The purpose of the article is to discuss the pedagogical work with children's perspectives based on the concept of resonance. The article is based on an analysis of a teaching activity in a Danish national church organized by a national church school service aimed at children in primary school. The teaching in the church seeks to create a relationship between the children's world of experience and the soundscape "The Stone" as well as activities that the adults have organized. On the one hand, the adults create a controlled and controllable framework for the teaching with soundscapes and activities, where the children are expected to act in certain ways, but on the other hand, children's perspectives are expressed in the children's uncontrollable experiences of something or someone talking to them, and that they can respond based on their perspectives on and experiences of the world. With resonance, we can see the importance of the uncontrollable in the pedagogical work with children's perspectives and nuance the creation of space for children's perspectives – here based on teaching activities in the church.
The article is devoted to analyzing the role of museums in the professional training of specialists in the field of culture, art, and humanities. The experience of training cultural studies specialists at the V. G. Korolenko Poltava National Pedagogical University has been summarized. Industrial practice is considered as one of the basic components of the educational and professional training program for specialists in the specialty 034 «Cultural Studies» of the bachelor’s degree, as well as an important factor in the formation of professional competencies of future specialists in the field of culture, art, and humanities. Separate attention is paid to the 2020 state standards of higher education, which define the list of general and special competencies of graduates, in particular the ability to interact with museum institutions, preserve and multiply cultural values, analyze cultural policy, and evaluate cultural heritage objects. At the master’s level, competencies are complemented by the ability to organize the work of cultural institutions and manage their departments, taking into account economic, legal, and ethical aspects. The article also discusses the employability of graduates. They can hold positions in educational, cultural, and artistic institutions, as well as in the cultural and creative industries. According to the Ukrainian Classification of Professions DK 003:2010, graduates are eligible to work as museum and exhibition curators, cultural project managers, and art historians. The specifics of professional training are analyzed through the prism of educational program content, where museum practice remains the most significant factor in the formation of applied skills. It has been found that one of the characteristic features of the training of cultural studies specialists at the V. G. Korolenko National Pedagogical University is active cooperation with stakeholders – museum institutions in the city of Poltava and the Poltava region. The joint activities of the university and museums allow for the training of specialists who not only have extensive knowledge of contemporary culture, but also have practical experience in the field of cultural communications, research, and information and analytical activities. The article shows that a similar approach is also used in the educational training of specialists in the specialty 023 “Fine Arts, Decorative Arts, Restoration” at Luhansk Taras Shevchenko National University. It has been established that the effectiveness of such training is ensured by a structured system of practices based on museum institutions, which allows students not only to acquire the necessary knowledge and skills, but also to adapt to the real professional environment, actively participate in the implementation of cultural projects, popularize cultural heritage, and participate in the development and implementation of exhibition programs.
Education organizations need to reconceptualize their career guidance activities in the context of global digitalization and technological development. The current changes on the labor market make it necessary to study schoolchildren’s ideas about industrial jobs. Professional preferences of school students usually depend on their age and reflect new success models, i.e., the so-called fluid life trajectories. This research featured the attitudes of school students to industrial professions with their attractiveness and unattractiveness in terms of future career plans. The online survey covered 7628 students of 9th and 11th grades, a semi-formalized expert interview with young employees under 35 (n = 204) and a focus group of ten young employees of Kalinin Machine-Building Plant, Yekaterinburg. Theschool students based their career attitudes on the following assumptions. First, they lacked awareness of scientific and technological development in engineering and, as a result, considered this profession unpopular. Second, they did not perceive factory professions as prestigious because of the Soviet model of a factory worker as a servant to the factory.The unattractive features of a factory-related job were described as unhealthy, difficult, with no career prospects, and monotonous. The only attractive feature was stability. Engineering received a more favorable description, i.e., promising, diverse, well-paid, and challenging. The concept of a factory worker was shaped by the experience of parents: 50% of school students had very outdated knowledge of industrial production.
The article presents a comprehensive study of the peculiarities of the functioning of the Ukrainian labour market in the context of modern challenges. The objective is to identify existing problems and transform the state policy in the labour market. The study was conducted based on data from the State Employment Service, the online job search portal Work.ua, and various sociological surveys of labour market participants and experts. The results of the analysis demonstrate that the Ukrainian labour market has undergone significant transformations during the war compared to peacetime. These include: 1) A notable decrease in the number of registered unemployed individuals. 2) A reduction in the proportion of unemployed individuals receiving unemployment benefits. 3) A sharp decline in the number of vacant jobs and employers informing the State Employment Service (SES) about available vacancies. 4) A high burden on vacant jobs. It can be posited that there was a considerable surplus of labour and considerable tension in the registered labour market during the war.
According to the online job search resource Work.ua, the following trends have been identified in the general labour market of Ukraine: ) A «shock» state of the general labour market in 2022, with a gradual stabilisation in 2023. 2) The professional structure of labour demand in the most popular occupations did not change significantly during the war. The most popular occupations in the labour market are sales managers and sales consultants, accountants, and drivers. 3) A decrease in labour demand during the war occurred in several occupations, but the most significant decrease in labour demand occurred in the IT sector. In the majority of western regions, the ratio between professions with an increase or decrease in the number of vacancies favoured the former. In contrast, in the vast majority of eastern and central regions of Ukraine, the balance of changes in the number of vacancies is negative. Furthermore, in the face of threats to life and health, there is an increase in the supply of remote work. It can be stated that the main problems faced by employers when hiring employees are a lack of candidates for positions and an insufficiently qualified applicant pool. In this paper, we prove that the main problems of job seekers in the current conditions are unsatisfactory remuneration, a reduction in the scope of labour application, and age discrimination in the labour market. According to a survey of experts
The article presents the results of a study of the psychological characteristics of employees of hazardous professions depending on their professional and age characteristics. The sample included 297 people of the following professional profiles: Ministry of Emergency Situations, fire service employees (19.9%), specialists in various civilian professions (23.4%), cadets of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (56.7%). The diagnostic complex included questionnaires for the personality profile diagnosis, self-regulation, decision-making, self-control, the balance between behavioral activation and inhibition systems, value and life-meaning orientations, mental defense mechanisms and coping strategies, the level of anxiety, depression and psychological stress. It was found that the level of emotional well-being among employees of hazardous professions is higher compared to civilian professions. The group of subjects from various civilian professions was characterized by a high level of anxiety and depression, emotional instability and lability, isolation, indifference, suspiciousness, tension, unrestrained affect of irritation, risk-taking, impulsivity, and high expression of pathocharacterological personality traits. The group of employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations was significantly distinguished by high indicators of planning and modeling in the process of self-regulation, high self-control, emotional stability, low expression of pathocharacterological personality traits and immature psychological defenses. Specialists at the stage of entering the profession — cadets of the Ministry of Internal Affairs were characterized by high rates of attracting attention, affection, credulity, expressiveness, curiosity, sensitivity, activation of behavior aimed at receiving encouragement, as well as the predominance of such mental defense mechanisms as “projection”, “compensation” and “hypercompensation”. A general group analysis taking into account the age factor showed that the most disadvantaged group is the group of middle adulthood (26–40 years old), which is reliably characterized by high parameters of anxiety and low rates of self-regulation. The results obtained show the need to shift psycho-preventive work to an earlier age period in order to timely identify signs of psychological well-being disorders among employees of hazardous professions.
Augustín Stareček, Z. Babeľová, N. Vraňaková
et al.
Abstract In an effort to reduce operating costs and to increase the quality and efficiency of production, production organizations in the automotive sector are trying to implement the Industry 4.0 concept, which has become a phenomenon of the last two decades. These initiatives have a significant impact on the employees in production organizations, especially in automotive sector. The main aim of the presented study is to expertly assess the importance of general competencies for transforming job positions in the automotive industry in Slovakia. The starting point of the presented study were the results of research focused on emerging positions in the automotive industry and the competencies required by employers in Slovakia. Based on the expert assessment, the hierarchical structure of the solved problem was created and the importance of competencies for analysed job positions was assessed by applying the Analytical Hierarchical Process (AHP) method. The results pointed to the growing importance of non-technical competencies. Analyses have shown that actually the most important work competencies are: basic literacy, professional knowledge, problem solving, digital skills and analytical thinking. The development of the necessary competencies will be important both, from the point of view of employers, but also of employees working in professions that are in decline, become endangered and need to be transformed into the required professions.
Valentyna O. Havrylenko, Vеra I. Chyzh, Yaroslava. P. Pasternak
et al.
The article provides a comprehensive assessment of the state and trends of the labor market in
Ukraine and the Cherkasy region. The general situation in the labor market of Ukraine and the Cherkasy
region in 2015-2022 has been considered. General and special indicators of population employment,
unemployment, demand and supply of labor force have been studied. The analysis has been carried out
according to the articles of the section, professional groups and areas of employment.
It has been established that forced migration and the need to relocate enterprises due to hostilities
have changed the structure of the labor market in Ukraine, the structure of supply and demand for jobs,
and the saturation of specialists in the regions. In the regions most affected by the military aggression
of the russian federation, the number of jobs and competition has decreased. The imbalance between
the demand and supply of labor has become significant. Demand for labor has plummeted due to the
inability to work in war zones, declining demand for goods and services and logistical problems and
uncertainty about the future. The results of the analysis of the number of unemployed indicate that both
in the Cherkasy region and in Ukraine as a whole, the number of people who could not realize their
right to work and receive wages (remuneration) as a source of livelihood is growing. In 2019-2021, it
was affected by the self-isolation regime, and in 2022 by military operations.
It has been determined that the level of registered unemployment in the Cherkasy region in
2015-2021 was always higher than in the whole country. The ratio between the number of registered
unemployed, the number of vacancies and the number of applicants for one vacancy, by type of
economic activity as of January 1, 2023 in the Cherkasy region has been established. In addition to that
the authors have established a change in the approach to hiring employees. More applicants for one
vacancy allow employers to increase the requirements for applicants and reduce wages. Accordingly,
a certain number of employees are ready to change their profession, find additional work, and accept
lower wages.
As we can see, there are signs of an employer-dominated labor market. Measures to stabilize
the internal labor market at the state and regional levels have been proposed. Further on, the paper
identifies trends that Ukrainians should expect on the labor market in the coming years. Finally, the
authors specify industries and professions that will be in the list of high demand jobs in future and
whose development will help the Ukrainians to adapt to changes and find themselves in a professional
realization to restore or the restore the state after the victory.
The subject of the study is gender professional segregation by type of economic activity. The purpose of the paper is to attempt to assess the contribution of gender segregation of employees by type of economic activity to the formation of differences in the level of general unemployment of women and men. The relevance of the study is determined by the need to improve the quality and efficiency of women’s professional employment. The scientific novelty lies in the disclosure of new factors in the formation of differences in the level of general unemployment of women and men. The research methods are logical analysis, mathematical statistics, and mathematical modeling. The level of gender segregation by type of economic activity was determined using the Duncan index. The main calculations were made based on data from 2017–2019. The following research results were obtained: a large-scale reduction in gender segregation by type of economic activity in order to reduce the gap between the wage levels of women and men, carried out only as a redistribution of women to male professions and activities, without organizing a counter redistribution of male labor forces, may create a threat of increasing the level of general unemployment among women and increasing personnel shortages in highly feminized public sectors. The author concludes that it is necessary to develop alternative ways to reduce the gap between the wage levels of women and men in the economy, for example, increasing the prestige and wages in highly feminized public sectors such as education, healthcare, and science.
The National Police of Ukraine is in a state of reform and needs to significantly improve its work towards optimizing the system of psychological training of employees and psychological support of their service activities. The presented article is devoted to the results of comparative analysis of psychographs of police professions (operative criminal investigation, pre-trial investigation body, district police officer, patrol police officer, security police officer), developed in the process of large-scale experimental research. Psychograms were created on the basis of a systematic approach based on the use of an optimal set of psychodiagnostic techniques, which made it possible to study the basic individual and personal characteristics of employees of the National Police of Ukraine. It is emphasized that psychological features determine the level of professional suitability of employees for activities according to the criteria of general abilities (verbal and nonverbal intelligence, creativity), personal characteristics (personal characteristics, leading personal tendencies, personal accentuations of character, temperamental features, types of interpersonal relationships) and motivational orientation (features of motivational orientation, self-actualization). The article presents common features that are common to all types of policing, as well as the main differences in the basic criteria and indicators of professional suitability of the individual to work, draws conclusions on improving the psychological selection of police officers and their appointment. It is argued that policing is characterized by a number of invariant features, which are due not only to the specifics of the professional activity, but also their variability depending on the specific type of service. The presented results of the comparative analysis of psychograms of police officers by main types of activity prove the differences in the studied criteria and indicators of professional suitability of the police officer's personality to official activity. This will be useful in the appointment of persons to positions and thus help to increase the effectiveness of the forecast of further success of the police.
To meet the changing competence requirements for employees in engineering professions, education and training need to adapt accordingly. Learning factories offer various possibilities to design or integrate practice-oriented learning into training measures. Whether this approach in fact facilitates learning and competence development is rarely investigated. For this reason, the objective of this scoping review is to analyze and summarize the existing empirical findings on learning success and competence development in learning factories regarding their evaluation methods and results. Following standardized guidelines (PRISMA, JBI) for scoping reviews, 12 databases were researched. The literature screening led to the identification of 24 publications included in the final analysis. The results indicate that a variety of evaluation methods are used to assess learning and competences at learning factories and that criteria of all four competence facets (professional, methodological, social, and self-competence) can be enhanced at learning factories in general. As many of the identified studies show potential for improvement regarding the quality of the used methods and analysis of results, further studies on these topics are needed. Evaluations should be integrated into all training measures at learning factories to ensure learning success and competence development and to be able to readjust design, structure, and didactics where necessary.
Brilliance has been overlooked in studies of professional work. This study aimed to understand how brilliant practices are made possible and enacted in a multidisciplinary paediatric feeding clinic, where professionals from different disciplines work together and with parents and carers of children. The existing literature has thematically described brilliance but not theorised how it is accomplished and enabled. Using video reflexive ethnographic methods, the study involved the video-recording of 17 appointments and two reflexive discussions with the participating professionals, who selected and reviewed five episodes exemplifying brilliant care. These were analysed through three themes: carer-friendly and carer-oriented practice; ways of working together; and problem-solving in actu (in the very act of doing). Using the theory of practice architectures, we explored brilliant practices as complexes of sayings, doings, and relatings, identifying the arrangements that enabled those practices and the forms of praxis involved.
About one year ago, we wrote about how the COVID-19 pandemic was unfolding worldwide and started to impact our personal and professional lives (1). Little did we know that, one year later, more than 2.5 million people would have died, with the highest death tolls in Europe, North America, and Latin America (2). Whereas in many countries, life expectancy has increased steadily over the past decades with a couple of months per year, emerging evidence shows that the COVID-19 pandemic will abruptly end this trend in various countries. As one of the most affected countries, life expectancy at birth in the US was down during the first half of 2020 already 1.0 per year compared to 2019 (3). Projections indicate a potential loss in life expectancy of 1.13 years in 2020 for the total US population, resulting in the lowest life expectancy since 2003. The disproportionate burden of COVID-19 mortality is reflected in a staggering loss of 3.1 years in the Latino population and 2.1 years in the Black population (4). It can be expected that,disparities in life expectancy between social and ethnic groups have increased in many countries, demonstrating that COVID-19 has affected different groups differently. Although deaths attributed to COVID-19 mainly occur among the elderly, often with underlying health conditions, there is scattered evidence that an individual`s type of job may contribute to the risk of becoming infected and, hence, to the mortality pattern in society. One of the first reports has emerged from the UK, where death certificates hold information on occupation. COVID-19-related mortality was highest among men in the lowest skilled occupations, with security guards among the occupation with the highest death rate. Other occupations with increased risks included taxi drivers, chauffeurs, bus drivers, restaurant chefs, and sales and retail assistants. Men and women in social care, including care and home-care workers, had increased mortality, but doctors and nurses in healthcare had death rates similar to the general workforce (5). This report points to the importance of occupation as a risk factor but also to the availability and use of appropriate personal protection to mitigate the risk of becoming infected. In addition, well-established socio-economic factors of health inequalities intermingled with occupations at risk, demonstrated by the fact that most taxi drivers belonged to the same ethnic group and that taxi drivers had higher mortality rates when residing in London (5). These findings are mirrored in a recent preprint publication from the US state of California, reporting that relative excess mortality was particularly high among food/agriculture, transportation/logistics, facilities, and manufacturing workers. Again, Latino and Black Californian workers were disproportionally affected (6). Hence, working and living circumstances are strongly intertwined, best illustrated by several well-documented outbreaks of COVID-19 in slaughterhouses pointing at working conditions significantly interrelated to housing and transportation arrangements, and precarious work with migrant workers doing the lowest paid jobs (7). A recent large population-based study in Sweden showed that COVID-19-related mortality was influenced by housing conditions (less m^2 per individual in household; someone of working age in the household), neighbourhood characteristics (higher population density) and educational level (lower education) (8). This raises the question how well we can distinguish the relative contribution of these risk factors to COVID-19, with the added complexity that these risk factors often occur together in vulnerable groups. There is a lively debate as to which occupations face the highest risks of contracting COVID-19, pointing primarily towards jobs in health and social care dealing with (suspected) COVID-19 patients, and jobs that involve a large number of daily contact with the public or close physical proximity to others. However, clear insight is lacking as access to testing capacity and suitable protective equipment, and organizational and environmental control measures strongly differ across occupations. A large study among more than 2 million users of a COVID-19 symptoms app in the US and the UK showed that frontline healthcare workers reported a 12-fold higher rate of positive COVID-19 tests compared to the general community. After adjustment for the likelihood of receiving a COVID-19 test, by using inverse probability weighting, the increased likelihood of receiving a positive COVID-19 test reduced to a 3.4-fold rate, demonstrating the risk of bias due to access to testing capacity (9). Many studies have been published on infection rates within specific occupational groups, but robust studies at population level across a variety of occupations are needed to investigate the incidence of infection from coronavirus across professions. An illustrative example is the study on SARS-CoV-2 antibody seroprevalence across 18 cities in Iran, which showed rates among healthcare workers comparable to that of supermarket cashiers, pharmacy employees, and hotel staff (10). These findings suggest that the risk resulting from a working environment at higher risk of infection (eg, hospitals) may be mitigated due to effective precautions, while more measures and training may be needed in those settings with a low perception of danger and less trained workers. From an occupational health perspective, we are not only facing the fatal and non-fatal consequences of COVID-19 but also the indirect effects on mental health. Many authors have reported anecdotal evidence about higher levels of symptoms of anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic disorder among healthcare professionals. These cross-sectional studies are mere indications that workers exposed to COVID-19 patients are psychologically stressed. One of the first longitudinal studies was conducted in Japan, following more than 1000 workers during the two months of the first wave. After adjusting for the covariates, psychological distress (and subscales of fatigue, anxiety, and depression) as well as fear and worry of COVID-19 increased among healthcare workers, whereas psychological stress remained remarkably constant among non-healthcare workers (11). While the pandemic may broadly affect the mental health of the general population (12), there is a concern that it will particularly adversely affect the mental health of those most vulnerable, ie, those who already had existing mental health problems before the pandemic emerged (13). Keeping and reintegrating individuals with mental health problems in the labor market was already a major public and occupational health challenge prior COVID-19 (14), and it might become an even bigger challenge in the near future. Less is still known about the risk to the health of workers who were required to change their regular work practice. The baseline survey of an occupational cohort in the US illustrates the profound impact of the COVID-19 pandemic where 30% of all workers had to work from home, 24% had reduced working hours or income, and 19% were furloughed or placed on leave of absence (15). Working from home may increase flexibility and control, but this may be offset by a non-work-friendly environment (eg, no room to work alone, lack of high-quality internet connection, and no ergonomic working station). A panel study in Germany suggested that particularly women working from home with children were at higher risk of exhaustion, with job autonomy and partner support partly mitigating this effect (16). A small longitudinal study in England found that 72% of workers who changed to remote work experienced increased sedentary behavior, poorer quality of sleep, and more mood disturbances (17). A repeated cross-sectional study, comparing 2016 with 2020, showed more experience and diversity in internet use, but also considerably more `techno stress`, defined as individual’s attempts and struggles to deal with constantly evolving ICTs and changing cognitive and social requirements (18). The long-lasting effects on workers` health are still unknown. It is a safe bet to accept that work arrangements will not remain the same after the pandemic. We suggest three priorities for the research agenda on COVID-19 and occupational health: Identification of occupations at higher risk for becoming infected and specific work characteristics that contribute to the risks. Such insights will be immensely valuable for preparedness to threats of future pandemics. The impact of COVID-19 on changes in how, where, and when we work, and the consequences for workers’ health, especially mental health. The pandemic has strongly accelerated trends of already existing macroeconomic changes (eg, towards online marketplaces), and there is a need for both occupational health professionals and policy makers to adapt to this acceleration. The traditional workplace may be abandoned for many workers, and new ways must be found on how work will create value for the organization as well as the worker. The impact of the pandemic on social inequalities. This is a great concern as vulnerable groups have been disproportionately affected and their working conditions cannot be isolated from poorer social, economic, and living conditions. We can only reiterate our previous words: COVID-19 will have both short-term and long-lasting impacts on societies, healthcare systems, workplaces and individuals alike. Occupational health experts are challenged to contribute to a world, especially the world of work, that is a better place after this pandemic. References 1. Burdorf A, Porru F, Rugulies R. The Covid-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic: consequences for occupational health. Scand J Work Environ Health 2020;46:229-30. https://doi.org/10.5271/sjweh.3893 2. Johns Hopkins Corona virus resource center. Available at: https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/data/mortality, accessed March 2, 2021. 3. Arias E, Tejada-Vera B, Ahmad F. Provisional Life Expectancy Estimates for January through June, 2020. US Department of Health and Human Services: National Vital Statistics System Report No. 010, Feb 2021. https://doi.org/10.15620/100392 4. Andrasfay T, Goldman N. Reductions in 2020 US life expectancy due to COVID-19 and the disproportionate impact on the Black and Latino populations. PNAS 2021;118:e2014746118. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2014746118 5. United Kingdom Office for National Statistics. Statistical bulletin: Coronavirus (COVID-19) related deaths by occupation, England and Wales: deaths registered up to and including 20 April 2020. Release date: 11 May 2020. 6. Chen YH, Glymour M, Riley A, Balmes J, Duchowny K, Harrison R, et al. Excess mortality associated with the COVID-19 pandemic among Californians 18-65 years of age, by occupational sector and occupation: March through October 2020. medRxiv preprint. https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.01.21.21250266 7. Kromhout H. Learning from a global pandemic. Occup Environ Med 2020;77:587-8. https://doi.org/10.1136/oemed-2020-106801 8. Brandén M, Aradhya S, Kolk M, Härkönen J, Drefahl S, Malmberg B, et al. Residential context and COVID-19 mortality among adults aged 70 years and older in Stockholm: a population-based, observational study using individual-level data. Lancet Healthy Longev 2020;1:e80-88. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2666-7568(20)30016-7 9. Nguyen LH, Drew DA, Graham MS, Joshi AD, Guo CG, Ma W, et al. Risk of COVID-19 among front-line health-care workers and the general community: a prospective cohort study. Lancet Public Health 2020;5:e475-83. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2468-2667(20)30164-X 10. Poustchi H, Darvishian M, Mohammadi Z, Shayanrad A, Delavari A, Bahadorimonfared A, et al. SARS-CoV-2 antibody seroprevalence in the general population and high-risk occupational groups across 18 cities in Iran: a population-based cross-sectional study. Lancet Infect Dis 2020, Published Online December 15, 2020. doi.org/10.1016/S1473-3099(20)30858-6 11. Sasaki N, Kuroda R, Tsuno K, Kawakami N. The deterioration of mental health among healthcare workers during the COVID-19 outbreak: A population-based cohort study of workers in Japan. Scand J Work Environ Health 2020;46:639-44. https://doi.org/10.5271/sjweh.3922 12. Galea S, Merchant RM, Lurie N. The mental health consequences of COVID-19 and physical distancing. The need for prevention and early intervention. JAMA Intern Med. 2020;180(6):817- 8. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamainternmed.2020.1562 13. Varga TV, Bu F, Dissing AS, Elsenburg LK, Herranz Bustamante JJ, Matta J et al. Loneliness, worries, anxiety, and precautionary behaviours in response to the COVID-19 pandemic: A longitudinal analysis of 200,000 Western and Northern Europeans. The Lancet Reg Health Eur. 2021;(2):100020. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lanepe.2020.100020 14. Schuring M, Robroek SJW, Burdorf A. The benefits of paid employment among persons with common mental health problems: evidence for the selection and causation mechanism. Scand J Work Environ Health 2017;43:540-9. https://doi.org/10.5271/sjweh.3675 15. Kobayashi LC, O’Shea BQ, Kler JS, Nishimura R, Palavicino-Maggio CB, Eastman MR, et al. Cohort profile: the COVID-19 Coping Study, a longitudinal mixed-methods study of middle-aged and older adults’ mental health and well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic in the USA. BMJ Open 2021;11:e044965. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2020-044965 16. Meyer B, Zill A, Dilba D, Gerlach R, Schumann S. Employee psychological well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany: A longitudinal study of demands, resources, and exhaustion. Int J Psychol 2021. Feb 21, online. https://doi.org/10.1002/ijop.12743 17. Barone Gibbs B, Kline CE, Huber KA, Paley JL, Perera S. COVID-19 shelter-at-home and work, life-style and well-being in desk workers. Occup Med 2021, Feb 18. https://doi.org/10.1093/occmed/kqab011 18. Nimrod G. Technostress in a hostile world: older internet users before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Aging Mental Health 2020, online. https://doi.org/10.1080/13607863.2020.1861213
In Latvia, during the COVID-19 pandemic teachers represent one of the professions with a special role in solving the problems caused by the crisis. It is important to provide the highest possible quality of education during the state-of-emergency, despite the increased risks of COVID-19 what teachers face while work in a classroom. The workload of teachers has increased and for many of them working conditions have deteriorated. Multiple factors pose a risk to the quality of work-life in general. The aim of the paper is to find out the teachers’ opinions on the factors influencing their quality of work-life, comparing the situation in the regions of Latvia, and to develop proposals for strengthening social dialogue to improve teachers’ quality of work-life. In February 2021, the Latvian Trade Union of Education and Science Employees conducted a survey “Teachers’ Salaries, Principles of Workload Formation and Risks of Professional Burnout”, in which 10 077 teachers were surveyed to study various aspects of their quality of work-life. The results revealed differences between regions in the teachers’ assessment of their quality of work-life and the factors influencing it. The quality of work-life of teachers has decreased, comparing to the situation a year and five years ago. Significantly that 9 out of 10 respondents did not feel cared for at the national level. The authors conclude that it is crucial to improve the social dialogue between the state institutions, employers and employees in order to increase the quality of teachers’ work-life.
Oleg Kokun Кокун Олег Матвійович, Bolotnikova Inga Болотнікова Інга Вікторівна
The article presents the results of research aimed at determining the characteristics of the relationships of personal and professional characteristics and professional hardiness of trade union workers. It is emphasized that due to the significant increase in stress on a person, the problem of ensuring its hardiness and, in particular, professional hardiness can be considered one of the leading for modern psychology. The study with the participation of 32 trade union workers in Kyiv found that to the greatest extent the indicators of their professional hardiness are interrelated with the level of satisfaction with their profession and work. This level is most closely correlated with professional acceptance of the challenge, emotional and professional components, as well as with the general level of professional hardiness. Quite noticeably, the level of professional self-efficacy of trade union workers is interrelated with indicators of professional hardiness. The connections with the indicators of professional motivation are expressed much weaker and ambiguous, which may serve as evidence of the expressed specificity, and maybe even - certain distortions in the professional-motivational sphere of trade union workers. Among the indicators of occupational burnout and deformity, with which the professional hardiness of trade union workers is mostly negative connections, there is a particularly negative correlation with emotional exhaustion, which can be considered as the most pronounced factor unfavorable to the professional hardiness of trade union workers. Prospects for further research are to develop on the basis of this results the practical technological approaches aimed at strengthening the professional hardiness of trade union workers. Keywords: hardiness, professional hardiness, trade union workers, job satisfaction, self-efficacy, professional motivation, professional "burnout".