CAREER BARRIERS, PERCEIVED PROFESSIONAL SOCIAL SUPPORT AND HOPELESSNESS LEVEL: A CORRELATIONAL STUDY OF PRIVATE AND PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHERS OF LAHORE

Abstract

The aim of this research study was to investigate the relationship between career barriers, perceived professional social support and hopelessness level among female teachers of both private and public sectors. The research was quantitative in nature. An adapted questionnaire comprising of 45 close- ended statements was administered to a sample of 100 schoolteachers, 50 from public school and 50 from private secondary female school teachers in which there were 4 private schools and 4 public schools of Lahore. The sampling strategy used was convenience sampling. Parametric and non-parametric tests were used to examine the data. The study revealed no correlation between career barriers and feelings of hopelessness among private school teachers, although there was a strong relation between career barriers and professional social support among teachers. Among public school teachers, there was no significant relationship found between career barriers and both teacher professional social support and hopelessness levels. Furthermore, when comparing the three parameters between public and private school teachers, the findings revealed a significant difference in terms of career barriers between public and private school teachers. However, no significant difference was found in terms of teacher professional social support between private and public-school teachers. Additionally, there was statistically no significant difference between public and private school teachers in their hopelessness level. It is recommended that workshops, training sessions and seminars should be arranged to provide knowledge to both public and private school teachers about how to overcome career barriers.