Teacher Motivation and Coping Strategies in the Wake of COVID-19

• In Event: Teachers' Motivation to Teach: What Matters?

Abstract

Purpose
Teachers in the United States have been under tremendous stress since the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to dealing with their own feelings about the virus, as well as the economic and civil unrest facing our country, they also were responsible for moving their schools online with relatively little notice. Given that many schools will continue to be affected by either continuing with online school or instituting some other type of modified educational setting, understanding how teachers are coping and how their motivation for teaching is impacted is of immediate importance.

Theoretical Framework
This study used expectancy-value theory (EVT) as its theoretical framework, and the factors influencing teaching choice (FIT-Choice) model, a teacher-specific version of EVT (Wigfield & Eccles, 2000; Watt & Richardson, 2007). The FIT-Choice model consists of social utility value (i.e., value for the social impact of teaching), personal utility value (i.e., personal benefits of teaching), intrinsic value, and ability beliefs. Attainment value (i.e., the value of a task to one’s identity) was part of the original EVT however was not included in the FIT-Choice model; we added two items intended to tap this construct.

Methods
The sample for the current study consisted of 2,312 educators from around the United States (see Table 1). Participants took an online survey measuring a variety of coping skills using versions of the brief COPE scale (Carver, 1997), the Emotional Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ; Gross & John, 2003), and the Cognitive Emotional Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ; Jermann et al., 2006) adapted for educators, as well as an adapted version of the short-form FIT-Choice (Watt & Richardson, 2007). To determine how coping strategies teachers were using to deal with the stress caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the social unrest, and related crises, we ran a structural equation model with each type of coping strategy predicting each sub-factor of the FIT-Choice model.

Results
The model fit the data well (p < .001; RMSEA = .03; CFI = .94; SRMR = .04; see Table 2). We found many significant patterns of association however we highlight the main themes here: distraction and gratitude positively predicted all five motivational constructs, and had the strongest association with PUV. Substance use and behavioral disengagement negatively predicted all types of motivation except PUV; suppression, compassion for others, and labeling feelings positively predicted all types of motivation except PUV.
Significance
These findings provide insight into the adaptive versus maladaptive nature of coping strategies. Prior research has found that SUV and intrinsic value are positively associated with job satisfaction and intentions to stay in teaching, whereas PUV is negatively associated with job satisfaction and retention intentions (e.g. Authors, 2017). That indicates that suppression, compassion for others, and labeling feelings are the most adaptive coping strategies. This data represents the first wave of a longitudinal study on teacher coping and motivation. Future analysis will test these associations longitudinally as well as the longitudinal association with job satisfaction and retention intentions.

Authors

• Annette Ponnock

• Benjamin M Torsney, Temple University

• James Floman, Yale University