Personality Traits Attributed to Estonian School Teachers

Abstract

The aim of the article is to find out what personality traits are attributed to Estonian school teachers by members of society compared with the teachers’ own personal assessments and the characteristics of the entire Estonian population. Data was collected between 2003 and 2010 from 460 members of the general public and 467 teachers in 67 Estonian schools. The results showed that in general the public perceive teachers’ personality traits similarly and in accordance with the teachers’ self assessment, but there are also some differences in opinions on the basis of the year respondents graduated from school and the nationality of the respondents. These results can be used to improve communication between stakeholders and to prepare training programmes for teachers.

Keywords

• school leadership
• teachers’ personality traits
• communication of school stakeholders