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- Stress and burnout in special education teachersPublication . Martins, Rosa; Andrade, Ana; Albuquerque, Carlos; Cunha, MadalenaAbstract: Background: Duties that teachers are required to perform in the current social context require personal skills which cannot be limited to knowledge accumulation. Teachers related to special education are subject to such pressure, demands and psychological overload that it can result in serious cases of stress and burnout. Objectives: assessing stress and burnout in special education teachers and find out to what extent socio-demographic and psychosocial variables have a significant effect on those levels. Method: Study of quantitative, cross-cutting and descriptive-correlational nature. It is a non-probability sampling based on convenience, composed of 90 teachers, linked to special education in Portugal. The research protocol includes questions of socio-demographic, professional and health characterization, as well as two scales: one which assesses stress and burnout levels (CPB-R) and another which assesses self-efficacy (SES). Data collection took place between January and June 2014, and statistical treatment of data was based on SPSS software 19.0. Outcomes: The sample is mainly composed of females, married, holding a bachelor’s degree and with a mean age of 46 years old. Stress affects 80% of teachers, who feel lack of recognition for their work (64.4%) and professional fulfilment (55.6%). Although overall burnout (35.6%) and emotional exhaustion (48.9%) were identified, they strike a lower number of teachers. Stress and burnout levels are higher in older and divorced teachers who teach students in lower secondary education, with a weekly working time of 22/25 hours and perception of low efficacy. Evidence showed that teacher’s stress and burnout is variable and multidimensional. Nonetheless, it affects a significant number of special education teachers, which invites us to implement intervention programs on this professional group.
- The factorial structure of the supervisor’s generic and specific competencies scalePublication . Cunha, Madalena; Albuquerque, Carlos; Cruz, Carla
- The factorial structure of the supervisor’s generic and specific competencies scalePublication . Cunha, Madalena; Albuquerque, Carlos; Cruz, CarlaCunha’s Supervisor’s General and Specific Competencies Scale (Cunha, 2017) was designed to assess the mentor teachers’ ideal competencies according to higher education students’ perspective. The development of further educational/pedagogical research in this area is essential to update the existing knowledge. This study sought to answer the question what the psychometric quality of Cunha's (2017) Supervisor's General and Specific Competencies Scale (CGES) is by assessing the psychometric properties, the factorial structure and the internal consistency of the Supervisor’s General and Specific Competencies Scale. To determine this, a methodological and cross-sectional study was carried out. The institutions authorised the collection of data and the participants completed the indispensable informed consent form. The internal consistency study and the confirmatory factor analysis of the CGES scale, (Cunha, Cruz, Menezes & Albuquerque, 2017) was developed using a sample consisting of 306 higher education students, who were attending medical schools located in the centre of Portugal. 81.7% of those participants were women with an average age of 21.15 years. The CGES scale internal consistency study revealed the existence of three (3) Factors/subscales: 1 – generic competencies (α = 0.960); 2 – specific competencies (α = 0.937) and 3 - metacompetencies (α = 0.805). There was a 0.907 Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for the global 20 item scale. Students who were under 19 value the supervisor's generic skills, while metacompetencies are preferred by older students. There was a statistically significant difference between scores. This research constitutes the first assessment of the psychometric quality of the CGES scale measurement properties, using a sample from the Portuguese population. It shows the robustness of the internal consistency values obtained for the different subscales and that are taken into account in the final and global outcome. The results suggest that we should consider assessing the generic and the specific competencies, as well as the metacompetencies, exhibited by teachers when their pedagogical performance in the field of supervision is being assessed.
- The factorial structure of the supervisor’s core competencies scalePublication . Cunha, Madalena; Duarte, João; Albuquerque, CarlosCunha & Albuquerque’s (2017) Supervisor’s Core Competencies Scale (SCoreCS) was designed to assess the ideal skills that college students expect their mentor teacher to master. The development of educational pedagogic and academic research in this field is of vital importance considering the lack of updated background knowledge of this topic. In view of this, the following question was raised: What is the Supervisor’s Core Competencies Scale internal consistency quality? This study sought to evaluate the psychometric properties, namely the factorial structure and the internal consistency of the Supervisor’s Core Competencies Scale. A cross - sectional study was conducted, after the Ethics Committee’s approval. The internal consistency study and the confirmatory factor analysis of the SCoreCS were developed using a sample of 306 students (81.7% of them were women) with an average age of 21.15. The SCoreCS internal consistency study revealed the existence of three (3) factors/subscales: 1) Personal Factors (α=0.979); 2) Interpersonal/Communication Factors (α=0.946); and 3) Performance Factors (α=0.936). A Cronbach's alpha coefficient of 0.972 was found for the global 21-items SCoreCS. Female students value the supervisor’s personal competencies more, while male students prefer the interpersonal competencies which revealed statistically significant differences. The youngest students (≤19) value all the different kinds of competencies which revealed statistically significant differences when compared to the other age groups. This research constitutes a first step in the study of the psychometric properties of the SCoreCS using a sample of the Portuguese population. The values of internal consistency in the different subscales and in the global score were found to be quite robust. The results suggest that the identification of personal, interpersonal/communicational and performance competencies should be considered in the assessment of the teachers' pedagogical practices. These findings will also foster the development of future research that will support a more contemporary pedagogical supervision in which innovation would be applied to college didactics.