Our article “Career intentions of Australian physical education teachers” has been published in European Physical Education Review:  http://epe.sagepub.com/content/early/2015/04/24/1356336X15584088.abstract

My doctoral thesis “PE teachers’ Job Satisfaction, Turnover, and Intention to Stay or Leave the Profession” has been evaluated and I just had my public defense of my doctoral thesis. My opponent was Mary O’Sullivan from University of Limerick (Ireland). My dissertation can be found from:

https://jyx.jyu.fi/dspace/bitstream/handle/123456789/44283/978-951-39-5767-4_vaitos04102014.pdf?sequence=1

Our article “Should I stay or should I go? Physical education teachers career intentions” has been published in Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/.U3wqvF7O9g0 

Abstract of the article: 

Purpose: This study investigated Finnish physical education (PE) teachers’ intentions to leave the profession and the reasons behind them. Method: A large sample (N = 808) of PE teachers who graduated between 1980 and 2008 (432 women, 376 men) answered a modified job satisfaction and teacher follow-up questionnaire that elicited career perceptions, intentions, and current work duties. Results: In this sample, 26% of the respondents were contemplating leaving their jobs as PE teachers and an additional 13% were actually in the process of transferring from PE teaching but planned to remain in school teaching. To determine the reasons for considering leaving the PE teaching profession, principal axis factoring with direct oblimin rotation was performed on the 35 items of the questionnaire. These factors were labeled as status of the PE teaching profession, pupils, working conditions, colleagues, expertise, workload, administration, and stress. The most influential factors were poor facilities, poor equipment, and isolation from the peers. Additional factors included working conditions, low status of the PE teachers, and workload. For women, workload and stress were more significant reasons for leaving the profession than they were for men (p = .010–.040, d = 0.34–0.43). PE teachers in the age group of 40 to 44 years old constituted the largest group who were considering leaving the profession. Conclusion: Thirty-nine percent of the PE teachers considered leaving the profession. Even though PE teachers face a variety of challenges in their work, the majority intend to remain in the teaching profession. Improved resourcing and collegial support could potentially reduce PE teachers’ intention to leave.

In Auckland AIESEP world congress I got Young Scholar Award. This award is a competition for young members who plan or have embarked on careers as researchers.

Now in New Zealand attending to AIESEP world Congress in Auckland and to Symposium in Christchurch. In Auckland I will have a poster presentation related to PE teachers’ job satisfaction in Australia and Finland and an oral presentation related to PE teachers’ career intentions in Finland and Australia. In Christchurch I will have a presentation related to PE teachers’ work ability in Finland.

Our article “Should I stay or should I go? Physical education teachers’ career intentions” has been accepted for publication in Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport. We will inform lately when it has been published online.

At the moment, alongside trying to write my PhD summary, we are writing two articles:

PE teachers’ work ability in Finland and

PE teachers intention to stay in the profession in Australia

Before end of the year we have submitted the first one, and the second one is also on the run.

We have submitted an article related to PE teachers’ career intentions in Australia. This article gives interesting sight to PE teachers job and their intentions to stay or leave the profession. There are some similarities with results from Finland, but there are also lots of differences between these two countries.

AIESEP 2013 international congress – Physical education and sport: Challenging the future, Warsaw, 4.-7.7.2013. I had two presentations:
– Keeping PE teachers in the profession (Poster presentation)

– PE teachers career pathways (Oral presentation)

 

Our article called “Physical education teachers in motion: an account of attrition and area transfer” Has been published in “Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy (Vol. 18).

Read more:

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17408989.2013.780590