Teacher burnout profiles and proactive strategies

Abstract

Teacher burnout has been identified as a significant occupational hazard. However, our understanding about individual variations in burnout risk among in-service teachers is still less than sufficient. This study explored socio-contextual burnout risk profiles and their association with the reported use of proactive strategies among in-service teachers by using a person-oriented approach. The survey data were collected from 2310 Finnish in-service primary and lower secondary school teachers using a probability sampling method. In the latent profile analysis, five socio-contextual burnout profiles were identified. The profiles differed from each other in terms of burnout symptoms and proactive strategy use. Results suggested that there is individual variation in teachers' risk of burnout. In addition, the results imply that well-developed proactive strategies, both in terms of self-and co-regulative strategies, are related to lower risk of experiencing sociocontextual burnout. The utilization of strong co-regulative strategies was related to lower risk of experiencing exhaustion and inadequacy during teacher-pupil interactions. However, strong self-regulation combined with low levels of co-regulation was related to an increased risk of experiencing cynicism. This implies that learning proactive strategies may be useful in preventing teacher burnout.

Psychological Capital and Burnout in Teachers: The Mediating Role of Flourishing

“…In effect, as the JD-R model postulates [ 38 ], suffering from work-related burnout usually occurrs in the context of high work-related demands and scarce resources to cope with them. For teachers, the need to respond to a growing number and variety of educational and bureaucratic demands, the lack of student motivation and issues of student discipline, and a lack of institutional support [ 66 , 67 ], together with a lack of psychological resources (e.g., low PsyCap, deficient skills for emotional regulation and stress management, personality with neurotic tendencies) [ 68 , 69 , 70 , 71 ], make up a breeding ground in which burnout may develop. Nevertheless, in accordance with the model, even in highly demanding situations, the availability of personal resources would significantly reduce vulnerability to stress and burnout [ 72 ].…”

Language teachers’ coping strategies during the Covid-19 conversion to online teaching: Correlations with stress, wellbeing and negative emotions

“…Coping is the process of responding to a stressor using one or more available techniques or strategies. A teacher’s use of coping responses to stressors is an important determinant of their psychological adjustment and wellbeing ( Gustems-Carnicer & Calderón, 2013 ; Pyhältö, Pietarinen, Haverinen, Tikkanen, & Soini, 2020 ; Talbot & Mercer, 2019 ). The degree to which a teacher experiences stress in a situation hinges on a variety of factors, including: appraisal of demands and the teacher’s strategies to manage them; expectations of possible upcoming demands and the teacher’s readiness to handle them; and the teacher’s degree of skill preparedness and practice in handling demands effectively ( Bottiani, Duran, Pas, & Bradshaw, 2019 ; Dunham, 1992 ).…”

The Interplay of Compassion, Subjective Happiness and Proactive Strategies on Kindergarten Teachers’ Work Engagement and Perceived Working Environment Fit

“…When facing potentially stressful situations, teachers can use reactive coping strategies, i.e., they can react to the stressor by regulating their feelings or altering the situation so that the stress is diminished [56]. Proactive strategies (both self-regulated and coregulated) involve preventing or acting pre-emptively to mitigate potentially stressful events, thus neutralizing the stressor before it becomes harmful [54,55,[57][58][59].…”