The Impact Of Work Resources On Teacher Competence In Special Education:the Mediating Role Of Job Crafting And Work Engagement

Special education teachers are the core resources and human capital in special education.The improvement of teacher competence plays a very important role in the development of special education.As the support and guarantee elements of special education teachers,work resources can stimulate their achievement motivation and promote their professional growth.However,the influence mechanism of work resources on teacher competence remains unclear.How to effectively invest resources and maximize the competence level of special education teachers is worth discussing.Therefore,this study explores the influence of various dimensions of work resources on teacher competence,and attempts to introduce two variables,job crafting and work engagement,to explore the mechanism of job resources on teacher competence,in the hope of proposing strategies that are beneficial to improve the competence of special education teachers.This study adopted the "Special Education Teacher Competence and Influencing Factors Questionnaire"(including four questionnaires)to evaluate 422 special education teachers,and carried out the data analysis and structural modeling.The results are as follows:(1)The competence of special education teachers is above the average level,among which the achievement motivation and social ability are at a higher level;Work resources of special education teachers are above the average level,among which the colleague support and work autonomy are at a high level.Job crafting of special education teachers is at a high level;Work engagement of special education teachers is above the average level.(2)There are significant differences in competence of special education teachers in terms of age,teaching age and position;there are significant differences in work resources of special education teachers in terms of teaching age,position and training frequency;there are significant differences in job crafting of special education teachers in terms of age,position,income and training frequency;there are significant differences in work engagement of special education teachers in terms of age,teaching age,position and income.(3)Work resources,job crafting and work engagement of special education teachers all have significant predictive effects on teacher competence.Among job resources,leadership support has more explanatory power than job reward and job autonomy.In job crafting,cognitive crafting has more explanatory power than task crafting and skill crafting.In work engagement,dedication has more explanatory power than concentration.(4)The job crafting of special education teachers partly mediates the relationship between work resources and teacher competence.Work engagement of special education teachers partly mediates the relationship between work resources and teacher competence.(5)The job crafting and work engagement have a chain mediating effect between work resources and teacher competence.Work resources improve work engagement through job crafting of special education teachers,thus enhancing teacher competence.This influence path has a larger mediating effect size.Based on the above findings,work resources can not only directly predict the competence of special education teachers,but also influence teacher competence through job crafting and work engagement.Relevant departments can encourage the crafting behavior of special education teachers by strengthening their superior support,improving their work returns and giving them autonomy,so as to enhance their work engagement,improve their competence and promote the high-quality development of special education in China.