Teachers' perceived time pressure, emotional exhaustion and the role of social support from the school principal

The Impact of Benevolent Sexism on Women's Career Growth: A Moderated Serial Mediation Model

This study investigates how benevolent sexism impedes women's career growth, focusing on the mediating roles of self-esteem and emotional exhaustion and the moderating role of career development strategies. Using a three-wave, time-lagged survey, data from 410 female employees across various industries in China were analyzed with SPSS 24.0 and Mplus 8.3. Results indicate that benevolent sexism negatively influences career growth via reduced self-esteem and increased emotional exhaustion. Moreover, career development strategies mitigate this adverse effect, weakening the relationship between benevolent sexism and career growth. Higher levels of career development strategies lessen the detrimental impact of benevolent sexism on women's professional progress. These findings enrich Cognitive-Affective Personality System theory by clarifying the mechanisms through which benevolent sexism undermines career development. They also highlight the practical significance of adopting robust career strategies to promote workplace gender equality and offer empirical insights into the broader implications of benevolent sexism on women's career advancement.

How Do Korean Secondary School Teachers Perceive Psychological Burnout in Their Teaching Careers?

The psychological burnout experienced by teachers is not merely a personal issue; it is a significant social problem that impacts the entire educational environment. This study utilised Q methodology to identify the subjective perceptions of psychological burnout among Korean secondary school teachers and then analysed the characteristics of these perception types. An analysis of 34 statements and a P sample of 30 teachers resulted in four types of perceptions regarding teachers' psychological burnout: 'burnout due to damaged self-esteem' (Type 1), 'burnout due to organisational neglect' (Type 2), 'burnout due to excessive role demands' (Type 3) and 'burnout due to disrespectful behaviour' (Type 4). This study's meaningfulness is in its classification of teachers' psychological burnout into types and its exploration of the types' features. The results can also help in developing specific intervention programmes for each type.

Servant Leadership and Teachers' Emotional Exhaustion-The Mediation Role of Hindrance Stress and Depersonalization

This study aims to explore the impact of school servant leadership on teacher emotional exhaustion in the context of Chinese education, and analyze the mediating effects of teacher hindrance stress and depersonalization. Based on the Job Demand-Control-Support (JDCS) model and servant leadership theory, the research constructs a model for the influence mechanism of school servant leadership on teacher emotional exhaustion and validates it using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). A total of 3751 primary and secondary school teachers from eight provinces in China participated in this study. The results indicate servant leadership demonstrates a strong negative relationship with emotional exhaustion, with hindrance stress and depersonalization serving as a sequential mediation between servant leadership and emotional exhaustion. This study offers a new perspective on how servant leadership can alleviate emotional exhaustion among teachers, and provides practical insights for optimizing educational management models and enhancing teacher mental well-being.

The Impact of Social Support on Burnout among Lecturers: A Systematic Literature Review

BACKGROUND

Interest and concern regarding the social support and burnout of college lecturers have grown over the past decades. Maintaining good mental health is critical for university lecturers. Social support has been identified as an effective resource against burnout. However, few studies have comprehensively examined the connection between social support and burnout specifically among college lecturers. Therefore, this review aims to explore how social support influences the burnout of college lecturers.

METHODS

This study employed the systematic literature review (SLR) methodology.

RESULTS

A thorough systematic review of 20 studies was conducted between 2015 and 2024, drawn from five major databases: Web of Science, Scopus, APA PsycINFO, PubMed, and Eric. The review indicates that burnout is measured through the Maslach Burnout Inventory, Maslach Burnout Inventory-Educators Survey (MBI-ES), Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey (MBI-GS), Burnout Syndrome Evaluation Questionnaire, Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI), Shirom-Melamed Burnout Measure (SMBM), and the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory (OLBI). While social support is measured through the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS) and Perceived Organizational Support (SPOS) survey. Individual and occupational factors contribute to lecturers' burnout. This study reveals the association between social support and burnout among lecturers and it emphasizes the multifaceted role of social support in alleviating burnout among lecturers.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings suggest that educational institutions should strengthen support systems and increase the emotional support available among lecturers to relieve burnout.

Are student engagement and disaffection important for teacher well-being? A longitudinal examination of between- and within-person effects

Although a lot is known about how teachers influence student motivation, evidence on the importance of student engagement for teacher well-being is lacking. In addition, studies investigating the effects of student behavior on teachers have mostly focused on the between-person perspective while neglecting the within-person processes. Thus, in the present study, we examined longitudinal associations between perceived student behavioral and emotional engagement and disaffection and teacher well-being (i.e., job satisfaction and emotional exhaustion) by acknowledging their fluctuating nature and investigating the associations at both the between- and within-person levels. Specifically, we conducted a full-panel four-wave longitudinal study involving 1141 secondary school teachers and employed a random-intercept cross lagged panel modeling approach to analyze the data. At the between-person level, teachers who perceived their students as being more emotionally and behaviorally engaged, but less emotionally and behaviorally disaffected, tended to have higher levels of job satisfaction and lower levels of emotional exhaustion. At the within-person level, higher than usual levels of student emotional engagement were concurrently associated with higher than usual levels of job satisfaction and lower than usual levels of emotional exhaustion, whereas the associations concerning disaffection showed the opposite pattern. Regarding the longitudinal spill-over effects at the within-person level, behavioral and emotional engagement positively predicted job satisfaction whereas behavioral disaffection negatively predicted job satisfaction and positively predicted emotional exhaustion. Our results highlight the importance of student motivation for shaping teacher occupational well-being and indicate that efforts aimed at increasing student motivation could also be beneficial to teachers.

The Chain Mediating Role of Teachers' Job Stress in the Influence of Distributed School Leadership on Job Satisfaction: Evidence from China, the United States, England, and Australia

Distributed leadership has been shown to improve teacher job satisfaction and reduce teacher job stress. However, few studies have thoroughly explored the indirect effects of distributed leadership on increasing the teachers' burden in school administration and management, thereby increasing work stress, and decreasing job satisfaction. Data from the Teaching and Learning International Survey were analyzed to investigate the relationships among distributed school leadership, teachers' job stress, and job satisfaction. A total of 3976 teachers from 198 junior high schools in Shanghai, 2560 teachers from 166 junior high schools in the United States, 2376 teachers from 157 junior high schools in England, and 3573 teachers from 238 junior high schools in Australia were selected and examined using structural equation modeling. The results revealed that distributed school leadership directly predicted teachers' job satisfaction; teachers' job stress had an independent mediating effect on distributed leadership and teachers' job satisfaction, whereas teachers' time spent participating in school leadership had no mediating effect. We discuss the benefits of distributed school leadership on teachers' job satisfaction and the possible mechanisms for promoting it in practice.

Effect of different types of social support on physical frailty development among community-dwelling older adults in Japan: Evidence from a 10-year population-based cohort study

PURPOSE

Social support is associated with multiple positive health outcomes and is negatively associated with frailty in older adults. However, most evidence came from cross-sectional research. This study aimed to longitudinally explore the relationship between different types of social support and incident physical frailty.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A 10-year prospective cohort study data from the National Institute for Longevity Sciences - Longitudinal Study of Aging (NILS-LSA) database, from 2000 to 2012 on older adults aged ≥65 years were analyzed excluding those with physical frailty at baseline, missing data, or not attending follow-up. We measured three kinds of social support, whether from within or outside family members, including emotional, instrumental, and negative support. The generalized estimating equation (GEE) model was used to examine the longitudinal relationships between social support and subsequent frailty.

RESULTS

The final analysis included 466 participants, with an average age of 71.3 (standard deviation [SD], 4.3) years and 7.33 years of follow-up (SD, 3.11). GEE analysis showed that emotional and instrumental supports from within and outside family members were associated with a significantly lower risk of physical frailty (odd ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.80 [0.64-1.00] and 0.74 [0.58-0.95]; 0.77 [0.60-0.99] and 0.79 [0.63-0.99], respectively). Both negative support from within or outside family members had no significant relationship with the risk of physical frailty.

CONCLUSIONS

This longitudinal study suggested that emotional, and instrumental support both from within or outside family members can reduce future physical frailty among older adults.

Key Factors Affecting Mathematics Teachers' Well-Being and Stress Levels: An Extended Engagement Theory

The mathematics teachers' profession often has many challenges. It also occupies important positions at the K-12 education level, in which mathematics knowledge is the basis of all scientific fields. This tends to cause high-stress levels and a negative effect on well-being. Mathematics teachers' well-being has been less examined, and therefore this study aims to determine the factors affecting mathematics teachers' well-being and stress levels. The 210 data points collected from Chinese mathematics teachers using a web-based questionnaire were analyzed for reliability and validity, then model fit and SEM were applied for model validation after removing 3 invalid data points and incomplete responses. The results showed that behavioral and cognitive engagements significantly affect teachers' well-being, while the affective engagement was insignificant. The TPMK was the strongest significant predictor that had a positive impact on improving well-being and reducing stress levels. In addition, the stress level of mathematics teachers was influenced by gender and age. Finally, it was proven that teachers' well-being significantly reduced stress levels. This study's implication was to provide information on how to reduce stress levels.

Application of a Model of Workforce Resilience to the Education Workforce: Expanding Opportunities for Support

The current study analyzed 502 responses from members of the education workforce on the Resilience at Work (RAW) scale and other measures of health and job satisfaction as part of an initiative offering training and technical assistance to support student and staff well-being. A latent profile analysis using scores on components of the RAW identified three resilience profiles: lower, moderate, and higher capacities for resilience. Profiles were differentiated across components related to resilience capacity including alignment of work and personal values, level of social support, and ability to manage stress. Differences between profiles were observed across days of poor physical health, days of poor mental health, days of activity restriction, general health rating, and domains of burnout, compassion satisfaction, and secondary traumatic stress. These findings reinforce calls to support the education workforce through changes that allow access to meaningful work, an evaluation of demands including workload, relevant training on emotional wellness, positive experiences, connections with others, and stress management.

How time pressure is associated with knowledge sharing: a dual-path mechanism study

Purpose

This study aims to explore the dual-path effects of challenge (CTP) and hindrance time pressure (HTP) on knowledge sharing, which provides theoretical reference for knowledge teams to carry out knowledge sharing smoothly.

Design/methodology/approach

This study collected two waves of data and surveyed 416 employees in China. Regression analysis, bootstrapping and structure equitation modeling was adopted to test the hypotheses.

Findings

CTP has a positive impact on employee knowledge sharing, while HTP has a negative impact on employee knowledge sharing. Self-efficacy plays a mediating role between CTP and knowledge sharing, and emotional exhaustion plays a mediating role between HTP and knowledge sharing. The perceived organizational support can moderate the relationship between CTP and self-efficacy and between HTP and emotional exhaustion.

Originality/value

This study explains the reasons for the academic controversy about the effect of time pressure, enhances the scholars’ attention and understanding of the dual-path mechanism between time pressure and knowledge sharing and augments the theoretical research of time pressure and knowledge sharing.

Teachers’ dysfunctional feedback to students from immigrant and non-immigrant backgrounds: A pilot study

Teachers often provide more positive feedback to ethnic minority students than to ethnic majority students in order to compensate for potential discrimination. However, even feedback that sounds positive can have unwanted effects on the students, such as reinforcing negative beliefs and reducing motivation. In this experimental pilot study, we investigated whether teachers were more likely to convey such dysfunctional feedback to students from immigrant backgrounds than to students from non-immigrant backgrounds. Teachers (N = 186) read descriptions of classroom situations and indicated the feedback they would provide to the fictive students. The students’ names implied either an immigrant background associated with low competence stereotypes or no immigrant background. For the most part, feedback did not differ according to immigrant status. Yet, there were some situation-specific differences: When immigrant students failed despite effort, teachers used a simpler language in their feedback. In one of two scenarios describing students who succeeded easily without effort, teachers were more likely to provide dysfunctional ability feedback, dysfunctional effort feedback, and inflated praise to a student from an immigrant background than to a student from a non-immigrant background. A subsequent expert survey (N = 12) was conducted to evaluate the scenario-based feedback test. In sum, the study contributes to the field by providing first signs that students from immigrant backgrounds might be at risk of receiving not only more positive but actually more dysfunctional feedback. Furthermore, the study presents a practice-oriented, standardized, and economic instrument to assess teachers’ dysfunctional feedback, which may be used in future research.

[Emotional exhaustion and job satisfaction among teaching staff during the COVID-19 pandemic]

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly changed the everyday professional life of teaching staff. The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of the pandemic on teachers' emotional exhaustion and job satisfaction.

METHODS

A sample of 2531 school administrators and teachers from North Rhine-Westphalia was recruited in October 2020. Changes in emotional exhaustion during the pandemic were directly measured with nine items of the Maslach Burnout Inventory and changes in job satisfaction with six items. Adjusted regression models were used to determine risk and protective factors associated with changes in emotional exhaustion and job satisfaction.

RESULTS

Risk factors associated with both more frequently perceived symptoms of exhaustion and reduced job satisfaction were as follows: the additional workload during the pandemic, the stress of uncertainty, the perceived change in workload, concerns about the students, and being employed at an elementary school. A supportive school environment was associated with both fewer perceived symptoms of exhaustion and stable job satisfaction.

DISCUSSION

From the perspective of the teaching staff, the COVID-19 pandemic was related to subjective changes in emotional exhaustion and job satisfaction. The COVID-19 pandemic was associated with higher emotional exhaustion for more than half of the teaching staff and with reduced job satisfaction for one in five teachers. Due to the study design, causal conclusions are not possible.

Out of Sight, Out of Mind? A Longitudinal Investigation of Smart Working and Burnout in the Context of the Job Demands–Resources Model during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The academic interest in smart working, a form of flexible work characterized by the use of technology to conduct one’s work, has dramatically increased over recent years, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Building on the job demands–resources (JD-R) model, in this study we investigate whether smart working affects the longitudinal association between perceived work characteristics, such as workload and social support (SS), and workers’ health and well-being, in terms of exhaustion. Overall, 185 workers completed a self-report questionnaire at two time points (four-month time-lag) during the COVID-19 outbreak. The results from moderated multiple regression analysis partially support our predictions. The longitudinal association between workload and exhaustion was positive—although marginally significant—for smart workers, but nonsignificant for in-person workers. Contrarily, the longitudinal association between SS and exhaustion was negative for in-person workers, but nonsignificant for smart workers. Overall, this study suggests that, to support employees’ health and productivity, work characteristics—both physical and psychosocial—should fit the new way of working as well as remote workers’ specific needs and expectations. Hence, to promote sustainable work, interventions should be aimed at helping smart workers to manage their workload effectively, as well as reducing professional and social isolation.

Teachers' Burnout Risk During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Relationships With Socio-Contextual Stress-A Latent Profile Analysis

The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to identify distinct burnout profiles of teachers and to examine their association with work-related stressors, such as workload, students' misbehavior, classroom resources, professional recognition needs and poor colleague relations, as well as socio-demographic variables. Survey data were collected from 330 kindergarten and primary school teachers (84 males, M _age = 38.3, SD = 9.14). The latent profile analysis revealed four distinct profiles. The antecedents of teacher burnout (TB) profiles were the stress generated by workload, students' misbehavior, and low professional recognition. The socio-demographic variables, with the exception of gender, were covariates of the TB profiles. The findings implies that career opportunities prospects, classroom management and time-management programs may be useful in preventing teacher burnout.