Cam teach and prosper? EFL teachers' attitudes, well-being, and coping strategies in an online setting

The global Covid-19 pandemic led to the turn toward online learning and the need to adapt to new ways of English foreign language (EFL) teaching. This mixed-methods research aimed to examine teacher attitudes, well-being, and coping strategies related to online EFL teaching. The results indicated that Croatian EFL teachers had a positive attitude toward online teaching and acknowledged the importance of being digitally competent. EFL teachers were unsure about their ability to deal with online teaching and indicated their need to improve their IT skills. They revealed more negative than positive responses regarding their well-being and showed that they tried to actively cope during the pandemic. Results also showed better coping strategies among female teachers. © 2023 Anna Martinović et al., published by Sciendo.

Early care and education after COVID-19: A perspective

This perspective highlights the experiences and observations of an early care and education researcher reentering the field after the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions in the USA. Specifically, this perspective highlights the struggles of children, teachers, early care and education leaders, and the system itself as early care and education attempts to return to normal post COVID-19. Children exhibit behavioral, social, cognitive, and physical challenges. Teachers are burned out from grueling cleaning and safety protocols and caring for children who have missed the benefits of early care and education socialization during the pandemic. Leaders are struggling to keep a stable workforce and fill many roles in the childcare site. This perspective details firsthand experiences and recent relevant literature to describe these struggles. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood is the property of Sage Publications, Ltd. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

A Scope Review of the Teacher Well-being Research Between 1968 and 2021

This review aimed at portraying a nuanced picture of the trajectory of teacher well-being research during 54 years from 1968 to 2021. This review used descriptive quantitative analysis with a dataset of 774 journal articles. The developmental trend demonstrates a considerable change in the volume of publications conducted during the most recent 14 years. Findings of the current review identify that research foci have covered the antecedents, nature, and effects of teacher well-being in a descending manner. Quantitative methods were observed as the most frequently used method in research studies. Moreover, the use of qualitative and mixed research methods increased in recent times. However, due to the considerable absence of mixed methods, longitudinal, and experimental research designs in this review's corpus, our interpretation has been restricted to the ways in which teacher well-being can affect as well as be affected by associated constructs. Research on teacher well-being positions itself at the intermediate stage focusing on fusion relations combining new and recognized structures and adopting qualitative as well as quantitative practices. This review supports the evolution of the teacher well-being literature and poses recommendations for future research.

Situating teacher well-being in English language teaching

The global events of the 21st century, especially during its second decade, contributed to rising rates of mental and emotional health issues around the world, including depression, anxiety, and social isolation. These concerns, which were compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic, are reminding policymakers, scholars, and stakeholders in the field of education about the importance of well-being in schools and in learning. English language teachers' well-being directly affects their effectiveness, teaching practices, classroom atmosphere, teacher-student relationships, and students' well-being and performance, to name a few. In the same way that teacher preparation and knowledge affect teachers' performance, so does teacher well-being. With the purpose of situating teacher well-being in English language teaching (ELT), this chapter provides a brief overview of existing published works highlighting the effects of well-being on teachers' personal and professional lives. It introduces the topic of well-being and teacher well-being in ELT. The chapter divides the manuscript into three main sections, each addressing a salient topic affecting language teacher well-being-namely, emotions in ELT, work-life balance in ELT, and services and supports in ELT. It introduces the topic with a vignette, followed by a brief overview of the literature. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Working Conditions and Burnout of Special Educators of Students With EBD: Longitudinal Outcomes

Special education teacher (SET) burnout is a significant concern, especially for SETs serving students with emotional–behavioral disorders (EBD), as they tend to experience higher burnout than other teachers. Working conditions, especially social support, have the potential to ameliorate burnout, but prior research has not articulated the sources and types of social support that are most important. The authors conducted a longitudinal study, surveying 230 SETs serving students with EBD at three time points across one school year. Data revealed administrative support, adequacy of planning time, and autonomy in fall predicted emotional exhaustion and personal accomplishment in winter and spring. Associations between working conditions and burnout components were partially mediated by SETs' perceptions of workload manageability. SET change in well-being due to COVID-19 during the early months of the pandemic was not associated with burnout. The authors discuss implications, limitations, and directions for future inquiry. © 2022 Teacher Education Division of the Council for Exceptional Children.

Predictors of Overweight and Obesity in Early Care and Education Teachers during COVID-19.

The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to determine individual, sociocultural, policy, and economic predictors of overweight/obesity in early care and education (ECE) teachers to identify modifiable opportunities to enhance the health of this critical workforce. ECE teachers (n = 1434) in the U.S. completed an online survey in late spring to mid-summer 2020. Teachers self-reported height and weight; body mass index (BMI) and weight status were calculated. Teachers reported micro-environment variables including age, race, gender, obesogenic lifestyle behaviors, well-being, food security, personal health, stress, job stress, type of ECE, COVID-19 teaching modality, and age of children in the classroom. Logistic regression predicting overweight/obesity and linear regression predicting BMI were conducted. Teachers with more years of teaching experience (OR: 1.022: 95% CI 1.005, 1.039) and higher consumption of fast food (2.038: 1.310, 3.169) had higher odds of overweight/obesity. Teachers with higher levels of education (0.58: 0.407, 0.828) and higher physical health (0.836: 0.775, 0.902) had lower odds of overweight/obesity. Other variables were not associated with overweight/obesity. Variables significant in logistic regression were also associated with higher BMI. Additionally, Native American race (ß = 2.467 SE = 1.206) and sedentary hours/day (ß = 0.152 SE = 0.075) were associated with higher BMI. Implications for enhancing workplace health for these ECE teachers are emerging.

Autonomy-pressure profiles among teachers: Changes over a school term, leadership predictors, and workplace outcomes

We examined teachers' experiences of autonomy and time pressure at two timepoints within one school term. Analyses involved identifying autonomy-pressure profiles, examining whether teachers' membership in the profiles shifted over time, and investigating predictors and outcomes of profile membership. Among 401 Australian teachers, latent profile analysis revealed five profiles. Latent transition analysis showed there was a moderate to high amount of membership shifting over time for some profiles, whereas membership in other profiles remained largely stable. Leadership practices and remote teaching (during COVID-19) predicted membership in profiles. The profiles also differed in their reports of emotional exhaustion and turnover intentions.

Revamping Teacher Training for Challenging Times: Teachers' Well-Being, Resilience, Emotional Intelligence, and Innovative Methodologies as Key Teaching Competencies.

Purpose: This study aimed to design, implement, and evaluate a teacher training program to improve the quality and innovation of teaching practice. The program was designed to protect teachers' mental health and well-being, and increase their resilience and emotional competence while introducing innovative educational methodologies. Participants and Methods: An experimental design using a control group and pre-/post-test empirical data was adopted to determine the effects of the 14-week teacher training program. The sample comprised 141 teachers with mean teaching experience of 13.1 years (SD = 6.84, 54.6% women). Results: The program had a positive impact on teacher well-being, resilience, emotional competence, and self-efficacy, linked to the innovative and effective teacher methodologies included in the training. Conclusion: More research is needed to expand on the findings and optimize teacher training implementation. The training provided in this study is evidence of the commitment to overcoming current educational framework challenges. The training contributes to teacher empowerment and provides knowledge, strategies, and resources for greater innovation and quality in the classroom - key to creating educational synergies for the emergence of stronger teachers in the face of adversity. We discuss future research directions for a better understanding of teacher training in the 21st century.

The role of hope in language teachers' changing stress, coping, and well-being

Language teaching has been described as a "profession in crisis";a situation likely worsened by the effects of an emergency conversion to online teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic. The present study examines two waves of data (from April and November 2020) on stress, coping, and well-being during those eight months. Results show an increase in teachers' stress associated with health and travel but decreases in stress due to online teaching and the shortage of goods in retail stores. There was a significant reduction in coping behavior as teachers settled into the new normal. Well-being, as measured by PERMA, declined significantly, and there was a significant increase in sadness, loneliness, and anger. However, teachers reported an increasing sense of growth during trauma. Time 2 data included a measure of hope, defined by feelings of agency and available pathways to goal achievement. Rarely has hope been studied among teachers in general or language teachers in particular. Results show significant, positive correlations between hope and various measures of successful coping and teacher well-being, including a sense of growth over time. The study suggests the time frame of the study was especially difficult for teachers, but that hope is associated with more positive outcomes. • During the first 8 months (March and November respectively) of the Covid-19 pandemic teacher stress changed little. • Coping efforts declined and negative emotions increased as online teaching became the new normal. • Well-being declined over time, but there was some evidence of an increasing sense of growth during the traumatic events. • Teachers with higher levels of hope showed greater well-being, suggesting protective effects of agency and pathways thinking. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of System is the property of Pergamon Press - An Imprint of Elsevier Science and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

Prevalence and predictors of burnout syndrome among schoolteachers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy: A cross-sectional survey

Introduction: During the COVID-19 pandemic, teleworking affected the mental well-being of nearly all strata of the population. Teachers, who were employed to teach online courses during lockdown have been psychologically distressed. The primary aim of the current study was to estimate the prevalence and differences in the Burnout Syndrome (BOS) symptomatology in the light of gender, work position, teaching role, and subject taught. As a secondary aim, differences in perceived wellbeing were estimated through the contribution of individual factors. Methods: An online cross-sectional survey was conducted from February-May 2021 to recruit a total of 361 teachers from all Italian regions. The Work-Life Balance scale, the Maslach Burnout Inventory, and an ad-hoc questionnaire with items on perceived physical well-being and perceived impact and difficulty in remote work were utilized. Predictors associated with burnout and its subscales were examined using linear regression analyses. Results: Burnout, measured as the co-existence of high emotional exhaustion (EE), high depersonalization (DP), and low personal accomplishment (PA) was revealed in 16.9% of teachers, while high EE, high DP, and low PA were respectively measured in 35.2%, 13.2% and 35.2% of the sample. Variables, such as gender, work position, teaching role, and subject taught were all significant for group differences in perceived well-being or BOS dimensions among teachers. Discussion: Our findings suggest that the implementation of occupational health programs and workplace health promotion programs for improving the mental well-being of teachers. In particular, a higher caution must be needed for implementing critical institutional changes, such as the wide and rapid adoption of telecommuting. Take-home message: Italian schoolteachers engaged in teleworking are exposed to a high risk of stress and burnout during the COVID-19 emergency. Implementing occupational health surveillance programs and workplace health promotions programs are needed to protect and improve teachers’ mental well-being. © 2022 by the authors.

“It’s Just Too Much”: COVID-19 Effects on Head Start Teachers’ Lives and Work

While the rapidly expanding field of pandemic research has explored the well-being of children and families, less attention has gone to early childhood education and care (ECEC) educators’ experiences. Such research is critical, as the ECEC workforce faces high and growing demands/low resources. As such, the workforce was vulnerable to pandemic-related constraints. This chapter contributes to ECEC and pandemic literature by describing the personal and professional experiences of teachers of Head Start, the only federally funded ECEC program in the United States. To do so, we interviewed 19 teachers in a mid-Atlantic city. Interviews occurred in summer 2020, which followed the March 2020 closure of most Head Start sites and many programs’ transitions to online learning. Findings coalesce in three themes: (1) dedication to work that was both demanding and fulfilling, (2) exacerbation of existing stressors and addition of new ones, and (3) a dearth of resources for online learning. This chapter begins with a description of the state and challenges of the ECEC workforce. Next, it describes each theme, including supporting and counterpoint quotes. This chapter concludes with recommendations for policies to improve teacher morale and to support young children’s online learning. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

The Impact of Teacher Competence in Online Teaching on Perceived Online Learning Outcomes during the COVID-19 Outbreak: A Moderated-Mediation Model of Teacher Resilience and Age.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, teachers had to conduct online classes because of the breakdown of school learning. Teacher competence has a great impact on the students' learning outcomes in online learning. Teacher resilience is also important to help teachers survive and achieve a high level of well-being in emergency situations. Previous studies have explored the protective and risk factors of teacher resilience, among which teacher competence in various aspects is included. In addition, teachers' age differences in competence and resilience have been the focus of past studies. However, few studies have investigated the impact of teacher competence on students' online learning outcomes, the mediating role of teacher resilience, and the moderating effect of age when teachers participate in emergent online teaching. To address the above gap, this study explored teachers' perceptions of students' online learning outcomes and how teacher competence in online teaching and resilience can predict these outcomes. The data of 159,203 participants were collected and subjected to correlation analyses and a moderated-mediation effect test. The results indicated that (1) teacher competence in online teaching was positively related to perceived online learning outcomes; (2) teacher resilience was positively related to the teachers' perceived online learning outcomes; (3) teacher resilience played a partial mediating role between teacher competence in online teaching and perceived online learning outcomes; and (4) teachers' age moderated the direct and indirect relation between teacher competence in online teaching and perceived online learning outcomes. The findings imply that teachers should strengthen their own teaching competence and their resilience before conducting online teaching. In addition, this study proposes intervention strategies to enhance teachers' resilience and well-being through teacher competence cultivation and provides suggestions for different age levels of teachers to develop and train their online teaching competence and resilience in the future.

Compassion fatigue: It's a part of a teacher's lived experience whether it is a global pandemic or not

Compassion fatigue is a familiar concept in the social work and healthcare field, and it has recently become prevalent to the education field (Newell & MacNeil, 2010;Abraham-Cook, 2012). However, there has been limited research examining compassion fatigue specifically with classroom teachers. This study aims to add to the literature focusing on elementary classroom teachers and the self-care strategies that they are using to address their compassion fatigue. Although this concept has existed well before the COVID-19 pandemic, compassion fatigue is an important topic that is gaining attention of school administrators and educators now more than ever because of the added stress that has been brought on by the pandemic. This case study contained four participants in the New England area who participated in in-depth interviews that focused on their experiences with compassion fatigue, their self-care strategies, and how they have addressed their compassion fatigue throughout their careers. Results from this study indicated that compassion fatigue was present amongst all four of the participants and that the self-care strategies that they utilized were established before they became a classroom teacher. Furthermore, the results from this study indicate that all four participants had a clear purpose as to why they were teaching. This helped to provide the participants with a meaningful focus to propel forward in their careers, especially when things were difficult and bleak due to what they were experiencing from their students' lived experiences. The study concludes by providing implications for school administrators and classroom teachers for future research as well as professional development in hopes to help others address their own compassion fatigue. Additionally, limitations of this study are discussed. By completing this research study, the researcher hopes to normalize the conversation surrounding compassion fatigue and to bring optimism and awareness to those who may be experiencing compassion fatigue in their teaching experience so that they find the strength and methods to move forward and remain strong in their field. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

The Impact of Demographics, Life and Work Circumstances on College and University Instructors' Well-Being During Quaranteaching.

In response to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, educational institutions around the world were forced into lockdown in order to contain the spread of the virus. To ensure continuous provision of education, most transitioned to emergency remote instruction. This has been particularly the case in higher education (HE) institutions. The circumstances of the pandemic have brought unprecedented psychological pressure on the population, in the case of educators and students exacerbated by the transition to a mode of instruction that was completely novel to the majority. The present study examines how college and university instructors dealt with teaching online in these unparalleled circumstances, with a focus on how factors connected with their daily lives and livelihoods influenced their well-being. Between April and September 2020, a comprehensive online survey was filled out by 804 HE instructors from 92 countries. We explore how sociodemographic variables such as gender, age, relationship status, living conditions, and length of professional experience non-trivially affect situational anxiety, work-life synergy, coping, and productivity. The results contribute to a better understanding of the impact of the pandemic and emergency remote instruction on college and university instructors' well-being by explaining the mechanisms mediating the relationship between individual, contextual, and affective variables. It may provide helpful guidelines for college and university administrators as well as teachers themselves as to how help alleviate the adverse effects of the continuing pandemic and possible similar disruptions leading to school closures on coping and well-being.

Generating Buoyancy in a Sea of Uncertainty: Teachers Creativity and Well-Being During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The global coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has caused significant uncertainty for students and teachers. During this time, teacher and student creative beliefs and affect play a supportive role in adaptively managing stress, finding joy, and bouncing back from inevitable setbacks with resilience. Developing an adaptive orientation to creativity is a critically important step in helping teachers deal with the challenges and stress of reaching their students through distance learning, especially the most marginalized. This study aims to understand how teacher creativity linked to well-being in the face of COVID-19-related school shutdowns and how teachers planned to adapt creatively to distance learning through the guidance of a summer creative teaching training institute. Results from this sequential mixed method study demonstrated important relationships. Creative self-efficacy in teaching related to teacher buoyancy in the face of setbacks. Creative growth mindset related to teachers' general positive affect in teaching. Lowered creative anxiety related to reduced effects of secondary traumatic stress and general negative affect in teaching. Environmental support and encouragement for creativity in schools may be foundational for teacher well-being by enhancing teachers' dispositional joy, general positive affect, and reducing general negative affect. Results suggested additional stress and loss of creativity for most teachers due to the COVID-19 pandemic alongside substantial capacity for creative adaptations with the support of training for creativity in teaching and learning.