Girum is a psychology lecturer at Wollo University in Ethiopia. He received his PhD in Educational Sciences (Positive Psychology) from the University of Szeged. His research interests include positive psychology, well-being, motivation, stress management, measurement invariance, psychometric issues, structural equation modeling (EFA, CFA), mediation analysis (advanced statistical and quantitative-based research), and measurement invariance. He is proficient with SmartPLS, AMOS, EQS, and M-Plus.
This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative... more This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY
The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of Continuous Professional Development ... more The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of Continuous Professional Development (CPD) implementation and to better understand the relationship between teachers’ outlook and CPD implementation in primary schools of South Wollo zone. A total of 90 first and 96 second cycle primary teachers, 24 principals and vice principals, 11 supervisors, 4 education experts from sample woredas and two experts from the zone education office participated in the study. To collect data about the practice of CPD at school level and its effect on classroom teaching questionnaires were administered to teachers, principals, vice principals and supervisors. In addition, a questionnaire was administered to teachers to generate data regarding teachers’ perception of CPD. Pertaining to teachers self-efficacy, scales were adapted from Tschannen-Moran and Woolfok Hoy. To secure qualitative data, interview, class session observation and document analysis were used. The finding of the study indicated that first cycle primary school teachers had higher level of participation in CPD learning activities than second cycle primary school teachers. Most of the CPD activities were confined to group discussion in second cycle primary schools. Teachers involved in the study were confined largely to traditional methods of presenting classroom lesson. The result also indicated that first cycle primary school teachers and newly qualified teachers have optimistic perception towards teachers’ professional development activities. Finally it was found that teachers with low self-efficacy tend to show better commitment and motivation to participate in CPD training. Generally, the objectives of the CPD program were not achieved. Given the generally insufficient implementation of CPD in the site of the study, it is suggested that more effort be made to inculcate among teachers the importance of the program and provide teachers with greater support to help them perform this duty.
Preparing students for a successful life is one of the main goals of education; however, there ar... more Preparing students for a successful life is one of the main goals of education; however, there are many open issues in this area: for example, who, when, with what and how one should support children in this process. In the multifactorial environment of children, family is in the first place, and the role of positive parenting is beneficial in the early ages. Parental beliefs, attitudes are transferred to their children, although most of the information is encoded. The present paper focuses on the pedagogical aspects of parental thinking to reveal specific characteristics in their view on education. Our research aimed to explore how parents' mindset could support or retain the development of children's social entrepreneurial skills and whether they apply positive parenting. We examined the phenomena with a modified version of the ENT-BP1 questionnaire (Angyal & Hercz, 2019) in the school year of 2020/2021. N= 2,276 Hungarian parents completed N= 1,857 copies. Parents' views were explored indirectly by evaluating statements based on a positive psychological foundation on an intensity scale. The overall reliability of the questionnaire was: Cronbach's alpha= 0.81 for 96 items, and for the subscales: Cronbach's alpha= 0.754-0.854 with KMO= 0.707-0.744, and sig= 0.00. The statistical analysis was performed with IBM SPSS 27. Results suggest that parents are aware of the key components of positive parenting and their value; however, the apply only some of them in their everyday practice.
European Journal of Investigation in Health, Psychology and Education, 2023
The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted many professions with short-, medium-, and lon... more The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted many professions with short-, medium-, and long-term consequences. Hence, this study examined the mediating role of sense of coherence (SOC) and resilience in the relation to COVID-19 stress and teachers’ well-being (TWB). It recruited 836 teachers from Ethiopia’s higher-education institutions, of which 630 (75.4%) were men and 206 (24.6%) were women, with a mean age of 32.81 years and a standard deviation of 6.42. Findings showed that COVID-19 stress negatively predicted SOC, resilience, and TWB and that SOC and resilience positively predicted TWB. It was concluded that SOC and resilience, both together and separately, mediated the relation between COVID-19 stress and TWB. These results were discussed alongside relevant literature, and the study is found to be valuable for practitioners and researchers who seek to improve well-being using SOC and resilience as resources across teaching professions.
Keywords: COVID-19 stress; higher education teachers; mediation analysis; resilience; sense of coherence; teachers’ well-being
COVID-19, a global pandemic that began in December 2019, has resulted in millions of deaths and s... more COVID-19, a global pandemic that began in December 2019, has resulted in millions of deaths and socioeconomic collapses. Surprisingly, global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions have shown a reduction since the pandemic lockdown. However, findings concerning the relationship between COVID-19 and CO2 emissions have been given limited attention in Africa’s case. This study examined the effect of COVID-19 on CO2 emissions for the selected and most concerned five African countries and discussed lessons to be taken from the pandemic on environmental protection in the post-pandemic situation. The study employed both descriptive and econometric approaches using daily data from January 1, 2020, to December 31, 2020, to analyze the daily carbon emissions. The finding shows that CO2 emissions have been reduced in various sectors owing to the COVID-19 lockdown and other restrictions, which provided an opportunity to rethink measures to protect the environment in the long-term post-pandemic situation. The final part of the article argues that the observed lifestyle and changes in human and economic activities that impacted carbon emission reduction during COVID-19 are essential to drawing long-term environmental pollution mitigation strategies, particularly in the areas researched.
The International Journal of Climate Change: Impacts and Responses
COVID-19, a global pandemic that began in December 2019, has resulted in millions of deaths and s... more COVID-19, a global pandemic that began in December 2019, has resulted in millions of deaths and socioeconomic collapses. Surprisingly, global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions have shown a reduction since the pandemic lockdown. However, findings concerning the relationship between COVID-19 and CO2 emissions have been given limited attention in Africa’s case. This study examined the effect of COVID-19 on CO2 emissions for the selected and most concerned five African countries and discussed lessons to be taken from the pandemic on environmental protection in the post-pandemic situation. The study employed both descriptive and econometric approaches using daily data from January 1, 2020, to December 31, 2020, to analyze the daily carbon emissions. The finding shows that CO2 emissions have been reduced in various sectors owing to the COVID-19 lockdown and other restrictions, which provided an opportunity to rethink measures to protect the environment in the long-term post-pandemic situation. The final part of the article argues that the observed lifestyle and changes in human and economic activities that impacted carbon emission reduction during COVID-19 are essential to drawing long-term environmental pollution mitigation strategies, particularly in the areas researched.
The present research aimed to test an Amharic version of the multi-dimensional Work Task Motivati... more The present research aimed to test an Amharic version of the multi-dimensional Work Task Motivation Scale for Teachers (WTMST), which measures the five pillars of university instructors’ motivation toward teaching and student evaluation tasks based on self-determination theory (SDT). Therefore, the WTMST offers the first instrument to measure all five motivational elements, and today it is one of the most applicable instruments to assess teachers’ motivation. An Amharic version of the WTMST for teaching and student evaluation tasks was adopted and assessed in large-scale data (N=1,117). Our findings demonstrate excellent reliability and construct validity (convergent, discriminant, divergent and factorial). Besides, the results of the model comparisons provided that out of the four theoretically competing models (single-order factor, correlated factor, higher-order factor and bi-factor models), the bi-factor model was the most-fitted one used for measurement invariance across variou...
The present study aimed to adapt and validate the Teacher Well-Being Scale (TWBS), in an Ethiopia... more The present study aimed to adapt and validate the Teacher Well-Being Scale (TWBS), in an Ethiopian education setting . To test the reliability and validity of the scale, an Amharic version of the TWBS was developed and administered to a sample of university instructors (n = 1 117) . The results showed excellent reliability, acceptable convergent and divergent validity, very good discriminant, and factorial validity with the bi-factor model of TWBS . Furthermore, measurement invariance analyses revealed that the factor structure of the TWBS stayed consistent across sex (men, women), university types (research, applied, and general university), age, and experience in teaching . The TWBS may be valid for use in the Ethiopian higher education setting . Keywords:
This study aimed to investigate the mediation role of coping with stress between psychological ca... more This study aimed to investigate the mediation role of coping with stress between psychological capital and teacher well- being based on positive psychology, conservation resource, and broaden-and-build theories. Participants in this study were 836 teachers from three clustered, ethnically diverse public universities. Our findings showed that, in line with previous studies, the psychological capital (PsyCap), coping with stress (CWS), and teacher well-being (TWB) dimensions showed the best fit in our data. PsyCap was related positively to TWB (total and dimensions), CWS, coping through withdrawal, and negative coping with acceptance and change. The indirect effect of PsyCap on TWB through coping with stress was fully mediated. PsyCap also positively and directly affected TWB and CWS. Coping through acceptance and change were fully mediated by PsyCap and TWB dimensions, while coping through withdrawal was not. PsyCap directly and positively affected coping with stress (acceptance and change) and negatively affected coping through withdrawal. Future theoretical and practical implications are discussed
The primary goal of the present study was to test the Amharic version of the
five-factor PERMA p... more The primary goal of the present study was to test the Amharic version of the
five-factor PERMA profiler: P (positive emotion), E (engagement), R (positive relationships), M (meaning in life), and A (accomplishment) aimed to assess University instructors’ positive functioning of their work. Exploratory factor analysis, single and multi-Group confirmatory factor analysis, measurement invariance, and path analysis were employed. The details of an examination of the PERMA profiler are discussed
Athens Journal of Health and Medical Sciences, 2022
Based on the self-determination and positive psychology theory, teachers’ motivation links the re... more Based on the self-determination and positive psychology theory, teachers’ motivation links the relationship between psychological capital and teacher well-being and discusses their theoretical and practical benefits. It is argued that the scientific literature from wide-ranging and diverse studies on teachers’ well-being in elementary and secondary school focused on the pathological lens and healing specific disorders under a variety of life course threatening conditions across cultural contexts. Seligman (2011) criticised that mental health professionals and psychologists gave much prominence to mental disorders and pathologies, overlooking two crucial missions in the field of psychology: (a) helping healthy people to be happier and more productive and (b) actualising human potential. Depending on the current recommendation of positive psychology, and based on the literature gap and relevance of the issues, this study used a theoretical model of self- determination theory of motivation (Ryan and Deci 2017), psychological capital (Luthans et al. 2007a); hedonism well-being (Diener 2009a); and teacher well-being (Collie et al. 2015). Thus, in this review, the operational definition, components and measurements of positive psychological capital, teacher well-being and motivation of teachers and their link strongly supported with scientific literature and a future testing model was proposed. In this study, the links between each construct were addressed, and their educational implications to teachers, students, educational settings and policymakers are presented
This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative... more This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY
The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of Continuous Professional Development ... more The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of Continuous Professional Development (CPD) implementation and to better understand the relationship between teachers’ outlook and CPD implementation in primary schools of South Wollo zone. A total of 90 first and 96 second cycle primary teachers, 24 principals and vice principals, 11 supervisors, 4 education experts from sample woredas and two experts from the zone education office participated in the study. To collect data about the practice of CPD at school level and its effect on classroom teaching questionnaires were administered to teachers, principals, vice principals and supervisors. In addition, a questionnaire was administered to teachers to generate data regarding teachers’ perception of CPD. Pertaining to teachers self-efficacy, scales were adapted from Tschannen-Moran and Woolfok Hoy. To secure qualitative data, interview, class session observation and document analysis were used. The finding of the study indicated that first cycle primary school teachers had higher level of participation in CPD learning activities than second cycle primary school teachers. Most of the CPD activities were confined to group discussion in second cycle primary schools. Teachers involved in the study were confined largely to traditional methods of presenting classroom lesson. The result also indicated that first cycle primary school teachers and newly qualified teachers have optimistic perception towards teachers’ professional development activities. Finally it was found that teachers with low self-efficacy tend to show better commitment and motivation to participate in CPD training. Generally, the objectives of the CPD program were not achieved. Given the generally insufficient implementation of CPD in the site of the study, it is suggested that more effort be made to inculcate among teachers the importance of the program and provide teachers with greater support to help them perform this duty.
Preparing students for a successful life is one of the main goals of education; however, there ar... more Preparing students for a successful life is one of the main goals of education; however, there are many open issues in this area: for example, who, when, with what and how one should support children in this process. In the multifactorial environment of children, family is in the first place, and the role of positive parenting is beneficial in the early ages. Parental beliefs, attitudes are transferred to their children, although most of the information is encoded. The present paper focuses on the pedagogical aspects of parental thinking to reveal specific characteristics in their view on education. Our research aimed to explore how parents' mindset could support or retain the development of children's social entrepreneurial skills and whether they apply positive parenting. We examined the phenomena with a modified version of the ENT-BP1 questionnaire (Angyal & Hercz, 2019) in the school year of 2020/2021. N= 2,276 Hungarian parents completed N= 1,857 copies. Parents' views were explored indirectly by evaluating statements based on a positive psychological foundation on an intensity scale. The overall reliability of the questionnaire was: Cronbach's alpha= 0.81 for 96 items, and for the subscales: Cronbach's alpha= 0.754-0.854 with KMO= 0.707-0.744, and sig= 0.00. The statistical analysis was performed with IBM SPSS 27. Results suggest that parents are aware of the key components of positive parenting and their value; however, the apply only some of them in their everyday practice.
European Journal of Investigation in Health, Psychology and Education, 2023
The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted many professions with short-, medium-, and lon... more The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted many professions with short-, medium-, and long-term consequences. Hence, this study examined the mediating role of sense of coherence (SOC) and resilience in the relation to COVID-19 stress and teachers’ well-being (TWB). It recruited 836 teachers from Ethiopia’s higher-education institutions, of which 630 (75.4%) were men and 206 (24.6%) were women, with a mean age of 32.81 years and a standard deviation of 6.42. Findings showed that COVID-19 stress negatively predicted SOC, resilience, and TWB and that SOC and resilience positively predicted TWB. It was concluded that SOC and resilience, both together and separately, mediated the relation between COVID-19 stress and TWB. These results were discussed alongside relevant literature, and the study is found to be valuable for practitioners and researchers who seek to improve well-being using SOC and resilience as resources across teaching professions.
Keywords: COVID-19 stress; higher education teachers; mediation analysis; resilience; sense of coherence; teachers’ well-being
COVID-19, a global pandemic that began in December 2019, has resulted in millions of deaths and s... more COVID-19, a global pandemic that began in December 2019, has resulted in millions of deaths and socioeconomic collapses. Surprisingly, global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions have shown a reduction since the pandemic lockdown. However, findings concerning the relationship between COVID-19 and CO2 emissions have been given limited attention in Africa’s case. This study examined the effect of COVID-19 on CO2 emissions for the selected and most concerned five African countries and discussed lessons to be taken from the pandemic on environmental protection in the post-pandemic situation. The study employed both descriptive and econometric approaches using daily data from January 1, 2020, to December 31, 2020, to analyze the daily carbon emissions. The finding shows that CO2 emissions have been reduced in various sectors owing to the COVID-19 lockdown and other restrictions, which provided an opportunity to rethink measures to protect the environment in the long-term post-pandemic situation. The final part of the article argues that the observed lifestyle and changes in human and economic activities that impacted carbon emission reduction during COVID-19 are essential to drawing long-term environmental pollution mitigation strategies, particularly in the areas researched.
The International Journal of Climate Change: Impacts and Responses
COVID-19, a global pandemic that began in December 2019, has resulted in millions of deaths and s... more COVID-19, a global pandemic that began in December 2019, has resulted in millions of deaths and socioeconomic collapses. Surprisingly, global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions have shown a reduction since the pandemic lockdown. However, findings concerning the relationship between COVID-19 and CO2 emissions have been given limited attention in Africa’s case. This study examined the effect of COVID-19 on CO2 emissions for the selected and most concerned five African countries and discussed lessons to be taken from the pandemic on environmental protection in the post-pandemic situation. The study employed both descriptive and econometric approaches using daily data from January 1, 2020, to December 31, 2020, to analyze the daily carbon emissions. The finding shows that CO2 emissions have been reduced in various sectors owing to the COVID-19 lockdown and other restrictions, which provided an opportunity to rethink measures to protect the environment in the long-term post-pandemic situation. The final part of the article argues that the observed lifestyle and changes in human and economic activities that impacted carbon emission reduction during COVID-19 are essential to drawing long-term environmental pollution mitigation strategies, particularly in the areas researched.
The present research aimed to test an Amharic version of the multi-dimensional Work Task Motivati... more The present research aimed to test an Amharic version of the multi-dimensional Work Task Motivation Scale for Teachers (WTMST), which measures the five pillars of university instructors’ motivation toward teaching and student evaluation tasks based on self-determination theory (SDT). Therefore, the WTMST offers the first instrument to measure all five motivational elements, and today it is one of the most applicable instruments to assess teachers’ motivation. An Amharic version of the WTMST for teaching and student evaluation tasks was adopted and assessed in large-scale data (N=1,117). Our findings demonstrate excellent reliability and construct validity (convergent, discriminant, divergent and factorial). Besides, the results of the model comparisons provided that out of the four theoretically competing models (single-order factor, correlated factor, higher-order factor and bi-factor models), the bi-factor model was the most-fitted one used for measurement invariance across variou...
The present study aimed to adapt and validate the Teacher Well-Being Scale (TWBS), in an Ethiopia... more The present study aimed to adapt and validate the Teacher Well-Being Scale (TWBS), in an Ethiopian education setting . To test the reliability and validity of the scale, an Amharic version of the TWBS was developed and administered to a sample of university instructors (n = 1 117) . The results showed excellent reliability, acceptable convergent and divergent validity, very good discriminant, and factorial validity with the bi-factor model of TWBS . Furthermore, measurement invariance analyses revealed that the factor structure of the TWBS stayed consistent across sex (men, women), university types (research, applied, and general university), age, and experience in teaching . The TWBS may be valid for use in the Ethiopian higher education setting . Keywords:
This study aimed to investigate the mediation role of coping with stress between psychological ca... more This study aimed to investigate the mediation role of coping with stress between psychological capital and teacher well- being based on positive psychology, conservation resource, and broaden-and-build theories. Participants in this study were 836 teachers from three clustered, ethnically diverse public universities. Our findings showed that, in line with previous studies, the psychological capital (PsyCap), coping with stress (CWS), and teacher well-being (TWB) dimensions showed the best fit in our data. PsyCap was related positively to TWB (total and dimensions), CWS, coping through withdrawal, and negative coping with acceptance and change. The indirect effect of PsyCap on TWB through coping with stress was fully mediated. PsyCap also positively and directly affected TWB and CWS. Coping through acceptance and change were fully mediated by PsyCap and TWB dimensions, while coping through withdrawal was not. PsyCap directly and positively affected coping with stress (acceptance and change) and negatively affected coping through withdrawal. Future theoretical and practical implications are discussed
The primary goal of the present study was to test the Amharic version of the
five-factor PERMA p... more The primary goal of the present study was to test the Amharic version of the
five-factor PERMA profiler: P (positive emotion), E (engagement), R (positive relationships), M (meaning in life), and A (accomplishment) aimed to assess University instructors’ positive functioning of their work. Exploratory factor analysis, single and multi-Group confirmatory factor analysis, measurement invariance, and path analysis were employed. The details of an examination of the PERMA profiler are discussed
Athens Journal of Health and Medical Sciences, 2022
Based on the self-determination and positive psychology theory, teachers’ motivation links the re... more Based on the self-determination and positive psychology theory, teachers’ motivation links the relationship between psychological capital and teacher well-being and discusses their theoretical and practical benefits. It is argued that the scientific literature from wide-ranging and diverse studies on teachers’ well-being in elementary and secondary school focused on the pathological lens and healing specific disorders under a variety of life course threatening conditions across cultural contexts. Seligman (2011) criticised that mental health professionals and psychologists gave much prominence to mental disorders and pathologies, overlooking two crucial missions in the field of psychology: (a) helping healthy people to be happier and more productive and (b) actualising human potential. Depending on the current recommendation of positive psychology, and based on the literature gap and relevance of the issues, this study used a theoretical model of self- determination theory of motivation (Ryan and Deci 2017), psychological capital (Luthans et al. 2007a); hedonism well-being (Diener 2009a); and teacher well-being (Collie et al. 2015). Thus, in this review, the operational definition, components and measurements of positive psychological capital, teacher well-being and motivation of teachers and their link strongly supported with scientific literature and a future testing model was proposed. In this study, the links between each construct were addressed, and their educational implications to teachers, students, educational settings and policymakers are presented
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It recruited 836 teachers from Ethiopia’s higher-education institutions, of which 630 (75.4%) were men and 206 (24.6%) were women, with a mean age of 32.81 years and a standard deviation of 6.42.
Findings showed that COVID-19 stress negatively predicted SOC, resilience, and TWB and that SOC and resilience positively predicted TWB. It was concluded that SOC and resilience, both together and
separately, mediated the relation between COVID-19 stress and TWB. These results were discussed alongside relevant literature, and the study is found to be valuable for practitioners and researchers who seek to improve well-being using SOC and resilience as resources across teaching professions.
Keywords: COVID-19 stress; higher education teachers; mediation analysis; resilience; sense of coherence; teachers’ well-being
five-factor PERMA profiler: P (positive emotion), E (engagement), R (positive relationships), M (meaning in life), and A (accomplishment) aimed to assess University instructors’ positive functioning of their work. Exploratory factor analysis, single and multi-Group confirmatory factor analysis, measurement invariance, and path analysis were employed. The details of an examination of the PERMA profiler are discussed
It recruited 836 teachers from Ethiopia’s higher-education institutions, of which 630 (75.4%) were men and 206 (24.6%) were women, with a mean age of 32.81 years and a standard deviation of 6.42.
Findings showed that COVID-19 stress negatively predicted SOC, resilience, and TWB and that SOC and resilience positively predicted TWB. It was concluded that SOC and resilience, both together and
separately, mediated the relation between COVID-19 stress and TWB. These results were discussed alongside relevant literature, and the study is found to be valuable for practitioners and researchers who seek to improve well-being using SOC and resilience as resources across teaching professions.
Keywords: COVID-19 stress; higher education teachers; mediation analysis; resilience; sense of coherence; teachers’ well-being
five-factor PERMA profiler: P (positive emotion), E (engagement), R (positive relationships), M (meaning in life), and A (accomplishment) aimed to assess University instructors’ positive functioning of their work. Exploratory factor analysis, single and multi-Group confirmatory factor analysis, measurement invariance, and path analysis were employed. The details of an examination of the PERMA profiler are discussed