Sub-theme 1.2: Perceived barriers to well-being

3.4.1.2.a Evidence according to the individual interviews

The complex and exhaustive work conditions of special needs teachers impose barriers to their well-being (Lavian, 2015). This was true for the participants who identified well-being barriers such as too many working hours, emotional and physical exhaustion, but the main culprit imposing on their well-being was time management.

Time management. Participants voiced challenges with time management, such as continuous

48

challenges increase job demands that correlate inversely with teacher well-being (Demerouti & Bakker, 2011). Lack of time and work overload have been cited as factors to teacher burnout (Kokkinos, 2007). Participant 4 explained that she needs to do lesson planning in a limited amount of time, due to a lack of free time and would like to develop better time management skills (P4, p. 6, 1-9). Not only was time management a challenging aspect of participant 2’s work role (P2, p. 3, 3-5), but also an important working condition (P2, p. 4, 9-12). Participant 2 was concerned that a lack of time hindered adequate preparation of resources that would fulfil the needs of the learners (P2, p. 2, 5-6). This is also true for Australian teachers who identify lack of time as a key barrier to support the more challenging and complex needs of students on the autism spectrum (Saggers, et al., 2016). Time management in the autism educational field is of particular importance for student outcomes, as teachers do not only have to plan an adapted curriculum, but also many possible other alternative plans as unplanned curriculum disruptions due to learner behaviour, such as meltdowns, can occur (P3, p. 5, 26-33). It became apparent that participants felt they cannot attend to the learners’ needs adequately due to time constraints. However, teachers could improve their time management skills through personal development activities (Matthews, 2014) or their employer decreasing their workload. In both instances, management would use active adjustment through time management, personal development or decreasing teachers’ workload (Winter, 2009). Nonetheless, the importance of adequate stress management becomes more pronounced with time management constraints, in participants to adjust better to their work role.

Emotional and physical exhaustion. Three participants emphasised how taxing the nature of

their work role is (P1, p. 2, 29; P3, p. 7, 24; P4, p. 6, 14; P5, p .2, 13- 21). Research has reported that special needs teachers experience more stress, more exhaustion and depersonalization than mainstream school teachers (Jennett et al., 2003; Küçüksüleymanoğlu, 2011) and thus are at high risk for burnout (Awa, Plaumann, & Walter, 2010; Brunsting, Sreckovic, & Lane, 2014; Coman, et al., 2013). Teachers of learners with autism are particularly vulnerable to stress and burnout (Billingsley, Carlson, & Klein, 2004; Boyer & Gillespie, 2000, as cited in Ruble et al., 2011). For participant 3, a private staff room where teachers can relax and reboot constitutes an important work condition for her, due to her description of her job as “emotionally, physically

49

special needs teachers, who have nurturing, caring and compassionate personalities, are more likely to experience burnout. (P3, p. 6, 45- p. 7, 2) Therefore, self-care is very important and should be taught to all professionals working in the autism field (P3, p. 6, 45; P3, p. 7, 2). This is in accordance with research that noted that burnout is more prevalent in care professions, like education (Jennet et al., 2003). Being a teacher for learners with ASD is physically and emotionally taxing due to the constant high levels of job demands as was stated by participant 3,

Absolutely, it’s a very, very draining job very, enjoyable and satisfying, but also incredibly draining just because of the amount of minute to minute decisions you have to make, you’re always thinking on your feet, you're always observing everything around you. So it can come quite taxing physically and

emotionally (P3, p. 7, 17-20).

Long working hours. Long working hours were a concern for participants 1, 2, and 3. Participant

1 felt that an eight and a half hour working day is too long which is particularly taxing when working with learners on the spectrum (P1, p. 2, 25-33). For participant 1, the long working hours diminished her job satisfaction to a seven out of ten rating. Taken that the demands placed on a teacher when working with learners on the spectrum, one can appreciate that longer working hours place additional demands on the teacher’s coping and resilience resources. Participant 2 felt that the longer working hours were to be justified by increased compensation. Her suggestion to the management team included, “They should pay us what we we're worth, not what they think

we deserve, but what we are worth. We work hard, we work long hours, we deserve a lot more

(P2, p. 7, 40-42). According to the Theory of Work Adjustment, participant 2 is experiencing incongruence between two environmental factors of comfort, namely her value of receiving adequate compensation and good working conditions. Participant 3 was concerned about the negative correlation between long working hours, the physically taxing aspect of the role and diminished satisfaction. This was portrayed in her opinion of what needs to change in her work environment in order for her to be more satisfied:

Something that needs to change in my work environment to be more satisfied would be the working hours. I think switching 40 to 50 hours a week with autism is an exceptional amount of time (Chuckling). It's a lot of time to spend working with children who, who are so complex that they do take a lot of, of, physical energy

50

Long working hours have been identified as a major contributor to stress for teachers (Philipp & Kunter, 2013), consequently leading to reduced teacher well-being and learner achievement (Klusmann & Richter, 2014, as cited in Mattern & Bauer, 2014). Participant responses also indicated a link between long working hours and reduced well-being, with an identified correlation between good working conditions (hours and compensation) and well-being. Shorter working hours appears to be a possible leverage to overcome the physical and emotional taxing aspect of the role, which may increase work adjustment and job satisfaction for teachers of learners with autism.

3.4.1.2.b Evidence according to the focus group discussion

Long working hours. Focus group 3 spoke about the watch picture in their collage (C3),

And then there's a watch. That watch for us, it meant our working hours you know, exhausting. When it reaches two o'clock, we are exhausted; we don't want to do anything else. Being in the class for six hours,

it's more than enough (C3, FG3, p. 4, 8-10).

Group 3 felt that working eight hours is too much and exhausting and ascribe being stressed out to the long work hours. Focus group 3, sounded dismayed by the fact that they go home tired in addition to having to take schoolwork home. This group linked long working hours to neglected self-care at home, in that there is no time to do the things they want to do at home after work (C3, FG3, 14-22). Group 1 expressed their need for more sleep and less stress (C1, FG1, p. 1, 34). Supporting teachers with increased self-care through shorter work hours or personal development activities in self-care will aid as adjustment leverage to increase job satisfaction.

3.4.1.3. Sub-theme 1.3: Intrinsic and extrinsic coping abilities that facilitate well-being

3.4.1.3.a Evidence according to the individual interviews

51

increased work adjustment to current working conditions and facilitate their well-being. Intrinsic coping abilities that emerged from the findings were having a passion for working with learners with autism, being flexible and practicing more self-care. Extrinsic coping abilities included receiving emotional support from colleagues, facilities for staff members to relax and reboot, teamwork and increased professional development activities. The latter two are discussed under themes 2 and 3 respectively.

Passion for the role: Passion for working with learners with autism emerged as a major work

adjustment leverage factor for four participants (P1, P 3, P4 & P5) in coping with the role demands that made nine references to this aspect. In response to the research question, ‘How do

you think you will cope if the job demands things from you that you find hard to deliver?’ three

participants accentuate the role of passion in coping with the demands of the role. As participant 4 said:

” I think you cope because it’s something that you really want to do, and it's passion, and you cope because

you learn every day. You learn with, and you grow with the kids, so you learn to cope because you really want to. We see that the people who don't cope are the people who are just in it for the money or it's just a

job for” (P4, p. 6, 25-28).

Participant 4 further iterated, “Yah, it is very much an internal motivation that makes you last in

a job like this. I think it is very much a purpose and a calling” (P4, p. 6, 32-33). Participant 5

ascribed her passion for her role as a coping mechanism to cope with difficult behavioural management and differentiation in the classroom (P5, p. 11, 23-51): “It's so difficult, you have to

be very passionate about what you are doing” (P4, p. 12, 4) and “You have to, because if you’re not passionate it is very difficult to be in the environment of autism” (P4, p. 12, 8). Participant 3

said, “You have to love what you're doing, otherwise you will get burnt out” (P3, p. 4, 13). She continued to explain that having a passion for working with learners with autism is a leverage for putting up with unusual behaviours like children vomiting on the table, pulling out private parts on the playground or trashing a classroom (P3, p. 13, 8-19). This aligns with findings from Rampa (2014) who posits that passion for teaching underpins the resilience to bounce back from negative emotional demands. In light of the Work Adjustment Theory, teachers have passion for their work role in that their altruistic values are being fulfilled, but it also influences teachers’ levels of flexibility in order to tolerate lack of correspondence between high job demands and

52 teachers ability to tolerate stress.

Emotional support. Participant 5 expressed her concerns that sometimes it becomes so stressful

at work that she does not know how to do it anymore (P5, p. 19, 5-6). She needs emotional support from colleagues and management in order to cope better, emotional support in the form of being there for her, visiting her class and checking up on how she is doing and whether she is coping (P5, p. 18, 17-28, P5, p. 19, 1-6; P5, p. 6, 30-40). Participant 4 deemed it important to receive more emotional support in the form of people to speak to when feeling overwhelmed, which is important to her (P4, p. 4, 21-23). Participant 1 requires more collegial support in the form of emotional upliftment in order to cope better with the challenging work environment of (P1, p. 14, 34-41). Participant 1 expressed the need for emotional support in terms of empowering and praising each other in order to leverage the challenges of the work environment (P1, p. 14, 34-35). Participant 3 felt that all teachers in the industry and the community need to interact more, be exposed to each other more and support each other more (P3, p. 22, 29). Receiving help and support from colleagues has been identified as important coping strategies in autism-related teaching roles (Boujut et al., 2016). Applying the Theory of Work Adjustment implies that seeking out support from others is a reactive adjustment measure to facilitate work adjustment (Dawis, England, & Lofquist, 1964). In addition, receiving emotional support is conducive to well-being and a buffer for teacher burnout, which is so prevalent in teachers for learners with autism (Olafsen, Halvari, Forest, & Deci, 2015).

Being flexible. When asked how the participant will cope if the job demands actions from them

that are hard to deliver, Participant 2 and 3’s responses were pertinent to the ability to be flexible. Participant 2 said while chuckling “Since the job does it every day? I would think I

would cope quite well, ‘cause I’m used to being surprised by what happens” (P2, p. 5, 43-43).

Teachers being accustomed to the daily variability that learners with autism bring and having a flexible attitude, seems to help this participant’s level of work adjustment. Participant 3 ascribed teacher qualities and abilities such as being flexible and thinking outside the box to being an efficient teacher in an autism-working environment (P3, p. 10, 23-24). The importance of being constantly ready for change was revealed in participant 3’s statement: “You have to have an open

53 p. 11, 11-12).

From these findings, it appear that passion may be the driving force behind the high levels of flexibility teachers need in order to cope with the challenges of teaching learners with autism. This is in accordance with the Work Adjustment Theory that states that the flexibility of a person will determine the extent to which they can tolerate any lack of correspondence between abilities and requirements and values (winter, 2009). Thus, high levels of flexibility would assist teachers in coping with a difficult teaching environment as found when teaching learners with autism. The amount of flexibility will depend on internal factors like personality or organisational culture, which may explain why some teachers of learners with autism seem to cope better than others do. Winter (2009) maintains that when a person’s flexibility does not seem to be viable any more, either active or reactive adjustment takes place.

Increased self-care. Increased self-care in the form of taking more care of oneself physically,

emotionally and psychologically was an important need for participants across all data sets. In response to the research question, ‘What sort of changes do you need to make to yourself in order

to fit in better with this role or organisation?’ The most important thing for participant 3 was the

necessity to be able to learn self-care in what to do when stressed in her role as teacher for learners with autism (P3, p. 14, 7-8; P3, p. 7, 8-9). Here participant 3 is trying to change her personal priorities to better suit the environment, therefore using reactive adjustment according to the Theory of Work Adjustment (Winter, 2009). By changing her self-care behaviour to cope better with her demanding work environment, participant 3 is attempting to increase her job satisfaction (Winter, 2009). On the contrary, participant 3’s need for increased physical self-care included time to relax at work in order to alleviate high levels of stress “especially in a

workplace of autism, where it can get too much (P2, p. 4, 11-12). Here participant 2 seeks active

adjustment in attempting to alter work reinforces such as better working conditions (Winter, 2009) to assist her with increasing her self-care.

Emotional self-regulation. The need for increased emotional self-regulation for participant 4

would assist her to leave frustrations at work and not take them home (P4, p. 6, 10-11). Participant 3 highlighted the importance of not letting personal issues that has affected you affect

54

the child, hence self-care is very important (P3, p. 14, 19-21). This finding correlates with Hargreaves (2000) who maintained that teachers need to find appropriate ways of regulating negative emotions in the classroom. The development of emotional regulation is therefore important for both students and teachers. The self-regulation of employee emotions is of importance to schools wishing to support teacher well-being (Barber, Grawitch, Carson, & Tsouloupas, 2011)

3.4.1.3.b Evidence according to the focus group discussion & collages

The need to practice more self-care: There was an overwhelming response from all the

participants in the focus group discussion to practice more self-care. Focus group 1 had images of self-care activities such as fancy coffees, rescue remedy, calm and confidence, things to help participants with stress and sleeplessness that were major rewards for this group (C1, FG1, p. 1, 20- 22). They explain the focus of their collage:

Life isn’t about finding yourself; it’s about creating yourself. So, reclaiming the spirit of why we do what we do every week, although it is very, very exhausting. I see a lot of imagery around lack of sleep and managing stress with drops and Rescue remedy etcetera. Also, the desire for being in a place that’s beautiful, a place that’s calm, a nicer environment would really be a reward, I think, for us as a group. And also, silence, having time away where we can focus and reboot, because it can be very draining to work with children on the Autism spectrum

(C1, FG1, p. 1, 23-29).

Focus group 1’s self-care needs included stress management, managing tiredness, having alone time, which according to the group were essential aspects when working with autistic learners (C1, FG1, p. 2, 3-5). Focus group 3 also had challenges with managing tiredness. Focus group 3 expressed the desire to go home as the neat looking lady in the collage, all refreshed, clean and not exhausted from the day’s work. However, for group 3 this was an ideal that they could not imagine and commented on waking up tired every day. All the groups joined in with laughter emphasising that this desire to not be exhausted is shared by all the teachers (C3, FG3, p. 5, 28- 40).

55

receive from their job like inspiration and a fulfilment of a vocational calling:

Our second collage has lots of pictures about passion and more inspiration and things like that. And this spoke more about learning new ways to do things and finding sort of... comfortable ways in the chaos that we’re experiencing sometimes. And one of the quotes we had says: “we can easily get caught up in the admin of daily life, but admit all of this every day is ripe for a memory to be made”. So, this speaks more of the nicer parts and the reward of our job, which is, that is our passion and we’re all here, because it’s a passion and it’s a vocation and it’s a... really a calling. So, this collage speaks more about those internal

rewards (C2, FG2, p. 2, 19-23).

Focus group 2 spoke about ways for healthy living, such as drinking smoothies, vitamins and beating backache as depicted by their collage (C2, FG2, p. 2, 19-21). This group voiced their

health concerns, “... we really think we need to... like just act a little bit more on that, because we’re neglecting our health in the stress and rush of it all” (C2, FG2, p. 2, 21-23). Focus group 2

emphasised how their collage contained a very big health element and how they need to focus more on healthy living in this stressful, chaotic environment (C2, FG2, p. 3, 11-13). Focus group 3 felt that more remuneration would compensate for their high stress levels and would increase motivation to deal with the daily stressors and huge amount of learning that needs to take place at work. Thus, more compensation would be a role reward, but also a coping mechanism for this group that feels motivated by compensation (C3, FG3, p. 5, 5-21).

As mentioned earlier, self-care strategies implemented by teachers are reactive adjustment measures to facilitate work adjustment. Focus group 1’s need to be in a calm, silent aesthetic environment where they can reboot during work hours (C1, FG1, p. 1, 6-8) and group 3’s need for increased compensation (C3, FG3, p. 5, 5-21) are examples of active work adjustment through improved working conditions that could be initiated by the employer.