Manifestations of perfectionism in teachers

Abstract

Introduction. Teacher's work requires not only their quality performance of official duties, but also in some way affects their personality, behavior, and appearance. Teachers are expected to possess developed professional competences, communication skills, tolerance towards students, etc., which makes them prone to perfectionism. Teachers' strive for utmost self-improvement is energy- and time-consuming. Therefore, in order to prevent teachers from developing extreme perfectionism, there is a need to study its factors and manifestations in teachers. Aim. To investigate the manifestations of perfectionism in teachers and determine teachers' personal characteristics (professional orientation, situational anxiety, pedantry, etc.) that are associated with different levels of perfectionism. Methods. To measure the level of perfectionism among teachers we used Are you prone to perfectionism? questionnaire, The Multidimensional Scale of Perfectionism by P. Gavitt and G. Flatt (adapted by I. Gracheva), and The Great Three-Dimensional Scale of Perfectionism by M. Smith, D. Saklofsky, J. Stoeber and S. Sherry (adapted by T. Gruby). In order to determine the individual and personal characteristics that affect perfectionism in teachers, three questionnaires were used: T. Danilova Type of Personality Orientation, Pedantry Test, Spielberger's Reactive and Personal Anxiety Scale (modified by Yu. Hanin). Results. Teachers were found to have different levels of perfectionism, which associated with their professional orientation and situational anxiety. There was no statistically significant relationship between the level of teacher perfectionism and pedantry. Conclusions. Teacher perfectionism negatively affects teacher professional orientation and increases teacher situational anxiety, which in some way can affect both teachers' job performance and job satisfaction.