Abstract
The purpose of this study is to investigate the characteristics, relationships and mechanisms underlying the psychological capital, career commitment, gratitude and career well-being of teachers in ethnic areas. In total, 573 primary school and secondary school teachers in Sichuan Province (including 402 teachers in ethnic regions and 171 teachers in non-ethnic areas) were investigated. Following questionnaires were used to investigate these questions: “Psychological Capital Questionnaire for Primary and Secondary School Teachers,” “Gratitude Questionnaire,” “Teacher Career Well-being Questionnaire” and “Career Commitment Questionnaire for Primary and Secondary School Teachers.” The results show that the psychological capital of teachers in ethnic areas is higher than that of teachers in non-ethnic areas. Teachers in ethnic areas have lower levels of career well-being and lower levels of gratitude than teachers in non-ethnic areas. There was no significant difference in career commitment between teachers in ethnic areas and teachers in non-ethnic areas. There were significant positive correlations among psychological capital, gratitude, career well-being and career commitment. Psychological capital can predict career commitment significantly and positively. The mediating effect of career well-being between teachers’ psychological capital and career commitment was significant in both ethnic areas and non-ethnic areas. The chain of mediating effects between gratitude and career well-being was significant in non-ethnic areas. In conclusion, psychological capital can predict teacher career commitment effectively, and the prediction mechanism in ethnic areas is different from that in non-ethnic areas.
Highlights
In recent years, as a result of the development of education in ethnic areas1 of China, the scale of schooling and quality of education in ethnic areas have significantly improved, which is a fact that has necessitated higher requirements for the teaching force in ethnic areas
The findings indicated that the psychological capital of teachers in ethnic areas was slightly higher than that of teachers in non-ethnic areas, possibly because schools in ethnic areas are mostly located in more remote, non-central cities and have relatively poor conditions of school operation and social resources (Shao et al, 2018), given that this relative lack of external resources may cause teachers to rely more on internal psychological resources to cope with difficulties in their careers and lives
Taking into account teachers’ career commitment situations, there is no significant difference between the career commitment of teachers in ethnic areas and teachers in nonethnic areas
Summary
As a result of the development of education in ethnic areas of China, the scale of schooling and quality of education in ethnic areas have significantly improved, which is a fact that has necessitated higher requirements for the teaching force in ethnic areas. Teacher career commitment refers to teachers’ level of reluctance toward career change due to their career identification, emotional attachment, career commitment, and internalization of social norms (Meyer et al, 1993; Wang et al, 2015). Teacher career commitment is important for teachers’ career development and is directly related to teachers’ work engagement and teaching quality. It is important to understand the status of teachers’ career commitment in ethnic areas and to identify individual resources that can promote career commitment
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