Changes in Teacher Burnout and Self-Efficacy During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Interrelations and e-Learning Variables Related to Change

Abstract

Although the reciprocal relationship of teacher burnout and teacher self-efficacy (TSE) is well documented, the literature still lacks studies investigating their (latent) changes and interrelations of change over time. By applying a latent change regression model in our study, we aimed to contribute to this research gap by examining changes in burnout and their relations to changes in TSE during the COVID-19 pandemic—a very challenging time for teachers. As the implementation of digital learning material played a major role during the pandemic, we were also interested if attitudes and self-efficacy toward e-Learning were related to changes in burnout and TSE. Our sample consisted of 92 German in-service teachers who completed a questionnaire twice during the 2019–2020 school year. Our main findings are that the burnout components depersonalization and lack of accomplishment significantly increased from the pre- to post-COVID-19 outbreak, whereas emotional exhaustion did not. Changes in burnout were negatively correlated to changes in TSE, but we found little evidence for relations of change in burnout and TSE with variables concerning e-Learning. Our findings indicate that the challenge was not the work overload but rather a lack of resources. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Teachers’ emotional exhaustion before and during the COVID-19 pandemic: Neither emotional exertion nor vacation feeling

“…A correlation between age and stress was found only in the retrospective study by Jakubowski and Sitko-Dominik (2021) . In the study conducted by Weißenfels et al (2022) , the change in emotional exhaustion was independent of teachers’ gender and work experience.…”

“…Up to now, only a few studies describe the change in teachers’ emotional exhaustion during the COVID-19 pandemic. Exceptions are the described studies conducted by Sokal et al (2020a) , Lizana et al (2021) , Pellerone (2021) , and Weißenfels et al (2022) . Despite their longitudinal design, it is unclear how the change in emotional exhaustion during the pandemic differs from the change before the pandemic.…”

“…All around the world, schools were closed – also in Germany. The associated challenges represented an additional stressor for teachers ( Rabaglietti et al, 2021 ; Weißenfels et al, 2022 ). Within a short time, they had to convert their lessons to digital formats ( König et al, 2020 ; Lorenz et al, 2020 ).…”

“…At the same time, demands and resources for coping with everyday professional life are changing ( Hilger et al, 2021 ). Even if occupational demands and resources were in balance before the COVID-19 pandemic, resources might no longer be sufficient to cope with the lockdown requirements and the associated homeschooling ( Weißenfels et al, 2022 ). Against this background, it is also plausible to assume that teachers’ emotional exhaustion increases during the pandemic.…”

“…The general level of burnout was significantly higher, although there were no significant changes in emotional exhaustion and depersonalization. A recent study from Germany by Weißenfels et al (2022) examined the changes in burnout and self-efficacy based on data from 92 teachers. The first survey was conducted in fall 2019, with the second survey starting in May 2020.…”