existing demands at the workplace or in the family. The solution managed at the commission level is the development of professional skills and competences, but also the strengthening of the feeling of trust and personal and professional self-efficacy to achieve personal goals and fulfil the proposed institutional tasks. In this context of social reorganization and implicitly the reorganization of the professional environment, 76% of the interviewees emphasized the need to rethink the working conditions and the educational environment to ensure a state of well-being both at the level of the teaching staff and to ensure a climate favourable to learning in order to prevention of stress factors for teachers and students (Cuc, 2013, 2014, 2019a, 2019b, 2019c, 2020a, 2020b, 2020c; Chiș & Alexandra, 2019; Cuc & Oltean, 2022; Oltean, 2016; Oltean, 2020). These subjects specified the fact that, even if they faced professional or family tasks, difficult requirements, situations to which they believed they would not find solutions, they are optimistic in communication and interpersonal relations, in the way they perceive their level of self-satisfaction and enjoys everything that surrounds them and the people they relate to, having a general state of contentment. From this point of view, the subjects confirmed that the increased level of well-being implied by happiness leaves its mark on their professional results around self-efficacy, professional growth and responsibility at the organizational level, self-control, implicitly the social, economic, and professional state, implicitly communication and professional relationships. Thus, a percentage of 84% of the respondents emphasized the fact that an increased level of well-being at the level of the school organization led to positive relations on all hierarchical lines in this pandemic context, contributing to: consultation in carrying out didactic activities, building a support in carrying out teaching activities, offering professional recommendations, advice, information, and resources, etc. The same percentage of subjects self-perceived well-being in the pandemic context as being materialized by well-defined personal goals, well-defined professional goals, well-defined structuring of a personal or professional project, choosing the most effective content, but also the progress pursued by the subject in the direction of their achievement of the intended goals. from this point of view, the well-structured relationships at the professional level on all hierarchical lines had an impact on the professional productivity, the job satisfaction of the teaching staff, their professional performances, on professional communication and professional collaboration by building and developing professional networks, in the continuous development of professional skills, but also in reflective practice. As advanced solutions in increasing the level of well-being, 87% of the subjects specified the focus on their own person, on the ability to self-perceive the indicators that bring satisfaction to them, but also to the other, on the trust and optimism generated by those around them, the openness to new areas of knowledge and interpersonal relationships, on the practical and emotional support offered to colleagues and students in the pandemic context expressed by: understanding the difficulties of balancing the professional plan with the family plan; through changes in the work schedule that allow colleagues to support family members with chronic health problems; through empathy training programs regarding the improvement of collegial and hierarchical relationships; by developing a professional counselling support and building a flexible work schedule, all generated through communication and assertive interpersonal relations, by promoting at the institutional level the concept of empathic understanding, empathic exploration or empathic resonance at the level of the teaching staff.

Conclusion

The context of the Covid-19 pandemic has led to rethinking the concept of well-being at the personal level but also at the team and institution level. current research still at the level of organizations has focused on “what the organization can do to promote positive relationships, we know less about what the individual could do to contribute to the development of healthy relationships at work” (Matu, 2017, p. 209). Following the events of the pandemic context, we are concerned with the way in which the values have been reset at the individual level, also another aspect is the way in which the individual is now satisfied with his current life, the way in which he enjoyed his achievements, enjoyed those around you, family, friends, work colleagues and the accumulated stress level following major losses. Thus, in reflective practice, it would be a theme to follow the way in which all these changes left their mark on the quality of professional relationships, professional performance, professional satisfaction, but also the impact of social support on well-being (Allen et al., 2022; Bohart & Greenberg, 2011; Ceobanu et al., 2020; Cuc & Oltean, 2022; Chiș & Alexandra, 2019; Ionescu, 2020; Oltean, 2016; Oltean, 2020; Senge, 2016; Szentagotai-Tătar & David, 2017; Zimbardo & Leippe, 2022). Within the school organization there are teaching staff with a high level of well-being, this at the level of communication and professional relations will generate contentment, professional satisfaction, better cooperation and professional collaboration based on trust, mutual respect, a capacity to activate own resources and the institutional team, overcoming the professional comfort zone that leads to reflective practice and professional self-evaluation, expertise, the generation of managers and leadership capable of carrying out transformations at the institutional level through transformation.

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