The Relationship between Teachers' Work Engagement and Classroom Management Styles

Abstract

This study reveals the levels of work engagement and the adoption of classroom management styles among physical education and sports teachers, investigates the association between these two variables, and compares them by demographics. To this end, the study, grounded in a quantitative paradigm, employed descriptive, correlational, and causal-comparative designs. The study population includes 429 physical education and sports teachers working in the central district of Batman, while the sample comprises 202 teachers conveniently selected from this population. Data were collected using a "Personal Information Form," the "Engaged Teacher Scale," and the "Classroom Management Styles Scale."  Before data analysis, the distribution was evaluated, and the findings showed that it did not follow a normal distribution. Thus, outliers were identified and removed, resulting in the exclusion of data from nine participants. Subsequent analyses were conducted on data from 193 participants. The findings can be summarized as follows: The most frequently adopted classroom management style among physical education and sports teachers was the "protective" style, while the least adopted was the “laissez-faire” style. Furthermore, the findings revealed high levels of work engagement among the participants. Statistically significant but very low positive correlations were identified between the adoption of the protective classroom management style and emotional engagement, cognitive engagement, and overall work engagement, as well as between social engagement with students and the adoption of the democratic classroom management style. Comparisons based on demographic variables indicated that gender significantly affected emotional engagement, educational level significantly influenced emotional, cognitive, and overall work engagement, and marital status impacted the adoption level of the autocratic classroom management style. The findings were discussed in relation to the existing literature, and several recommendations were made based on the results.