Investigation of Teachers’ Loneliness at School According to Their Career Phases

Apart from that, the study investigates loneliness in schools in relation to the marital status and education level. The study utilizes mixed methods as it includes a quantitative phase to achieve generalizability while understanding the boundaries of loneliness of teachers in schools as well as a qualitative phase to explore what qualitative data entails and to construct meaning accordingly. While the quantitative phase of the study uses convenience sampling, the qualitative phase uses quota sampling. The sample of the study for the qualitative phase encompasses 465 teachers who are in different career phases. The sample of qualitative phase consists of 40 teachers as 8 teachers from each stage are selected. While the quantitative phase of the study uses ‘Loneliness in Workforce scale’ the qualitative phase uses standardized open ended interviews. The quantitative data is analyzed by using an independent Samples t-test and one way ANOVA while a content analysis is conducted to analyze the qualitative data. According to the quantitative findings, there is a statistically significant difference when marital status and education level are considered in relation to teacher loneliness in schools. The qualitative findings indicate that teacher perceive loneliness in schools as individual and institutional situation. They attribute the reasons of loneliness to the education system, individual differences, issues that pertain to perception and occupational mismatch. Also, the results of loneliness in schools lead to the individual and institutional loss, the emergence of coping skills and emotional deprivation. The coping strategies that teachers use encompass removal, questioning and acceptance. As a result of the interpretations of the findings, recommendations have been made for both researchers and decision makers.