Comparing pedagogy and special education students' personality characteristics

This article is an attempt to answer a question whether special education students differ from pedagogy students in terms of personality traits crucial from the point of view of future career. We assume that special education teachers are more exposed to stress in their professional work than other teachers. Therefore the profession of special education teacher requires specific individual resources to cope with stress. Because of that the special education students were expected to show personality traits associated with greater mental resilience. We assume that emotional stability, conscientiousness, extraversion, openness to experience and greater sensitivity to the needs of others (high agreeableness and low cynical hostility) are personality traits associated with higher level of mental resilience. A logistic regression analysis was performed to analyze the relationship between the field of study and the selected characteristics of personality. Total of 355 students participated in the study: 184 pedagogy students and 171 special education students. The traits of the Five-Factor Model of Personality were measured using the Polish version of the Ten Item Personality Inventory (TIPI) questionnaire. Cynical hostility was measured using the Polish version of the Cook-Medley Hostility Inventory – Brief (CMHI Brief) questionnaire. The results of the study showed no differences between education and special education students in terms of the selected personality traits crucial from the point of view of future career.

This article is an attempt to answer a question whether special education students differ from pedagogy students in terms of personality traits crucial from the point of view of future career. We assume that special education teachers are more exposed to stress in their professional work than other teachers. Therefore the profession of special education teacher requires specific individual resources to cope with stress. Because of that the special education students were expected to show personality traits associated with greater mental resilience. We assume that emotional stability, conscientiousness, extraversion, openness to experience and greater sensitivity to the needs of others (high agreeableness and low cynical hostility) are personality traits associated with higher level of mental resilience. A logistic regression analysis was performed to analyze the relationship between the field of study and the selected characteristics of personality. Total of 355 students participated in the study: 184 pedagogy students and 171 special education students. The traits of the Five-Factor Model of Personality were measured using the Polish version of the Ten Item Personality Inventory (TIPI) questionnaire. Cynical hostility was measured using the Polish version of the Cook-Medley Hostility Inventory – Brief (CMHI Brief) questionnaire. The results of the study showed no differences between education and special education students in terms of the selected personality traits crucial from the point of view of future career.