Occupational Self-Regulation

Abstract

This chapter introduces occupational self-regulation as the fourth aspect of teacher competence in the COACTIV model. Occupational self-regulation describes teachers’ ability to achieve a balance between their personal resources and the demands of the profession. People with strong self-regulatory skills demonstrate a level of occupational engagement that is commensurate with the challenges of the teaching profession while at the same time maintaining a healthy distance from work concerns. It has been postulated that self-regulatory skills predict occupational well-being and teachers’ instructional performance in the classroom. This chapter first situates the concept of occupational self-regulation theoretically in the framework of conservation of resources (COR) theory (Hobfoll. American Psychologist 44(3): 513–524, 1989) and introduces a typological approach that posits four types of self-regulation, each of them adaptive in different ways (Schaarschmidt and Fischer. Zeitschrift für Differentielle und Diagnostische Psychologie 18(3): 151–163, 1997). Second, the chapter summarizes previous findings from COACTIV on the importance of self-regulation for successful instructional performance and teachers’ occupational well-being. The results underline the importance of teachers’ self-regulation in the professional context. Third, the incremental validity of occupational self-regulation relative to the other aspects of professional competence is empirically tested. The findings indicate that self-regulation should be conceptualized as an independent aspect of professional competence.