Abstract:

The issues of teacher´s personal and professional competencies are dealt by many researchers. They are related to the questions of the adequate interpersonal behaviour of the teacher, set of his psychological skills, but also with the questions of specific personal characteristics. Despite the important findings of academic optimism and teacher's hope, only a small number of researches address the issue to the zest of work in the school environment and their mutual impact on the school success among pupils. The current study deals with the academic optimism (teacher´s self-efficacy, trust to students and parents and academic emphasis), hope and zest for work and their contribution to pupils´ achievement. The research sample consisted of 145 teachers and their classes at primary schools (M = 43.68, SD = 9.81). We used following methods: Teacher Academic Optimism Scale (Hoy et al, 2006), The Hope Scale (Snyder et al, 1991) a Zest for work scale (Sezgin, Erdogan, 2015) and pupils great point average (GPA). Results indicated that academic optimism, hope and zest for work of teachers explained 30% variance of students ´achievement, with the most significant predictors of teacher´s self-efficacy and trust to students and parents (with variance between 0.25-0.33, p ≤ 0.01). Hope and zest for work did not show as significant predictors of achievement in the primary school students. The results suggest that teacher´s conviction that he will be able to overcome the obstacles, achieve the goals and create new constructive strategies as well as the confidential relationship between teacher- pupil and teacher- parent has the potential to lead pupils to achieve greater school achievement.

Acknowledgement:
Grant support: VEGA 1/0577/16: Personal and interpersonal factors of adolescents ‘adaptive development in the context of the school environment.

Keywords:

Academic optimism, Hope, Zest for work, Teacher, Pupils.