Experiencing the professional mission of special and rehabilitation teachers in terms of motives for career choice and job satisfaction

Specialni in rehabilitacijski pedagogi se za poklic v večini primerov odločajo na podlagi notranjih dejavnikov, ki so povezani z doživljanjem dela kot poslanstva. Poklicno poslanstvo se povezuje z delovnim zadovoljstvom in zadovoljstvom z življenjem, hkrati pa je tudi dejavnik, zaradi katerega specialni in rehabilitacijski pedagogi ostajajo zaposleni na tem področju. Četudi strokovni delavci v vzgoji in izobraževanju svoje delo doživljajo kot poslanstvo, jim vsakodnevna preobremenjenost lahko zmanjša motiviranost za delo in omejuje njihovo delovno zadovoljstvo, to pa lahko negativno vpliva na njihovo poučevanje in posredno na učence s posebnimi potrebami, s katerimi delajo. Z raziskovanjem odnosov med doživljanjem poklicnega poslanstva, poklicnimi motivi in delovnim zadovoljstvom je mogoče identificirati pogoje dela, ki prispevajo k večjemu delovnemu zadovoljstvu strokovnih delavcev in posredno k večji kakovosti strokovnega dela z učenci s posebnimi potrebami. Pri empiričnem delu raziskave smo uporabili kavzalno neeksperimentalno metodo in kvantitativni raziskovalni pristop. Anketirali smo 105 specialnih in rehabilitacijskih pedagogov. Ugotovitve naše raziskave kažejo, da so se anketiranci za poklic odločili na podlagi notranjih dejavnikov. Med zunanjimi dejavniki – ti so pri anketirancih imeli manjši vpliv na izbiro poklica – izstopa motiv, da so se za poklic odločili po čistem naključju. Podatki raziskave kažejo, da anketiranci v veliki meri doživljajo svoje delo kot poslanstvo in da so s svojim delom zadovoljnejši tisti, ki svoje delo doživljajo kot poslanstvo. Pri proučevanju povezanosti med izraženostjo poklicnega poslanstva in delovno dobo smo ugotovili, da se poklicno poslanstvo pri anketirancih naše raziskave ne razlikuje glede na delovno dobo. Na podlagi povprečnih vrednosti poklicnega poslanstva po posameznih razredih delovne dobe smo ugotovili, da imajo posamezniki s 4–6 leti delovnih izkušenj najbolj izraženo poklicno poslanstvo, najmanj pa posamezniki s 7–18 leti delovnih izkušenj. Naša raziskava je še pokazala, da se delovno zadovoljstvo anketirancev ne razlikuje statistično pomembno glede na njihovo delovno dobo. Povprečne vrednosti delovnega zadovoljstva so sicer najvišje pri posameznikih z najdaljšo delovno dobo, najnižje pa pri začetnikih in pri tistih s 7–18 leti delovnih izkušenj. Zaradi številnih pozitivnih vidikov doživljanja dela kot poslanstva bi bilo smiselno oblikovati strategije, s katerimi bi pripomogli k spodbujanju ali razvijanju občutka poklicnega poslanstva pri SRP že v času študija in v prvih letih zaposlitve.Special and rehabilitation teachers, in most cases, decide on a profession based on internal factors associated with a sense of purpose for this kind of work. Experiencing the professional mission is associated with job satisfaction and life satisfaction. At the same time, it is a reason why special and rehabilitation teachers continue to work in this field. Even if professionals in education see their work as mission-driven, their daily work overload can reduce their motivation and limit their job satisfaction, thus negatively affecting their teaching and students with special needs they work with. By exploring the relationships between experiencing the professional mission, motives for career choice, and job satisfaction, we can identify working conditions that contribute to greater job satisfaction of professional workers and consequently to a higher quality of professional work with students with special needs. For the empirical part of the research, we used a causal non-experimental method and the quantitative research approach among 105 special and rehabilitation teachers. Our findings show that respondents chose a profession based on internal factors. Among external factors with a smaller impact on the future profession and career choice predominates decision by mere coincidence. Survey data show that respondents primarily see their work as experiencing the professional mission and that those workers are more satisfied with their career choice. Studying the relationship between the expressed level of experiencing the professional mission and length of service, we discovered that they are nondependent. Based on the average values of expressed professional sense of purpose by individual job classes, we found that individuals with 4-6 years of work experience expressed the highest experiencing the professional mission. Individuals with 7-18 years of work experience expressed that the least. Our research showed that the respondents\u27 job satisfaction did not differ statistically significantly according to their length of service. Average job satisfaction values are highest for individuals with the longest length of service and lowest for beginners and those with 7-18 years of work experience. Due to many positive aspects of experiencing work as experiencing the professional mission, it would make sense to develop strategies that would help promote or establish a professional sense of purpose in Special and Rehabilitation Pedagogy during studying and in the first years of employment