Teacher Engagement in Poland: Research Contexts and Support Tool Proposals

Abstract

In the process of the effective management of business enterprises and educational institutions, in addition to other factors affecting their success, the involvement of leaders and employees proves to be the critical issue. Enterprises incur a considerable expenditure of time and work on managing and increasing the commitment of their employees, as opposed to the education sector. Effective school management and teacher involvement have a considerable impact on the quality of teachers’ work, and this affects the level of education and upbringing of students. The authors of the study describe the involvement of the work of teachers in four contexts: their professional development, professional advancement system, burnout processes, and the assessment of the effectiveness of their work based their students’ learning. Cooperation within the international Engagement & Beyond project, aiming at developing a practical tool for school management, facilitates the process of understanding the main mechanisms of teacher engagement. The system will automatically adjust the tools for measuring and raising the level of teacher involvement, taking the form both of detailed surveys developed by psychologists and human resource specialists, and materials prepared at the diagnosed motivation level of each participant. School management will be able then to diagnose the level of involvement of employees and create an action plan appropriate to needs at both personal and organisational levels.