The relationship between teachers' flow experiences at work and perceptions of personal rights

The aim of this research is to determine the level of flow experience that teachers have while working and their level of participation in personal rights issues and to determine the relationship between them. Relational survey model, one of the quantitative research methods, was used in the research. Due to the pandemic, the data were collected by spreading through communication tools in line with the permissions obtained using google form. The population of the research consists of 24710 teachers working in Kocaeli in the 2021-2022 academic year. The sample group was selected from each district by simple random sampling method. A total of 450 teachers, 182 men and 268 women, constitute the sample of the research. "Flow Experience Scale" adapted to Turkish by Turan and Pala (2021), and "Primary and Secondary Education Teachers' Scales on Participation in Personal Problems Given" by Erdem (2010) were adapted and used in accordance with the subject. Since the data showed a normal distribution, t-test and one-way Anova analyzes were performed to determine the significance levels. According to the analysis findings; in the flow experience scale; in the variables of age, school level, seniority and union membership; In the personal rights scale, there was a significant difference between gender and age variables. The level of flow experiences of the teachers during the study is as "I somewhat agree" and "I tend to agree" with the personal rights issues given. The flow experience scale consists of two dimensions: "dedication to work" and "internal enjoyment at work". The average of both dimensions was at the level of "I somewhat agree". According to the findings; After the age of 40, the level of experiencing flow increases. Those working in high school have more flow experience than those working in secondary school. Teachers with 21 or more years of seniority experience more flow. Those who are members of the union feel the flow experience in their work more than those who are not members. In the scale of participation in the given personal rights problems; The mean for women was higher than for men. In the age variable; While an increase is observed until the age of 40, the averages begin to decrease gradually from the age of 40. This may be related to the approaching retirement age of teachers, the more stable ideas in the profession and life as age and seniority progress, and the transition to acceptance by getting used to the current situation. Pearson Correlation analysis was conducted to determine the relationship between the flow experience of teachers while working and their perceptions of personal rights. According to the analysis result; a very low level of negative significant relationship was detected. According to the findings; It can be said that 2% of the flow experience levels are caused by the level of perception of personal rights problems and the remaining 98% is related to other variables. The reason for this may be related to the fact that the flow is felt instantaneously and personal rights are felt for a longer period of time, and this result supports other researches. According to this, the participation of teachers in the problems related to their personal rights does not prevent them from having a flow experience while working.