Teachers' Personality, Perfectionism, and Self-Efficacy as Predictors for Coping Strategies Based on Personal Resources

Proactive personality, burnout, and teaching enjoyment: exploring relationships in Chinese English teachers

Introduction

This study examines the relationships between proactive personality, burnout, and teaching enjoyment among Chinese English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers. The research aims to clarify how proactive personality traits relate to teaching enjoyment and burnout and to explore their interactions in the context of EFL instruction.

Methods

The study included a sample of 420 Chinese EFL teachers, and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was used to assess the relationships among proactive personality, burnout, and teaching enjoyment. Data underwent detailed statistical analysis to identify both direct and mediating effects within the proposed model.

Results

The findings from the SEM analysis revealed significant direct relationships between proactive personality, burnout, and teaching enjoyment among Chinese EFL educators. Proactive personality was associated with a decrease in burnout (β = -0.366, SE = 0.159, p < 0.001). For every unit increase in proactive personality, teachers reported experiencing higher levels of teaching enjoyment (β = 0.487, SE = 0.176, p < 0.001). Teaching enjoyment, in turn, was a significant mediator in the relationship between proactive personality and burnout (β = -0.249, SE = 0.102, p < 0.001). These findings suggest that proactive personality is positively associated with teaching enjoyment, which, in turn, may relate to lower levels of burnout among EFL teachers.

Discussion

This study highlights the importance of proactive personality traits in enhancing teaching enjoyment and reducing burnout among Chinese EFL teachers. The findings emphasize how proactive tendencies contribute to teachers' well-being, professional satisfaction, and, ultimately, the quality of EFL instruction. These results suggest practical applications, such as developing interventions that encourage proactive traits and increase teaching enjoyment among EFL educators, which may improve the educational experience for EFL students.

"SHIELDing" Our Educators: Comprehensive Coping Strategies for Teacher Occupational Well-Being

BACKGROUND

Teaching is a physically and mentally challenging profession that demands high emotional involvement, often leading to stress and anxiety. Understanding how teachers cope with these demands is essential for enhancing their well-being and effectiveness.

OBJECTIVES

This study aimed to (1) investigate personal and school-based well-being initiatives that teachers use for maintaining their occupational well-being, and (2) develop a coping strategy model that enhances teachers' occupational well-being.

METHODS

This study utilised a qualitative phenomenological approach to explore the coping strategies of Australian primary school teachers.

RESULTS

The twenty-one participants interviewed employed ten diverse coping strategies classified into five personal and five school-based well-being-enabling initiatives. The personal strategies included setting boundaries, exercise and physical health, social support and interactions, mental health and mindfulness, and work-life balance. The school-based initiatives comprised supportive leadership, colleague support, flexibility and autonomy, resource availability, and proactive approaches to address challenges. A novel SHIELD model incorporating Support, Health, Interaction, Empathy, Leadership, and Development strategies was formulated as a holistic coping strategy for enhancing teachers' occupational well-being.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings highlight the necessity of a holistic approach to teacher well-being, integrating both personal and institutional support systems. Schools can enhance teacher well-being by fostering a supportive and empathetic culture, providing necessary resources, and encouraging healthy lifestyles. The SHIELD model offers a comprehensive framework for supporting teachers and improving educational outcomes.

Perfectionism, emotion regulation, and teacher retention: An examination of Iranian early career language teachers' well-being

This qualitative study examined the experiences of early career language teachers in Iran, exploring the complex interplay between perfectionism, emotion regulation, and their implications for teacher well-being and retention. In this regard, through in-depth interviews with 15 participants, the study provided insights on how self-oriented and socially prescribed perfectionism might affect teachers' sense of well-being. The study findings revealed that while self-oriented perfectionism was associated with a drive for professional growth and job satisfaction, socially prescribed perfectionism contributed to heightened stress and a contemplation of leaving the profession. The study also highlighted the pivotal role of emotion regulation strategies, particularly cognitive reappraisal, in dealing with the emotional demands of teaching, thereby supporting teachers' well-being. Findings also suggested that supportive work environments, opportunities for professional development, and a sense of autonomy are crucial for fostering teacher well-being and encouraging retention. Drawing on relevant theoretical literature, the research emphasizes that addressing the challenges of perfectionism through supportive organizational factors and effective emotion regulation can significantly enhance early career teachers' job satisfaction and commitment to the profession. In light of these findings, the study advocates for targeted interventions that promote a supportive teaching environment, focusing on the development of emotion regulation skills and reducing the pressures of socially prescribed perfectionism. By providing insights into the lived experiences of early career language teachers, this study contributes to our understanding of the factors that might influence teacher attrition, and underscores the importance of nurturing teacher well-being to ensure their retention in the educational sector.

English language learning anxiety and academic burnout in Chinese freshmen: a chain mediating approach

Background

The university stage is critical for cultivating and enhancing students' practical English proficiency, encompassing listening, speaking, reading, writing, and translation skills. Losing interest in English studies at this stage not only hampers the development of practical English competence but also has a negative impact on future employment and personal growth.

Aims

This study aimed to explore to how English language learning anxiety (ELLA) affects academic burnout (AB) of freshman in China and explores the role of academic peer support (APS) and academic self-efficacy (ASE) in the relationship between the two.

Methods

The study involved 1,355 college students who completed English Language Learning Anxiety Scale, the English Academic burnout Scale, Academic Peer Relationship Scale, the Academic Self-efficacy Scale.

Results

AB was significantly impacted by ELLA. ELLA and AB were mediated by ASE. Another factor that acted as a mediator between ELLA and AB was APS. ELLA and AB were mediated by a chain reaction involving ASE and APS.

Conclusion

The chain mediation model validated in this study, providing valuable insights into the effects of freshmen's ELLA on AB in China, as well as practical insights into the prevention and intervention of ELLA and AB in other current college students.

Understanding teacher emotional exhaustion: exploring the role of teaching motivation, perceived autonomy, and teacher-student relationships

Introduction

This research investigates the complex interplay of factors influencing teacher emotional exhaustion within the educational environment. It draws upon a diverse sample of 680 teachers from 15 primary educational institutions in various districts of Shanghai, China.

Methods

The study examines the interrelationships among teacher-student relationships, perceived autonomy, teaching motivation, and emotional exhaustion. It employs validated scales to measure these constructs and utilizes Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) for analysis.

Results

The analyses using SEM reveal significant associations among the variables under study. The findings indicate robust correlations between positive teacher-student relationships, perceived autonomy, and higher teaching motivation. Concurrently, these factors exhibit a negative relationship with emotional exhaustion.

Discussion

Mediation analysis further unveils that teaching motivation plays a significant mediating role in the associations between teacher-student relationships, perceived autonomy, and emotional exhaustion. This emphasizes the intricate indirect effects of these constructs.

Conclusion

The study underscores the multifaceted nature of these factors and their collective impact on teacher well-being within educational settings. The implications derived highlight the importance for educational institutions to prioritize interventions fostering positive teacher-student relationships, autonomy-supportive environments, and intrinsic motivation among educators. These interventions aim to alleviate emotional exhaustion and enhance teacher well-being.

The effectiveness of a rational-emotive intervention on teachers' unconditional self-acceptance, perfectionism, and pupil control ideology

Introduction

The present research aimed to investigate the effectiveness of a Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) intervention on in-service teachers.

Methods

A quasi-experimental 2-group (intervention vs. control) × 3-time (pre, post-test, follow-up) design was applied to explore to what extent the REBT interventions help teachers increase their level of unconditional self-acceptance as the primary outcome and decrease their perfectionism tendencies and pupil control ideology as secondary outcomes. The sample consisted of 100 in-service teachers assigned to either the intervention group (n = 50) or the control group (n = 50). The experimental group received a 6-week intervention program. Every session was held weekly and lasted 90-120 min. The Unconditional Self-Acceptance Questionnaire (USAQ), Pupil Control Ideology Scale (PCI), and Perfectionism Inventory Scale (PI) were used to collect data. This study used a mixed model ANOVA 2 × 3 for data analysis.

Results

The results indicated that in the experimental group, there was a statistically significant increase in unconditional self-acceptance level from pre-test to post-test, which remains significant at the 6-month follow-up. Likewise, there were no statistically significant differences in unconditional self-acceptance levels between the post-test and 6-month follow-up in the intervention group.

Discussion

These findings prove that REBT interventions are effective in increasing teachers' unconditional self-acceptance.

The role of self-efficacy and psychological resilience on the relationship between perfectionism and learning motivation among undergraduate nursing students: A cross-sectional descriptive study

BACKGROUND

People's high requirements for medical care and the difficult academic tasks associated with the nursing profession require nursing students to have stronger learning motivation.

PURPOSE

This study aimed to investigate the effect of perfectionism on the learning motivation of undergraduate nursing students and to explore the mediating factors influencing these two variables.

METHOD

A total of 1366 nursing students from four undergraduate universities in Henan Province, China, were surveyed from May to July 2022. We conducted Pearson's correlation analysis and a regression analysis using PROCESS Macro Model 6 to explore the relationships among perfectionism, efficacy, psychological resilience, and learning motivation.

RESULTS

The results indicated that perfectionism affected undergraduate nursing students' learning motivation not only directly but also indirectly through self-efficacy and psychological resilience.

CONCLUSION

The results of this study offer certain theoretical support and guidance for research and interventions pertaining to undergraduate nursing students' learning motivation.

Modeling the effect of loving pedagogy dispositions and teacher self-efficacy on teacher burnout

Introduction

Foreign language teaching is a demanding and challenging profession, and teacher burnout is a common issue in this field. There is a growing research interest in exploring the factors that can protect teachers from burnout and promote their well-being, as well as their effectiveness in the classroom. One such factor might be loving pedagogy, which refers to a teacher's positive and compassionate attitudes and behaviors toward their students. This study aimed to examine the association between Dispositions toward Loving Pedagogy (DTLP), teacher self-efficacy, and teacher burnout among a sample of Chinese English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers.

Methods

The participants included 428 English teachers from various parts of China. Data on the three constructs were gathered using an electronic survey which comprised three valid questionnaires for these variables. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test the hypothesized relations among the latent constructs.

Results

The results indicated that loving pedagogy dispositions negatively affected teacher burnout and that teacher self-efficacy mediated the effect of loving pedagogy on burnout. More precisely, higher levels of loving pedagogy were associated with greater levels of teacher self-efficacy, which is in turn negatively affected teacher burnout.

Discussion

These outcomes shed more light on the importance of loving pedagogy dispositions for teachers' mental health and well-being. The findings have implications for theory and practice, as they suggest that fostering loving pedagogy dispositions among teachers can help prevent burnout and promote their well-being. Teacher training programs could integrate this construct into their curricula to support teachers in developing these attitudes and behaviors. Additionally, future research could explore ways to enhance loving pedagogy and self-efficacy among teachers and assess their impact on teacher well-being and effectiveness.

Self-efficacy, reflection, and resilience as predictors of work engagement among English teachers

Introduction

Given the significant role of work engagement of teachers in educational contexts, some scholarly attention has been directed to exploring the predictors of this construct. Against this backdrop, this study aimed to investigate the predictors of teacher work engagement among Chinese English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers by testing a model that includes teacher self-efficacy, teacher reflection, and teacher resilience.

Methods

To achieve this goal, 512 EFL teachers were invited to participate in an online survey, which consisted of four questionnaires. The construct validity of the measures was confirmed through confirmatory factor analysis. Then, structural equation modeling was utilized to examine the relationships between the variables.

Results

The findings indicated that teacher self-efficacy, teacher reflection, and teacher resilience were direct predictors of work engagement, and teacher self-efficacy had an indirect effect on work engagement via teacher reflection and resilience. Similarly, teacher reflection also had an indirect impact on work engagement through teacher resilience.

Discussion

These results have important implications for teacher education programs. The significance of these predictors of work engagement among EFL teachers highlights the importance of fostering self-efficacy, reflection, and resilience among teachers in order to promote their work engagement. Further research can explore ways to enhance these predictors through training and support programs for teachers.

The use of theory of planned behavior to systemically study the integrative-qualitative intentional behavior in Romanian preschool education with network analysis

Predicting preschool teachers' intention to adopt qualitative and inclusive early childhood intentional behaviors represents an important research field. The objective of this research is first to develop and validate a scale to assess the integrative-qualitative intentional behavior (IQIB-ECEC) of preschool teachers in order to achieve SDG4.2's objective of ensuring that all children have access to high-quality pre-primary education and then to systemically analyze the relationship between variables with Network Analysis. The theory of planned behavior (TPB) describes key individual beliefs (attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavior control) that affect people's intentions to engage in a certain conduct and has previously been used with success in evaluating people's intentions to adopt a certain behavior. This research represents one of the first Romanian attempts to use the theory of planned behavior to study the Integrative-Qualitative Intentional Behavior in Romanian Preschool Education and systemically analyze results with Network Analysis approach. This study used a randomized 300 Romanian preschool teachers enrolled in a National Training Program entitled Qualitative and Inclusive Early Childhood Education managed by the Romanian Educational Ministry. Data were collected via an online questionnaire. The scale validation followed a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The fitting of the IQIB-ECEC 19-item scale showed that all coefficients CFI (0.942), TLI (0.920), SRMR (0.0452), and RMSEA (0.0451) bring strong evidence in the favor of the statistical validity of the scale. The final IQIB-ECEC 19 items and 8 factors scale obtained a Cronbach's alpha of 0.77. The systemic Network Analysis approach was used in interpreting data. The centrality of the network model was further investigated and the clustering coefficients index were calculated. According to the results, perceived power/control beliefs and behavioral intention were detected as the most important dimensions, whereas behavioral beliefs were less important. These findings were discussed in terms of their theoretical and practical significance.

Personality traits, role ambiguity, and relational competence as predictors for teacher subjective wellbeing

The coronavirus pandemic has significantly reshaped the way teaching activities are carried out, thus intensifying the stress felt by teachers. The teacher-student relationship has also changed under the influence of social constraints. Together, these have affected teachers' work efficiency and redefined their connection with the school. The present study aims to examine the extent to which personality traits, role ambiguity, and relational competence predict teacher subjective wellbeing. The study sample consisted of 105 university teachers. Three hierarchical multiple regression analyses were conducted separately for each of the three criterion variables used in this research: teaching efficacy, school connectedness, and teacher subjective wellbeing. The results indicated that the personality traits emotionality, extraversion, and conscientiousness are significant predictors for all three variables, while honesty-humility, agreeableness, and openness to experience are not predictors for any of the variables. However, in the third step of the regression analysis, conscientiousness was found to lose its predictive quality for the variables school connectedness and teacher subjective wellbeing, its place being taken by emotionality. Both role ambiguity and relational competence are significant predictors for teaching efficacy, for school connectedness, and for teacher subjective wellbeing. Based on these results, universities can design some measures to reduce role ambiguity of teachers and can identify areas of training needed to increase their relational competence, while simultaneously reducing the costs associated with wellbeing and productivity problems. Several training modules and courses are proposed to be designed and included in the curriculum of initial and in-service teacher training programs, in order to contribute to increasing teachers' performance.

A motivational approach to perfectionism and striving for excellence: Development of a new continuum-based scale for post-secondary students

Perfectionism has been the object of many disputes. One such debate pertains to the nature of perfectionistic strivings. Whereas perfectionistic concerns (PC) have been shown to correlate with negative outcomes, perfectionistic strivings (PS) have been associated with mixed outcomes. This view of perfectionism assumes a motivational perspective; however, commonly used questionnaires assess motivation only implicitly. To create a more explicit measure of motivation as regard perfectionism, we aimed to assess perfectionism in post-secondary education based on Deci and Ryan's self-determination continuum. We posit that introjected motivation represents the variance common to both dimensions of perfectionism. External motivation is considered to be specific to PC and identified motivation to PS. Amotivation represents a lack of meaningful striving. Intrinsic motivation, lacking perfectionism's pressure, is conceptualized to be a self-determined form of striving for excellence. We further posited that this continuum is implicitly underlain by a continuum of self-definition as defined by Blatt. The resulting questionnaire showed an adequate structure with ESEM, followed a simplex structure, and had adequate reliabilities (Study 1a/Study 2). It also showed adequate convergent validity (Study 1b/Study 2). Finally, the questionnaire proved to be invariant over a 6-week period (Study 2). Results suggest that the degree of active goal pursuit, in addition to standards setting, could be a distinguishing characteristic between dimensions of perfectionism as well as striving for excellence.

Motivational profiles of kindergarten teachers in minority areas of China and their association with outcomes

Academic discourses regarding teacher motivation have been on-going for decades for those who teach in ethnic minority areas. Yet research findings failed to provide a consistent conclusion regarding if kindergarten teachers’ motivation pattern would vary based on a case-to-case scenario. Therefore, further studies are needed to probe the motivation patterns among this population. The study firstly examined kindergarten teachers’ motivational profiles based on Expectancy Value Theory (EVT), and then examined how teachers’ motivation related to outcome variables (work engagement, workplace wellbeing, and retention intention). Participants included 1,199 kindergarten teachers from ethnic minority areas in China. Latent profile analysis identified three motivation profiles for teachers: low value-high cost (profile 1), moderate all (profile 2), and high value-low cost (profile 3). Teacher with different motivation profiles had significant differences in work engagement, workplace wellbeing, and retention intention. In addition, chain mediation analysis revealed that work engagement and workplace wellbeing mediated the relationship between motivation profiles and retention intention. The implications of the findings for study are discussed.

The Trend of Authentic Leadership Skills in Nursing Education: The Key Role of Perfectionism and Self-Efficacy

(1) Background: Shaping leadership skills is a complex process, which may be modified by psychological factors such as self-efficacy and perfectionism. The aim of the study was to determine whether perfectionism can be a mediator between self-efficacy, and authentic leadership skills in nursing students; (2) Methods: The cross-sectional study included 615 Polish nursing students (women = 96.3%) was carried out at Medical University of Warsaw in 2019. The following research tools were used: Authentic Leadership Questionnaire, Almost Perfect Scale-Revised (APS-R), and General Self-Efficacy Scale (GSES); (3) Results: The level of perfectionism is a significant mediator of relations between self-efficacy as measured by the GSES and the level of authentic leadership (Sobel test: t = 6.958; p < 0.000). The relation, without a mediating factor, is positive, and the standardized beta coefficient for the feeling of self-efficacy totals beta = 0.470 (p < 0.000), while in the presence of a mediator the strength of the correlation is smaller and amounts to beta = 0.366 (p < 0.000); (4) Conclusions: Personality factors such as self-efficacy and perfectionism play an important role in shaping AL skills of nursing students. Therefore, academic teachers should pay special attention to strengthening students’ self-efficacy and adaptive perfectionism. In this context, adequate feedback and reflection may be important.