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

Abstract

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.

Equilibrium in the Classroom: A Systematic Review of Strategies for Work-Life Balance among Mathematics Teachers

“…Based on the result of the review, it could be observed that only one selected article fosters a theme on the mathematic teachers' well-being while two articles are on teachers' performance. It was reported that Teachers' well-being was significantly reduced by increasing stress levels (Jian et al, 2023). This shows that increasing level of stress reduces the well-being of mathematics teachers.…”

“…For instance, Mujtaba et al (2013) reported that teachers with appropriate stress-coping mechanisms and access to professional and personal support could produce desirable teaching output. Also, Jian et al (2023) reported that enhancing teachers' well-being significantly reduced stress levels. More so, Fisher & Royster (2016) submitted that different schools have different inherent stress levels and that as teachers, they used several mechanisms for reducing stress, while Cheng-Lin et al (2020) reported that the adverse effect of stress and job burnout is strengthened by both employee agility and Leader-Member Change Quality (LMCQ).…”

“…Evidence has shown that teachers are under pressure in various ways, such as classroom teaching, administration, meeting, daily lesson preparation, and homework assignments. These multiple roles increase workload and cause high-stress levels (Jian et al, 2023; Wang, Zhang, Lambert, Wu, Wen, 2021; Westphal, Kalinowski, Hoferichter, Vock, 2022; Yu, Dong, Wang, An, 2016). Research has shown that many work-life balance studies are directed at organizational or company variables.…”

How Learning Time Allocation Make Sense on Secondary School Students’ Academic Performance: A Chinese Evidence Based on PISA 2018

“…Within a certain range of learning time, there is a positive relationship between student engagement in learning and attitudes toward school (learning activities) and subjective well-being (sense of belonging to school), but after a threshold, there is a negative effect. The decline in students’ well-being and subjective learning attitudes affects students’ learning outcomes negatively [ 42 ], which in turn affects student academic achievement negatively. It has been shown that excessive learning time after school not only negatively affects students’ academic performance directly but also affects academic performance through non-cognitive factors such as students’ emotions and attitudes.…”

The impact of career calling on higher vocational nursing students’ learning engagement: The mediating roles of career adaptability and career commitment

“…An important predictor of academic success and indicator of educational quality, learning engagement has recently attracted considerable research attention. It is positively related to learners’ academic achievement and experience of attendance as well as deep learning, reduced dropout rates, increased learner satisfaction with school, future career development levels, wellbeing, and critical thinking skills ( Howell, 2009 ; Trenholm et al, 2019 ; Jian et al, 2022 ). However, in China as in other contexts, insufficient engagement in learning among university students is a widespread phenomenon.…”