Psychological distress among primary school teachers: a comparison with clinical and population samples.

OBJECTIVES: This analysis explored the level of psychological distress among primary school teachers in the South West of England as compared with clinical and general population samples. STUDY DESIGN: Secondary analysis of data from the Supporting Teachers and Children in Schools (STARS) trial completed by up to 90 teachers at baseline, 9, 18 and 30 months of follow-up. METHODS: We used the Everyday Feelings Questionnaire (EFQ) as a measure of psychological distress. Baseline data on teachers were compared with a population sample of professionals and a clinical sample of patients attending a depression clinic. RESULTS: Our teacher cohort experienced higher levels of psychological distress than comparable professionals from the general population, which were sustained over 30 months of follow-up. Levels of psychological distress were lower than those found in the clinical sample. Using a cut-point indicative of moderate depression, our data suggest that between 19% and 29% of teachers experienced clinically significant distress at each time-point. CONCLUSIONS: We detected high and sustained levels of psychological distress among primary school teachers, which suggests an urgent need for intervention. Effective support for teachers' mental health is particularly important given the potential impact of poor teacher mental health on pupil well-being, pupil attainment and teacher-pupil relationships.

Teachers' causal attributions, cognitive, emotional and behavioural responses to students with emotional and behavioural difficulties.

BACKGROUND: The vast majority of children with emotional and behavioural difficulties are educated in their usual classes in ordinary schools across the countries. The study, therefore, of teachers' responses to these children is important for both teachers' and students' well-being in schools. Research provides evidence that teachers attribute students' difficulties to factors external to themselves, that is family or child factors and although they experience feelings of irritation and indifference with disruptive students they feel responsible and committed to help them. As far as their coping strategies are concerned, teachers seem to mostly favour positive interventions. AIMS: This study aimed to examine Greek teachers' causal attributions, emotional and cognitive responses, coping strategies and suggestions for effective coping strategies with students with emotional and behavioural difficulties. SAMPLE: This comprised 391 elementary teachers teaching in 60 public schools in the area of Athens. METHOD: Teachers completed an inventory presenting six short scenarios of students with emotional and behavioural difficulties, varying in the type of difficulty (conduct or emotional) and the degree of severity for teachers to handle them (mild or severe). RESULTS: Repeated-measures ANOVA revealed that teachers perceived school and teacher factors as causal of emotional and behavioural difficulties. Teachers expressed feelings of sympathy for these children, and perceived themselves as responsible, self-efficacious and inclined to help them. Finally, they reported using supportive techniques to handle emotional and behavioural difficulties, which they also considered as effective. CONCLUSIONS: Teacher training becomes crucial as a process of adopting patterns of thought and strategies for responding to students with emotional and behavioural difficulties.

Pupils' reasons for learning and behaving and for not learning and behaving in English and maths lessons in a secondary school.

BACKGROUND: There is renewed interest in motivation and school learning, though there has been relatively little theory-linked research in English schools. AIMS: In the first stage, to explore pupils' reasons for learning and behaving and for not learning and behaving in English, maths and other subjects. In the second stage, to examine differences in reasons across subjects, for learning and behaving and for not learning and behaving for boys and girls in two year groups in one secondary school. SAMPLE: Stage 1, 16 pupils in years 7, 8 and 9 in two London secondary schools; Stage 2, 267 pupils in years 7 and 9 in one of these schools. METHODS: Stage 1--semi-structured interviews were conducted to elicit different kinds of reasons conceptualised in terms of the Deci & Ryan's (1985) framework of self-determination. From these elicited reasons, an inventory 'Why I Learn' was designed. Stage 2--the inventory was administered to identify reasons for learning and behaving and for not learning and behaving in English and maths. RESULTS: Parent introjected reasons were the highest for learning and behaving while teacher introjected and intrinsic reasons were the lowest. Intrinsic reasons were highest for not learning and behaving. Year group differences in reason levels were more significant than gender or subject differences. Reasons for learning and behaving were more differentiated from each other than reasons for not learning and behaving. DISCUSSION: The results are discussed in terms of their significance for self-determination theory, research into the conditions promoting greater self-determination in school learning and further development of the inventory for programme evaluation.

Affective factors and learning behaviour in secondary school mathematics and English lessons for average and low attainers.

This study had two broad aims; firstly, to investigate the predictive relationships between i) overall subject affective factors (attitude and subjective norm), ii) specific lesson factors (behaviour intention, perceived preventive factors and self efficacy) and iii) learning behaviour during lessons; and secondly, to investigate the consistency of these affective factors across English and maths, and whether there were differences between average and low attaining pupils in these affective factors. Twenty-eight boys and girls, aged 11-14 years, in an inner city comprehensive school were assessed for these factors in two subjects over two occasions. It was found that neither attitude nor subjective norm were consistently predictive of intentions. The lesson specific factors (behaviour intention, preventive factors and self efficacy), which were inter-related, were moderately predicted by past learning behaviour, and were each predictive of subsequent learning behaviour. Pupils were also consistent in their affective perspectives to learning maths and English, though few differences were found between average and low attaining pupils. The significance of the findings is discussed in terms of the theoretical links between self efficacy and reasoned action approaches, the context of assessment and the nature of behaviour intention.

The predictive relationship between beliefs, attitudes, intentions and secondary school mathematics learning: a theory of reasoned action approach.

This study investigated how attitudes and intentions about learning mathematics might be related to subsequent mathematics learning and achievement using the Ajzen and Fishbein theory of reasoned action. The sample consisted of 142 boys and girls between 12 and 14 years old in a large inner city comprehensive school who were assessed in a follow-up design over a nine-month period. Beliefs about the outcomes of learning, attitudes to learning, perceptions of significant others' prescriptions about learning, intentions to engage in learning behaviours, self and teacher reported learning behaviour and mathematics achievement were assessed at both stages. Regression analysis suggested that while the expectancy-value components of attitude did relate to learning behaviour intentions, perceived prescriptions did not relate to intentions. There was a weak relationship between the two measures of learning behaviour, but with neither measure did intention independently predict future behaviour once prior behaviour was taken into account. The best predictor of subsequent mathematics achievement was prior achievement, though teacher-reported learning behaviour did have an independent relationship with subsequent achievement. The findings are discussed in terms of the assessment of learning behaviours, the relevance of the behaviour intention construct for repeated multiple behaviours and future work on how affective variables might be related to cognitive achievements.