Social and Emotional Competencies Support Preservice Teachers' Occupational Health: Suggestions for Preventative Interventions

• In Event: Bolstering Social-Emotional Competencies Toward Promoting Educator Well-Being

Abstract

Theoretical Framework. Teachers report one of the highest levels of stress of any career, a concern which has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic (Johnson et al., 2005; Pressley et al., 2021). The poor occupational health experienced by teachers is a detriment to their own health, their ability to employ effective teaching practices, and support student development (Jennings & Greenberg, 2009). Poor occupational health is also a key contributing factor to the notably high rates of attrition in early career teachers (Gray et al., 2015) and to the current teacher shortage (Kini, 2022). Now, more than ever, it is critical that teachers are prepared to manage the stressors of the profession. The conceptual model of the Prosocial Classroom (Jennings & Greenberg, 2009) posits that key social and emotional competencies underlie teachers’ ability to successfully cope with professional stressors. Although this model has garnered empirical support in samples of in-service teachers, a study of the potentially malleable social and emotional competencies during the pre-service years that are associated with occupational health is necessary to identify points of intervention that could be targeted in preventative interventions that aim to prevent the deterioration of early career teachers’ occupational health.

Objectives. The present study tests this conceptual model by addressing the following research questions: Are pre-service teachers’ a) mindfulness skills, b) self-compassion skills, and c) emotion regulation skills associated with feelings of RQ1) occupational stress and RQ2) teaching efficacy?

Methods and Data. Data for this study came from a sample of 67 graduating pre-service teachers at the University of Alabama (50% of eligible population). Participants provided data in April 2022 and graduated in May 2022. Participants completed an online survey which assessed their mindfulness skills (Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire; Gu et al., 2016), self-compassion (Self-Compassion Scale; Raes et al., (2010), emotion regulation skills (i.e., cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression; Emotion Regulation Questionnaire; Gross & John, 2003), occupational stress (Perceived Occupational Stress Scale (Marcatto et al., 2021), and teaching efficacy (Tschannen-Moran & Woolfolk Hoy, 2001). Multiple linear regression models tested the association between teachers’ social and emotional competencies and feelings of stress and teaching efficacy, controlling for gender and race.

Results. With regard to RQ1: Pre-service teachers with higher mindfulness skills (B = -0.53, SE = 0.25, p = .04) and higher self-compassion skills (B = -0.44, SE = 0.22, p = .049) reported lower levels of occupational stress than their peers with lower mindfulness and self-compassion skills. Emotion regulation skills were unrelated to occupational stress. With regard to RQ2: Pre-service teachers with higher cognitive reappraisal skills (B = 0.42, SE = 0.16, p = .04) were more efficacious than their peers with lower reappraisal skills; mindfulness, self-compassion, and expressive suppression were unrelated to teaching efficacy. Results are discussed in relation to previous findings with in-service teachers.

Significance. Together, findings indicate that intervening to develop key social and emotional skills during the pre-service period could help to prevent the escalation in feelings of stress experienced by early career teachers, and support teachers’ occupational health as they transition into the classroom.

Authors

• Summer Braun, University of Alabama
  Presenting Author

• Alison Hooper, University of Alabama
  Non-Presenting Author