Identifying Promising School-Based Supports for First-Year Teachers’ Well-Being in the Wake of COVID-19

• In Event: Teacher Well-Being Through the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Objectives: The well-being of U.S. teachers has declined dramatically in the wake of COVID-19 (Kaufman & Diliberti, 2021). Mental health symptoms increase as first-year teachers begin their career (Author, 2017), highlighting first-year teachers who started in the context of COVID-19 as a population of interest. School-provided resources can support the well-being of beginning teachers (Authors, 2020), and so identifying meaningful induction supports for today’s new teachers entering the field is important. We describe the well-being of a sample of first-year teachers from multiple U.S. states who began in 2021/22, and investigate which induction supports were related to their well-being.

Theoretical framework: The Job Demands Resources Model (Bakker & Demerouti, 2013) describes how career experiences can impact well-being, with job demands straining the energy of the individual and job resources enabling individuals to thrive. When resources aren’t sufficient to meet job demands, well-being declines. Teachers experienced marked increases in job demands after COVID-19 (Kaufman & Diliberti, 2021), and first-year teachers likely require resources aligned with their unique experiences to best meet these demands.

Methods: 173 first-year teachers from 10 U.S. states who began teaching in 2021/22 reported on the school-based induction supports they were offered upon transitioning into their school, and reported on their depressive, anxious, and burnout symptoms at the end of the year. Descriptive statistics were used to characterize participants’ experiences with well-being, and multiple regression analyses were used to explore relations among induction supports and well-being. Four models were run regressing each of the induction supports on each of the outcomes of interest.

Data sources: An investigator-developed survey asked about supports received from school administration, other teachers, and parents/guardians as well as professional development opportunities focusing on well-being, career transitions, and teaching competencies. Depressive symptoms were measured using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (10 items, alpha = .83), anxious symptoms using the Generalized Anxiety Disorder scale (7 items, alpha = .90), burnout symptoms using the Maslach Burnout Inventory (8 items for Emotional Exhaustion, alpha = .95; 5 items for Depersonalization, alpha = .83).

Results: See Tables 1 to 3 for descriptive statistics and correlations. 37% percent of teachers reported levels above the cutoff for clinical depression, and 56% reported levels above the cutoff for clinical anxiety. 51% reported in the “high” range for emotional exhaustion, however scores were lower for depersonalization with 66% of participants in the “low” range. See table 4 for regression analyses results. Regression analyses indicated positive relations between mental health and well-being focused professional development supports and participants’ emotional exhaustion and depersonalization.

Significance: This work highlights the disproportionate impact of the pandemic on new teachers and calls for action to better support the well-being of this understudied group. First-year teachers who entered the field in the wake of COVID-19 are reporting high levels of mental health and burnout symptomatology, with large portions reporting clinically significant levels of symptoms. Supports provided by schools with explicit foci on teachers’ well-being may be a particularly impactful resource for these teachers, especially for preventing burnout.

Authors

• Leigh McLean, University of Delaware

• Katherine Tilley, University of Delaware