The Relationship of Teachers' Psychological Capital and Psychological Security with Studnts’ Academic Achievement

Education specialists have increasingly focused on studying the factors that influence academic achievement over the last three decades (Gibbsons, 2007). As positive psychology progresses, its applications to the workplace are expanding, such as positive organizational behavior, positive organizational research, and more recently, psychological capital (Golparvar, Fathi, Kazemi,& Rahmati azar monabadi., 2019). The psychological resources created by the positive emotions of the employees may lead to positive psychological states in the employees, such as their sense of psychological security (Ardalan, Ghanbari, Zandi, & Seif Panahi, 2013). Therefore, considering the role of teachers as the most important factor in the success of the educational system, as well as the role of their psychological capital and psychological security in students' inner passion and motivation, these two can improve the teaching-learning environment and thus to improve students' academic achievement. The aim of the present study was to investigate teachers' psychological capital and psychological security with students' academic achievement.

The research method was descriptive-correlational type. The statistical population of the study consisted of teachers and high school students of the district 6 of the Ministry of Education in Tehran. From this population, 50 teachers and 184 students were selected by convenience sampling method. Data were collected using Lutz Psychological Capital, Edmonson Pychological Security, and Saatchi Educational Achievement Questionnaires. Data were analyzed by Pearson correlation and regression analysis.

Findings showed that teachers' psychological capital and psychological security have positive and significant relationship with academic achievement. According to the results of multiple regression analysis, the variables of hope, resilience, optimism, efficiency, team usefulness, psychological safety, and learning behavior and team performance of teachers at a significance level less than 0.05 can predict students' academic achievement. Among the components of psychological capital, resilience, optimism, and efficacy are the most important predictors of student achievement.

Given the importance of teachers’ psychological capital, it is recommended that school principals select teachers with this charateristic, provide opportunities such as educational courses, conferences and congresses and desirable educational quality. Also, giving teachers the freedom to act, increasing mutual respect, honesty, and openness in the workplace will enhance teachers' sense of psychological security.