'It feels like I'm back to being a teacher': A longitudinal trajectory analysis of teachers' experiences during the first 8 months of COVID-19 in England.

BACKGROUND: Understanding teachers' experiences throughout the school closures and reopenings that have characterized large periods of the COVID-19 pandemic provides us with unique insights into what it means to be a teacher during a global public health crisis. AIM AND METHOD: To investigate teachers' narratives of their experiences, we conducted 95 semi-structured interviews with 24 teachers in England across four time points between April and November 2020. We used a longitudinal qualitative trajectory analysis of participants' stories of their high-, low- and turning-points. RESULTS: We derived four themes that were evident at each time point and developed over time. The themes were: (1) growing frustration at uncertainties caused by poor government leadership, (2) expanding concern for pupil learning and well-being, (3) an increasingly labour-intensive and exhausting job and (4) declining pleasure and pride in being a teacher. CONCLUSIONS: The findings shed light on the impact of COVID-19 on the professional identity of these teachers and we propose ways in which teachers can be supported now and in the future.

"My brain feels like a browser with 100 tabs open": A longitudinal study of teachers' mental health and well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic.

BACKGROUND: Teaching and caring for pupils during the COVID-19 pandemic has been a challenge for many teachers, and its impact on teachers' mental health and well-being (MHWB) should be of great national and international concern. AIM AND PARTICIPANTS: This study examines 24 primary and secondary school teachers' MHWB experiences across three time points (April, July, and November 2020) using longitudinal qualitative trajectory analysis. METHOD: We used a mixture of inductive and deductive coding, based on the Job Demands-Resources Model, to identify the job demands (aspects of the job that can be physically or psychologically costly) and job resources (aspects of the job that can buffer the effects of job demands and promote achievement and growth) teachers reported experiencing across the three time points. RESULTS: Generally, teachers' MHWB seemed to have declined throughout the pandemic, especially for primary school leaders. Six job demands contributed negatively to teachers' MHWB (i.e., uncertainty, workload, negative perception of the profession, concern for others' well-being, health struggles, and multiple roles) and three job resources contributed positively to their MHWB (i.e., social support, work autonomy, and coping strategies). CONCLUSIONS: Policymakers and practitioners can support teachers' MHWB by engaging in more collaborative communication and ensuring greater accessibility to sources of social support. These discussions and provisions will be crucial in supporting teachers, and thereby the educational system, both during and after the pandemic.

'Like a rug had been pulled from under you': The impact of COVID-19 on teachers in England during the first six weeks of the UK lockdown.

BACKGROUND: On 20 March 2020, in response to COVID-19, UK schools were closed to most pupils. Teachers were required to put remote teaching and learning in place with only two days' notice from the government. AIMS: The current study explores teachers' experiences of this abrupt change to their working practices, and during the 5-6 weeks that followed. SAMPLE: Twenty-four teachers from English state schools were interviewed, representing mainstream primary and secondary schools and a range of years of experience and seniority. METHODS: Participants were asked to tell stories of three key scenes during the first 5-6 weeks of lockdown: a low point, a high point, and a turning point. A reflexive thematic analysis of their narratives was conducted. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Six themes were identified: uncertainty, finding a way, worry for the vulnerable, importance of relationships, teacher identity, and reflections. Teachers' narratives suggest that, after an initial period of uncertainty they settled into the situation and found a way forward, supported by strong relationships. However, they remain extremely worried about the most vulnerable pupils and want more joined-up thinking from the government on how to support them effectively, along with clarity from policymakers to enable planning ahead. Teachers reflected on how to use their learning during this period to improve pupils' experiences of education post-COVID-19, and on how aspects of shared teacher identity have worked as stressors and coping mechanisms. These initial interviews form the baseline for a longitudinal interview study of teachers' experiences of COVID-19 in England.

How Should Stressors Be Examined in Teachers? Answering Questions about Dimensionality, Generalizability and Predictive Effects Using the Multicontext Stressors Scale.

Using the Multicontext Stressors Scale (MSS), this study investigates which factorial structure should be used to measure teacher stressors, and the extent to which this factorial structure of MSS remains invariant across gender. Subsequently, grounded in self-determination theory, the present study also examines the extent to which stressors may differentially predict teachers' psychological functioning. Participants were 584 (Mage = 45.04; SD = 8.97) secondary school teachers. Goodness-of-fit indices and estimated parameters of the models, together with latent correlations between stressors, offered support for the six-factor structure, whereas the opposite was true for the one-factor structure of the MSS. Results also supported gender invariance of the MSS. Predictive findings showed that student misbehavior, lack of shared decision-making, and workload stressors are negatively related to basic psychological needs. Likewise, results noted the important role of basic psychological needs to reach optimal teachers' psychological functioning. The results are discussed, arguing the importance of assessing and analyzing teacher stressors using a multifactorial and invariant scale. From a more practical approach, it seems important for school leaders to be especially vigilant about all stressors. Nonetheless, if they desire to prevent detrimental psychological functioning in teachers, special attention should be placed on stressors related to student misbehavior, lack of shared decision-making, and workload.

A Meta-Analysis of the Effects of Teacher Personality on Teacher Effectiveness and Burnout.

The question of what makes a good teacher has been asked by practitioners, policymakers, and researchers for decades. However, there is no guiding framework about which qualities are important for teachers. Thus, it is necessary to examine these qualities using a recognized framework and to summarize the previous literature on this topic. We conducted a meta-analysis on the 25 studies (total N = 6294) reporting the relationships between teacher Big Five personality domains (openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and emotional stability) and two teacher job-related outcomes (i.e., teacher effectiveness and burnout). Furthermore, the influence of three moderators was assessed, namely, the type of teacher effectiveness measure (i.e., evaluations of teaching, student performance self-efficacy, classroom observation, and academic achievement), source of personality report (i.e., self-report vs other-report), and the instructed educational level (i.e., elementary, secondary, and tertiary). Overall, teacher Big Five domains (except for agreeableness) were positively associated with teacher effectiveness, especially for evaluations of teaching. Furthermore, teacher emotional stability, extraversion, and conscientiousness were negatively associated with burnout. Other-reports of teacher personality were more strongly associated with outcomes than self-reports. There were no differences in the strength of the associations between the educational levels. The need for using common descriptors in teacher research as well as practical implications of the findings for teacher personality measurement is discussed.

Instructor personality matters for student evaluations: Evidence from two subject areas at university.

BACKGROUND: Instructors are under pressure to produce excellent outcomes in students. Although the contribution of student personality on student outcomes is well established, the contribution of instructor personality to student outcomes is largely unknown. AIM: This study examined the influence of instructor personality (as reported by both students and instructors themselves) on student educational outcomes at university. SAMPLE AND METHOD: Mathematics and psychology university students (N = 515) and their instructors (n = 45) reported their personality under the Big Five framework. RESULTS: Multilevel regressions were conducted to predict each outcome from instructor personality, taking into account the effects of student gender, age, cognitive ability, and personality, as well as instructor gender and age. Student-reports of instructor personality predicted student evaluations of teaching but not performance self-efficacy or academic achievement. Instructor self-reports did not predict any of the outcomes. Stronger associations between student-reports and the outcomes than instructor self-reports could be explained by students providing information on both the predictor and the outcome variables, as well as a greater number of raters providing information on instructor personality. Different domains of the instructor Big Five were important for different element of student evaluations of teaching. CONCLUSIONS: The study highlights the importance of studying instructor personality, especially through other-reports, to understand students' educational experiences. This has implications for how tertiary institutions should use and interpret student evaluations.