Czech and Turkish Preschool Teachers’ Compassion and Psychological Well-being

• Published in: Early childhood education journal Vol. 52; no. 6; pp. 1165 - 1179
• Main Authors: Sak, Ramazan, Skutil, Martin, Şahin-Sak, İkbal Tuba, Zikl, Pavel, Nas, Eşref, Herynková, Marie
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.08.2024; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Age groups; Class size; Compassion; Data Analysis; Education; Learning and Instruction; Marital status; Mental health; Occupational psychology; Preschool teachers; Sociology; Sociology of Education; Special Needs Students; Preschool teachers; Czechia; Compassion; Czech; Psychological well-being; Türkiye; Turkish
• ISSN: 1082-3301; 1573-1707
• DOI: 10.1007/s10643-023-01505-8

This quantitative survey-based study examines 366 Czech and 532 Turkish preschool teachers’ compassion levels and psychological well-being. The Adult Compassion Scale and Psychological Well-being Scale were used as the data-collection tools, and Mann-Whitney U testing and Kruskal Wallis-H testing were used for data analysis. Although Turkish preschool teachers’ compassion levels were found to be higher than Czech participants, the Turkish preschool teachers’ psychological well-being was lower. While participants’ compassion did not differ significantly across gender, parent/non-parent status, or the presence/absence of children with special needs in their classrooms, significant differences were associated with age, seniority, personal education level, marital status, age group of children taught, class size, and faith. While psychological well-being did not differ significantly across presence/absence of special-needs children, seniority, personal education level, age group of children taught, or faith, there were significant differences across gender, age, parenthood, marital status and class size. There was also a positive and moderately significant relationship between the preschool teachers’ compassion and their psychological well-being.