생물학자의 일과 삶의 균형에 대한 고등학생들의 인식 탐색

초록

This study explored how high-school students perceived the work and life balance of biologists. In addition, this study examined the differences in this perception according to students’ gender and academic year. A total of 400 high-school students participated in this study. In the data collection, three open-ended questions about biologist’s enjoyment, concerns, and the weekend life in daily life were used. The collected response data were qualitatively analyzed and inductively categorized. All data were divided into the context of work and the context of personal life. Chi-square was conducted to examine differences in students’ perception in terms of gender and academic year. As a result of categorizing the responses, six themes in enjoyment, eight themes in concerns, and four themes of weekend life were revealed. Most of students perceived biologists’ usual enjoyments and concerns in daily life within the work context: nearly half of the students described the biologists’ weekends within the work context. It was found that female students tended to perceive biologists’ enjoyment and concerns in a work context more than male students. In sum, many students perceived biologists as workaholics who have difficulties with work-life balance. Based on these results, the workaholic image could be an obstacle to career exploration and decisions about a career as a biologist. Thus, this study suggested that career education regarding biology for future generations should consider the aspect of work-life balance. In particular, career educational programs should introduce the daily life of a biologist whose life both at work and personally is happy and satisfactory; this is necessary for students’ positive career exploration and aspiration toward a career as a biologist.

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