The perception of satisfaction of preschool teacher in the kindergarten

Kvalitetan rad odgojitelja podrazumijeva zadovoljstvo svojim poslom, kompetentnost te minimalni stres. Postoje mnogi aspekti posla koji u konačnici rezultiraju zadovoljstvom ili nezadovoljstvom, kao što su međuljudski odnosi, plaća, radno vrijeme i sl. Na samu percepciju posla veliki utjecaj ima i stres koji je vezan za negativne doživljaje, odnosno osjećaje nezadovoljstva i nelagode. Prema mnogim istraživanjima, upravo u odgojnoobrazovnim djelatnostima prisutna je visoka količina stresa koja se negativno odražava na rad i djelatnike. Isto tako, za kvalitetan rad nužne su i kompetencije, a s obzirom na to da se u suvremenom društvu promijenilo i shvaćanje djeteta, od odgojitelja se zahtijeva potpuno novi sklop kompetencija koje će s njima ići u korak. Cilj je ovog rada istražiti zadovoljstvo odgojiteljica poslom, izvore stresa i samoprocjenu kompetencija, kao i moguću povezanost dobi, radnog staža i razine obrazovanja. Za potrebe ovoga istraživanja korištene su tri skale procjene koje se odnose na zadovoljstvo poslom, izvore stresa te samoprocjenu kompetencija, a sudjelovala je 151 odgojiteljica iz cijele Hrvatske. Prema dobivenim rezultatima, odgojiteljice su prosječno zadovoljne svojim poslom, umjereno su pod stresom, a samoprocjenjuju se visoko kompetentnima. Porast dobi i radnog staţa znatno utječu na zadovoljstvo fizičkom radnom okolinom, s time da radni staž utječe i na samoprocjenu kompetencija. Odgojiteljice koje imaju veći stupanj obrazovanja zadovoljnije su u odnosu s korisnicima. Brojne povezanosti između podljestvica izvora stresa i zadovoljstva poslom pokazale su se statistički značajnima, a sve su negativnog predznaka.The quality of preschool teacher's work greately implies satisfaction with their own job, competence, and minimum stress. There are many aspects of work that finally result with pleasure or dissatisfaction, such as interpersonal realationships, salary, working time, etc. Stress has a great influence on the very perception of the job, it is related to negative experiences, feelings of dissatisfaction and discomfort, respectively. According to many researches, particularly in educational establishments, high level of stress is present, which has a negative reflection on work and employees. Competences are also necessary for quality work, and given that the modern society has changed the understanding of the child, the educator requires a completely new set of competences that will keep up with it. The aim of this paper is to explore the satisfaction of the preeschool teacher on the job itself, the sources of stress and self-assessment of competences, as well as the possible correlation of age, work experience and level of education. Three scales of estimates related to job satisfaction, sources of stress and self-assesment of competences were used for the purpose of this study. 151 educators from all over Croatia participated in this study According to the results, preschool teachers are on average satisfied with their job, and moderately stressed and they assess themselves as highly competent. Increase in age, as well as working experience, has a significant impact on the satisfaction with the physical working environment, and the increase in working experience also affects the self-assesment of competencies. Preeschool teachers with a high level of education are more satisfied with their relationship with the users. Numerous connections between subscales of stress and satisfaction with job has been shown as statistically significant, and they are all with negative sign