Student Teachers’ Proactive Strategies and Experienced Learning Environment for Reducing Study-Related Burnout

Abstract

The study aims to gain a better understanding of the interrelation and the development of student teachers’ proactive coping strategies, i.e., self-regulative and co-regulative strategies, perceived learning environment and study-related burnout. Longitudinal data were utilized with three annual measurements during bachelor studies. Altogether, 270 primary school student teachers completed the survey. The data was analyzed by using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). Results showed that the self-regulative strategy adopted by student teachers promoted the use of co-regulative strategy. Co-regulative strategy use in turn contributed to the perceived fit between the student teacher and the learning environment, and further, reduced study-related burnout. Moreover, student teachers’ ability to utilize proactive self-regulative strategies to buffer potential stressors in advance, i.e., an ability to manage one’s own study pace in the direction of well-being, was effective in reducing the risk of developing burnout. Results also showed that both the key determinants for reducing study-related burnout, i.e., proactive strategies and experienced learning environment, and the study-related burnout symptoms themselves were relatively stable.

Is individual- and school-level teacher burnout reduced by proactive strategies?

“…The validity and reliability of the scales used in this study and the tested two-level path model were acceptable (Bollen, 1989;Hu & Bentler, 1999). As previous studies have shown (Pietarinen et al, 2013a;Pyhältö et al, 2021;Väisänen et al, 2018aVäisänen et al, , 2018b, the developed proactive strategy (SELF-REG α = .84; CO-REG α = .62) and burnout scales (EXH α = .81; CYN α = .77; INAD α = .74) sufficiently specified the social contexts of experienced cynicism and sense of inadequacy in teachers' work at the individual teacher level. This study, in turn, showed that the burnout scale (EXH α = .83; CYN α = .71; INAD α = .71) and the further developed proactive strategy scale, in terms of co-regulative strategy measurement (SELF-REG α = .85; CO-REG α = .88), can be used for identifying school-level differences related to proactive regulation of the burnout symptoms in the professional community.…”

“…The use of co-regulative strategies was associated with reduced levels of cynicism toward the teacher community and sense of inadequacy in teacher-pupil interaction, whereas self-regulative strategies were only effective in reducing teacher exhaustion. In our recent study, we showed that proactive strategy use was also associated with reduced risk of pre-service teacher burnout during teacher education, particularly in terms of experienced exhaustion and sense of inadequacy in studying (Väisänen et al, 2018a(Väisänen et al, , 2018b. In turn, a lack of reciprocity in social relationships and support at work has been found to be related to increased levels of experienced burnout among teachers (A.…”

“…Such strategies can focus on either regulation of one's own behaviors and thoughts, that is, self-regulation, or on interindividual activities, that is, co-regulation, or both (Pietarinen et al, 2013a(Pietarinen et al, , 2013b. Proactive selfregulation entails regulation of one's own behavior, cognition, and emotions such as reducing work pace when needed, while proactive co-regulation strategies refers to building and modifying social resources intentionally, such as asking for, providing, and receiving help from colleagues in dealing with a potential stressor (Pietarinen et al, 2013a;Smith & Lev-Ari, 2005;Soini et al, 2010;Väisänen et al, 2018aVäisänen et al, , 2018b. It has been suggested that such proactive strategies are effective in reducing teacher burnout (Klassen & Durksen, 2014;Pietarinen et al, 2013a) in two ways: firstly, they enable buffering stressors advanced by building both individual and social resources, and secondly, they enable dealing with immediate stressors more effectively.…”

“…We tested a two-level path model to explore the interrelation between the teachers' proactive strategies (i.e., self-and co-regulation) and the socio-contextual burnout (i.e., exhaustion, cynicism toward the teacher community, and sense of inadequacy in teacher-pupil interaction) they experienced. Drawing on our previous findings suggesting that proactive strategies might provide a way to reduce both pre-and in-service teachers' burnout risk (Pietarinen et al, 2013a;Väisänen et al, 2018aVäisänen et al, , 2018b, and tentative evidence on the epidemic nature of the teachers' burnout within the professional community , we tested the following three hypotheses (see Figure 1): H1: The proactive strategies, including both self-regulative (SELF-REG) and co-regulative (CO-REG) strategies adopted by teachers and shared by professional communities, are related to reduced levels of experienced burnout in terms of exhaustion (EXH), cynicism toward the teacher community (CYN), and sense of inadequacy in teacherpupil interaction (INAD) both at the individual level (within-level) and the school level (between-level). While the use of self-regulative strategies is expected to relate negatively to the perceived exhaustion, co-regulative strategies are expected to relate negatively to the experienced cynicism toward the teacher community both at the individual and school levels (Fernet et al, 2012;Klassen & Durksen, 2014;Kokkinos, 2007;Pyhältö et al, 2011;Skaalvik & Skaalvik, 2009).…”

Social Factors of Mental Well-Being Violation Among High School Teachers

“…It is noteworthy that this provision is typical for university teachers and other developed countries. Despite the fact that there are practically no studies concerning the social component of a teacher's activity, nevertheless, a high correlation is established between the availability of information and the emotional support for young teachers by their colleagues and the emergence of various burdens in psychological well-being (Väisänen et al, 2017).…”