WORK-LIFE BALANCE AMONG PRESCHOOL TEACHERS AND PRIMARY SCHOOL TEACHERS

Work-life balance has always been a concern of those who are interested in the quality of professional life and employment and its relation to the broader quality of life. Well-being includes, among other things, balancing the different roles we are obligated to play, such as being an employee, parent, spouse, and friend. The aim of the study was to examine how preschool teachers and primary school teachers were able to manage the balance between work and private life and to examine the relationship between work-life balance and professional satisfaction, turnover intentions, job demands, and overtime. The study was based on five cross-sectional data collections gathered in 2010, 2011, 2013, 2015, and 2019 by online surveys. The response rate was (67.5%, 62.0%, 71.5%, 69.8% and 65.3%). Women were 87% of the respondents. The high proportion of women well reflects the gender gap among municipal teachers. The average age of respondents was around 45 years, the highest in 2013 (46.4 years) and the lowest in 2010 (44.6 years). Most of the respondents were married or cohabiting but the proportion of single respondents increased between the studies; this was 15.8% in 2010 and 19.0% in 2019. Most respondents had children at home, but the trend was that their proportion decreased steadily between the studies, from 71% in 2010 to 62% in 2019. Then the proportion of those who were in full-time employment during the study period increased, being lowest in 2010 (69%) and highest in 2019 (73%). The results showed that the average score for work-life balance decreased steadily between 2010 and 2015 for both pre-school teachers and primary school teachers; it was slightly higher in 2019 than in 2015, although not as high as in 2010. The results indicate that fewer and fewer teachers agreed that they were achieving a reasonable balance between work and private life. The average work-life balance was significantly lower in all years for primary school teachers than for pre-school teachers. The results also showed a positive relationship between work-life balance and job satisfaction among both pre-school and primary school teachers and a negative relationship between work-life balance and the desire to quit work, job requirements, and overtime. These results can be interpreted as meaning that preschool teachers and primary school teachers who experience more work-life balance consequently enjoy greater job satisfaction, have less desire to quit work, are subjected to less workload, and feel less likely to have to work overtime. The study covered all preschool teachers and primary school teachers working in most Icelandic municipalities with 2000 inhabitants or more from the years 2010 to 2019. The main weakness of the study is that it does not apply to teachers in the city of Reykjavik, as the city's representatives refused to participate in the study, although all other municipalities in the capital area were participants. This is also a five-section study, not a long-term panel study that works with experiences from the same participants, and therefore it is not possible to predict how the variables are interconnected, although we can conclude that there is a relationship. One of the key factors for well-being at work is experiencing a balance between work and private life, and if there are conflicts between those two areas, it is necessary to have the resources to solve them; this applies to both preschool teachers and primary school teachers. To support the teachers' balance between work and private life, enhance their well-being and reduce untimely resignations, it is proposed that school administrators and those who formulate municipal human resource policies should focus on creating a more flexible work environment since this has an impact on teachers' performance and welfare at work.