The Impact of Educators’ Psychological Culture on Professional Self-Realisation during Wartime

The Inner Toolkit: How Teachers Turn Chaos into Growth

Imagine you are trying to build a sandcastle on a beach, but the ocean is rising, the wind is howling, and the sand keeps getting swept away. Most people would think, "This is impossible; I'm going to lose everything." But some people, instead of just panicking, start building a different kind of castle—one that can survive the tide, or perhaps they realize the act of rebuilding is teaching them something new about construction. This is the world of psychology, specifically the study of how humans handle extreme stress.

In this field, scientists talk about a few big ideas. First, there is psychological culture, which isn't about art or history, but rather your internal "toolkit" for managing your thoughts and emotions. It's your ability to stay calm, plan ahead, and adjust your behavior when things go wrong. Then there is professional self-realisation, which is simply the feeling that you are doing your job well and that your work matters to you. Finally, there is post-traumatic growth. This is a fascinating concept where people don't just "bounce back" to how they were before a disaster; they actually grow stronger and find new meaning because of it. It's like a muscle that gets bigger after being stretched to its limit.

Why does this matter? Because life is full of storms. When the environment around us becomes dangerous or unstable, like during a war, we need to know if our internal toolkits are strong enough to keep us going. If we can understand how teachers and professionals survive and even thrive in the worst conditions, we might learn how to help anyone facing a crisis.

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The Study: Teachers in the Eye of the Storm

This research paper dives into a very specific and intense situation: the lives of university teachers in Ukraine during the full-scale war. The researchers, a team of experts from Ukrainian universities and institutes, wanted to solve a mystery. They noticed that despite the chaos of war—bombings, displacement, and constant fear—many Ukrainian teachers were still working hard and finding meaning in their jobs. How is that possible?

The team studied 212 university lecturers working in Ukraine between 2024 and 2025. They didn't just ask "Are you okay?" They used a mix of math and storytelling to figure out the secret sauce. They gave the teachers three specific tests:

1. The Self-Regulation Questionnaire: To measure their "psychological culture" (how well they could control their reactions and plan).
2. The Post-Traumatic Growth Inventory: To see if they were finding new strength or meaning from the trauma.
3. The Career Adapt-Abilities Scale: To measure their "professional self-realisation" (how well they felt they were succeeding in their careers).

They also sat down with some of the teachers for deep, semi-structured interviews to hear their personal stories.

The Big Discovery: The "Growth Bridge"

The main finding of the paper is like discovering a hidden bridge in a maze. The researchers found that having a strong internal toolkit (psychological culture) definitely helps teachers succeed in their jobs. But here is the twist: it doesn't just help them directly. Instead, a strong toolkit helps teachers process their trauma in a way that leads to growth, and that growth is what really boosts their professional success.

Think of it like this: Your psychological culture is the engine. The war trauma is the rough terrain. Professional success is the destination. The study found that the engine doesn't just push the car over the bumps; it transforms the shaking of the car into fuel that powers a special "growth engine." This growth engine then drives the car forward even faster.

The data showed a clear, statistically significant link. The direct effect of psychological culture on success was strong (a beta coefficient of 0.42), but when they added "post-traumatic growth" into the mix, the story became even clearer. The growth acted as a mediator, meaning it was the middle step that made the magic happen. The indirect effect through this growth was 0.31, with a confidence interval between 0.22 and 0.41. In plain English, this means that the ability to find new meaning in the suffering is a huge reason why teachers with strong mental tools stay successful.

The Experience Factor: Novices vs. Experts

One of the most interesting parts of the study is how experience changes the game. The researchers split the teachers into three groups:

• Novices: Less than 5 years of experience.
• Experienced: 5 to 15 years.
• Experts: More than 15 years.

They found that the "growth bridge" works differently for everyone. For the Experts, the connection was incredibly strong (a beta of 0.44). These veteran teachers were the best at turning their trauma into professional fuel. For the Novices, the connection was still there, but much weaker (a beta of 0.19). They were still trying to figure out how to use their toolkit. The Experienced group sat right in the middle (a beta of 0.33).

The paper suggests that while everyone has the potential to grow, the experts have had more time to build the "muscle" needed to process the trauma and turn it into a resource. It's like a veteran hiker who knows exactly how to use a broken branch as a walking stick, while a beginner might just drop it.

The Stories Behind the Numbers

The numbers told one story, but the interviews told another, deeper one. When the researchers asked teachers what "success" meant to them now, the answers changed. Before the war, success might have been about getting a new title, publishing a paper, or getting a promotion. Now, the teachers talked about internal things. One teacher said, "I've come to appreciate every day at work; it's not just a job, it's a mission." Another, a novice, admitted, "It is hard to think about growth when there are sirens every day. I am just surviving."

This revealed a shift in values. The teachers were redefining success not as climbing a ladder, but as staying connected to their students and providing emotional support. However, the study also noted a "resource depletion" theme in the interviews—some teachers felt they were running on empty—which the math didn't fully capture. This suggests that while the "growth" model is real, there are still hidden struggles that numbers can't always see.

What This Means (and What It Doesn't)

The authors are careful not to call this a "magic cure." They explicitly state that this is a snapshot in time (a cross-sectional study), so they can't say for sure if this growth lasts forever or if it changes over time. They also warn that their sample was mostly women and came from specific universities, so we can't assume this applies to every single teacher in the country.

However, the study strongly suggests that psychological culture is a fundamental resource. It's not just about "surviving" the war; it's about using the tools of self-regulation to transform the experience into something that helps you grow professionally. The paper argues that we shouldn't just focus on fixing the "broken" parts of teachers (like treating burnout); we should also help them build the "growth" parts of their toolkit.

The researchers conclude that for universities and support systems, the goal should be to help teachers process their experiences so they can find that new meaning. By focusing on post-traumatic growth, we might be able to help educators not just survive the storm, but learn how to dance in the rain.