Teachers’ Work Ethic: Croatian Students’ Perspective

Abstract

Teachers’ work ethic is one of the key factors in school environment and the overall educational process. It is vital for a teacher to possess and promote the highest standards of work ethic as well as to be a role model to the students. A high level of work ethic thus becomes conditio sine qua non of the teachers’ profession and all other educational professions. The topic of teachers’ work ethic is insufficiently researched in the national scientific and research circles, and as such, represents a novelty. This paper will present the results of a research that examined students’ evaluations of teachers’ work ethic. The research was conducted on a sample of 107 first and third grade secondary school students. The research results indicate that the students perceive the teaching process as mostly uninteresting and uncreative, that the feeling of comfort in working with teachers is very rare and that the teachers rarely or sometimes value students’ efforts and rarely abide by the rules. The result that raises most concern is the one which indicates that the teachers insult students when they differ from the rest of the group. In due course, all the above will be analyzed in the context of the defined paper topic.