Factors Related to Teacher Resilience during COVID-19

Abstract

Teaching during the 2020–2021 school year was fraught with challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the United States, teacher experiences varied greatly. Teacher attrition has been a concern for years, and contemporary media outlets reported that this was exacerbated by the pandemic. The authors surveyed teachers nationally between January and February 2021 (n = 334) to uncover what factors were related to teachers’ reported intention to remain in the classroom after the 2020– 2021 school year. Logistic regression findings indicate that teachers approaching retirement age and those teaching in private schools were significantly less likely to report an intention to remain at their school while elementary school teachers were more likely to stay. Conversely, we found that teacher autonomy, job satisfaction, and student access to resources outside of school were all positively associated with an intention to remain in their current position. RésuméAu cours de l’année scolaire 2020–2021, l’enseignement a fait face à de nombreux défis reliés à la pandémie de la COVID-19. Aux États-Unis, les expériences des enseignants ont été très diverses. Depuis des années, l’érosion de l’effectif est un souci, et les médias contemporains signalent que la pandémie a augmenté celle-ci. En janvier et février 2021, les auteurs ont sondé des enseignants à l’échelle nationale (n = 334) afin de relever les facteurs ayant motivé ceux-ci à vouloir continuer audelà de 2020–2021. Une régression logistique effectuée par les auteurs indique que les enseignants proches de la retraite et ceux travaillant dans des écoles privées étaient moins enclins à rapporter l’intention de rester dans leurs écoles tandis que les enseignants des écoles élémentaires avaient davantage l’intention de persévérer. En général, les auteurs ont trouvé que l’autonomie de l’enseignant, la satisfaction au travail, et l’accès des étudiants à des ressources au-delà de leur école étaient tous positivement associés au désir de continuer à enseigner. Keywords / Mots clés : COVID-19, teacher retention, teacher attrition, teacher autonomy, job satisfaction, retirement age / COVID-19, fidélisation des enseignants, attrition des enseignants, autonomie des enseignants, satisfaction au travail, âge de la retraite

The Relationship between Access to Mental Health Resources, Administrative Support, and Teacher Burnout

“…Teacher burnout was a topic of concern prior to the COVID-19 pandemic (e.g., Chang, 2009), and since the COVID-19 pandemic, these concerns have only increased (e.g., Chan et al, 2021;Pressley, 2021). Teachers have experienced increased workloads (e.g., McDaniel et al, 2024;Sokal et al, 2020;Walter & Fox, 2021), a lack of resources (e.g., Marshall et al, 2023a), increased stress (e.g., Leger et al, 2024; Sokal et al, 2021), and the challenges of combating student learning loss (e.g., Darling-Aduana et al, 2022;. Previous research has also found that teacher burnout negatively affects educators' well-being and students' well-being and learning outcomes (Bradshaw et al, 2023;Hascher & Waber, 2021;Pap et al, 2023).…”

“…Five items were included to explore the extent to which teachers had access to mental health resources. Based on previous teacher surveys we conducted during and following the pandemic (Marshall et al, 2020;Marshall et al, 2023a;Marshall et al, in press;Pressley, 2021;Pressley et al, in press), we asked participants if they had access to the following five mental health resources at their schools including (1) formal mindfulness programming; (2) a therapist in the school; (3) free out-of-school therapist visits; (4) mental health days; and (5) professional development geared towards faculty mental health.…”

“At Some Point We're Going to Reach Our Limit”: Understanding COVID‐19's impact on teacher burnout and subjective mental health

“…The two areas teachers identified as being much worse were teacher morale and work-life balance. Previous literature that we reviewed before conducting this study suggested that teacher workload had increased substantially because of factors related to the pandemic (Kaden, 2020;Marshall et al, 2023). Teachers working remotely had to figure out how to teach in a way they were never trained to do .…”