Week 11 - School & Work

Question 1

School and Work

Answer 1

These two places help us understand the world as well as our own place in the world
We learn about our own strengths and weaknesses

Question 2

positive schooling

Answer 2

an educational approach which includes care, trust, respect for diversity

Teachers develop individual goals for students

Teachers work with students to develop plans for reaching goals

Larger agendas include instilling hope and contributing to society

Question 3

Sigmund Freud who first made the bold statement that a healthy life is one in which

Answer 3

a person has the ability to love and to work

Question 4

“No Child Left Behind” and Beyond

Answer 4

Coleman Report (1966): Schools ineffective; they don’t make a difference in the outcomes of the students

No Child Left Behind (NCLB) – An Act passed in USA in 2001 ◦
Emphasis on targeted learning and performance objectives
Teacher quality matters – this is crucial to better learner outcomes

Question 5

Lack of Funding Hurts Students

Answer 5

Schools harmed by lack of funds – the US public is reluctant to increase taxes to pay for schools and teachers

This is also true in Ontario!
Consider the 2020 teachers’ strike:
Ontario teachers didn’t want class size increases and mandatory e-learning put into place.

Question 6

School Climate

Answer 6

Includes the kinds of interactions teachers and students have in the classroom, expectations of standards, methods used in the classroom

General learning atmosphere in a school
Attitudes of students & staff, order & discipline, student participation

Question 7

School Climate

Demandingness:

Answer 7

extent to which students are expected to perform up to their potential and show self-reliance and self-control

Question 8

School Climate

Responsiveness:

Answer 8

extent to which teachers and staff respect students’ opinions and feelings

Question 9

Optimum School Climate

Answer 9

Supportive teachers, involved with students, dedicated

Firm-but-fair discipline

High expectations for student performance and conduct
Higher attendance
Higher achievement scores
Lower rates of delinquency

Question 10

The Components of Positive Schooling

Answer 10

Care, Trust, and Respect for Diversity

Social acceptance from teachers – teachers are role models

Developmental discipline – nonpunitive ways to prevent aggressive/controlling children from harming others – this is based on attachment theory (see chapter 12)

Cultivate sense of trust in classroom

Try to make students look good (save face)
Students must feel respected by their teacher in order to take risks
Cultural sensitivity is very important

Question 11

Engagement & Achievement

Answer 11

Engagement: Being psychologically committed to learning

Research indicates that more and more, students are “physically present but psychologically absent” (Steinberg, 1996, p. 67)

How has “zoom learning” had an impact on engagement (now and then)?

Question 12

The Components of Positive Schooling

Answer 12

Emphasize diversity in classroom – model cultural intelligence

Provide students with opportunities to learn about other cultures

Teach about differences as well as similarities

Question 13

The Jigsaw Classroom

Answer 13

Small groups work on a common task

Group members move to new groups to share what they learned

Question 14

The Components of Positive Schooling
Teachers should examine biases

Answer 14

All humans have inherent biases – we must work to recognize them

Teachers must help the children recognize their biases and correct automatic behaviours/thoughts

Compensatory programs for struggling students and for gifted students

Question 15

The Components of Positive Schooling
Goals (Content) and Plans

Answer 15

Students who target stretch goals have good learning outcomes

This is where they seek a slightly more difficult goal (remember our discussion about growth mindsets?)

Question 16

The Components of Positive Schooling

Material should be relevant to students – making sure that students can relate to the material allows for it to “stick” better

Answer 16

Make goals understandable and concrete

Take large goals and break them down in to smaller subgoals

This takes planning by the instructors

Question 17

The Components of Positive Schooling

Motivation

Answer 17

Students need motivated teachers – an enthusiastic teacher projects energy to his/her students!

Teachers raise students’ motivational level when they take risks

Sometimes classroom exercises don’t work – the teacher needs to be able to laugh about it

Question 18

The Components of Positive Schooling

Increase student accountability

Answer 18

– if students are aware that they will be asked about reading material, they are more likely to read it (ahem…weekly quizzes work this way too!)

Teachers should provide private praise to their students

Private, because students can feel uncomfortable when singled out

Question 19

The Components of Positive Schooling

Hope

Answer 19

When teachers share their academic values, curiosities, and enthusiasm, students embrace those values themselves

Students who have had good teachers feel empowered and hopeful for the future

Question 20

The Components of Positive Schooling

Societal Contributions

Answer 20

Finally, it’s important to teach young people how to be a member of society

E.g., multicultural competence, positive thinking, respect for others

Question 21

Teaching as a Calling

Answer 21

Strong, enthusiastic teachers see their job as a calling
Intrinsically satisfying
Strong motivation
Love for teaching!

Question 22

We can help our children’s teachers in a few ways:

Answer 22

Ask the teacher how you can reinforce and practice lessons at home

Teach your children to be respectful to others, especially those who come from different cultures

Ask the teacher if he/she requires supplies for the classroom, and buy them!

Express gratitude. These jobs are often difficult.

Question 23

Gaining employment is work that is characterized by 9 benefits:

Answer 23

1. Variety in duties performed
2. A safe working environment
3. Income for the family and oneself
4. A purpose derived from providing a product or service
5. Happiness and satisfaction
6. Positive engagement and involvement
7. A sense of performing well and meeting goals
8. The companionship of and loyalty to coworkers, bosses, and companies
9. A working environment that respects and appreciates diversity
   If a person is happy at work, chances are that their overall satisfaction with life will be higher

Question 24

Career self-efficacy

Answer 24

– personal confidence in our ability to handle workrelated goals (including career development)

Question 25

Building career self-efficacy:

Answer 25

—student athletes -more support from various academic services felt more confident in making decisions about possible career choices

—students who have family members who contribute meaningfully (both financially and in terms of advice and help) to the career decision-making process develop higher levels of self-efficacy in the career arena

—-acculturation may positively affect development of feelings of self-efficacy with regard to career in Latino youth

—–Asian Americans and African Americans, programs designed to increase career self-efficacy were successful when they contained constructivist approaches—that is, when participants were able to make personal meaning out of various factors that influenced career choice and decisions

Question 26

Performing well is due to clear goals – these goals should be clearly identified for workers

Answer 26

high-hope boss also can provide greater satisfaction at work. This sequence unfolds this way: The high-hope boss clearly identifies achievable work subgoals, which in turn increases workers’ motivation and the chances of reaching larger organizational goals

Employees feel a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction

Question 27

Happiness is precursor to work success

Answer 27

The direction of the correlation between happiness and work success has been questioned, but work by Boehm and Lyubomirsky (2008) conducted a review and concluded that happiness comes first

Happy people are more likely to get a second interview (Burger & Caldwell, 2000)

Question 28

Purpose

Answer 28

One’s work is an important potential source of purpose in life

Part of this might include feeling as though their presence and skills are valued at their place of work.

Hospital cleaners to share their experiences of being valued, it was clear that feeling valued helped these individuals to derive meaning from their work that provided positivity in their life

Question 29

Engagement at work leads to satisfaction – are employees’ needs being meet?

Answer 29

Do employees know what is expected of them?
Do employees have what they need to do their work?
Do they have opportunities to develop social ties to coworkers?
Do they have chances to improve and develop?

The most engaging jobs have a good match between required activities and the skill of the employee.

This is similar to flow experiences. Those who feel commitment at work have higher levels of engagement and satisfaction

Question 30

Variety in Job Duties

Cell manufacturing in industrial or tech settings is one way to alleviate boredom at work

Answer 30

Groups of workers are all trained on multiple pieces of manufacturing equipment and work together to create entire products from start to finish

Question 31

presenteeism -

Answer 31

If an employee doesn’t have enough variety, it can lead to presenteeism

• employee may physically be at work, but because of the mental health problems that often result from aversive and repetitive work experiences, they is unproductive and unhappy

Question 32

Effective ways to handle presenteeism:

Answer 32

Accommodate various working styles, encourage telecommuting, flexible schedules

Question 33

Changes in life roles, Income for Family and Self

Answer 33

Changes in life roles, moving away from males = breadwinner and females = caregiver ◦

These roles are modelled for our children – what do we want them to see?

We should be modelling flexibility

Daughters in families who have mothers with less traditional and more prestigious careers gain more ideas about how to balance family and work early on in their developmental trajectory

Question 34

making money has been rated as more important than

Answer 34

having a cohesive philosophy of life

People in the United States still may think of quality of life in terms of how much money they make.

Question 35

Companionship and Loyalty to Coworkers and Bosses: Friends at Work

Answer 35

Another reason that work may be associated with happiness is seen in the case of people whose friendship networks are located entirely within the employment setting

chance to get out of the house and interact with others

Gallup researchers, presented in the book Vital Friends, confirmed that the sense of community at a given workplace is a contributing factor to happiness and satisfaction on the job
a—- best friend at work, you are likely to have fewer accidents, increased safety, more engaged customers, and increased achievement and productivity

Question 36

“diversity management

Answer 36

using various management techniques that increase the positive outcomes associated with having more diversity in the workplace

organizations that use this type of management are proactive in attempting to address potential problems.

leaders are heterogeneous in their cultural backgrounds ensures that responsibility for important decisions is spread across several different types of individuals

engagement with diversity from the top level of management down is often the most effective approach

Question 37

Having or Being a Good Boss

Answer 37

Supervisors who provide clear job definitions and duties and support to employees foster job satisfaction and production

Managers should focus on employee strengths, communicating clearly, and providing constructive feedback

Question 38

Authentic bosses foster positive emotions and outcomes

Answer 38

encourages differing views and interacts collaboratively with workers.

authentic bosses value diversity in their employees and want to identify and build on employee talents and strengths

The authentic boss sets high standards for their own behavior and models integrity and honesty to employees

Question 39

Top 10” Characteristics of the Best Bosses

Answer 39

1. Provide clear goals and job duties
2. Personal awareness of biases and power dynamics and strive toward cultural competency
3. Genuine and authentic in their interactions with everyone
4. They are ethical and demonstrate moral values
5. They are honest and model integrity
6. They find employee talents and strengths and build on them
7. They trust workers and facilitate their employees’ trust in them
8. They encourage diverse views from diverse employees and can take feedback about themselves
9. They set high but reasonable standards
10. They are not just friends to employees but can deliver corrective feedback so that it is heard

Question 40

Clifton and Harter (2003), there are three stages in the strengths-based approach to gainful employment:

Answer 40

1. Identification of talents
2. Integration of talents into employee’s self-image
   —the person learns to define himself or herself according to these talents
3. Behavioral change
   —-learns to attribute any successes to their special talents.

Question 41

Does It Work? In short, YES!

Answer 41

Related to better choices, productivity, self-confidence

Happiness strengths predict work success

Positive affect

Question 42

Traditional economic capital

Answer 42

– an organization’s answer to the question “what do you have?”
Financial, tangible assets

Question 43

Human capital

Answer 43

–what do you know refers to the employees
Experience, education, skills, knowledge, ideas

Question 44

Social capital –

Answer 44

is the answer to the question “who do you know?”

Relationships, network, friends, diversity and inclusion

Question 45

Positive psychological capital –

Answer 45

consists of efficacy, hope, optimism, and resiliency

Confidence, hope, optimism, resiliency

Question 46

Positive Psychological Capital

Answer 46

Positive psychological capital is linked to better organizational commitment, better motivation

Group interventions increase psychological capital

Positive leadership also increases psychological capital

Unique, measurable, developable, impactful on performance

Question 47

good reasons for such diversity of social capital

Answer 47

enhance the overall level of energy and talent, thereby raising the problem-solving potential of the organization

equal opportunity; it is therefore ethically and morally right to enhance diversity among workers

cultural diversity raises the performance of all workers

legislation pertaining to equal pay, civil rights, pregnancy and age discrimination, and individuals with disabilities mandates diversity as a legal requirement

Question 48

Lost Workaholics: Obsessed by work

Answer 48

Stay late, hard on others, perfectionists

Less pleasure in leisure

obsessed by their work—so much so that they cannot attend to the responsibilities of their friends and family

Greater conflict between work and family

Question 49

Burnout:

Answer 49

: Tired, lack of reward from job

. Initially, the employee has a high level of energy, but this begins to wane over time.
The employee encounters severe time constraints in getting the work done, there are barriers to the work goals, and the bosses tend not to give rewards and yet ask more and more of the employee because she or he is getting things done.

Question 50

Burnout Often due to: Exhaustion, cynicism, inefficacy

Answer 50

Factors which lower work stress: goal setting, problem resolution, time management, aerobic exercise, relaxation techniques, general coping

Question 51

Losing your job has many psychological and physical effects

Answer 51

Unemployment linked to early death & suicide completion

Question 52

What Can Be Done to Improve Your Work?
Making the Job Better

Answer 52

Identify changes that could be made – e.g., better office, longer or more frequent vacations, assistant, benefits

Consider factors of gainful employment – do you have variety? Safety? Sufficient income? Sense of purpose? Personal happiness? Positive engagement? Sense that you are performing well? Friendship? An environment which respects diversity?

Maximize fulfillment of needs – appreciation and savouring

Question 53

Applying for a New Job

Answer 53

Remain flexible

Take a vocational/interest test

Conduct informational interviews

Negotiate factors of gainful employment (see previous slide)

If you have trouble finding work, use principles of positive psychology: hope, optimism, gratitude, resilience, self-efficacy