Less For Students, More For Teachers: Role Stress, Burnout, And Satisfaction Under China’s Double-Reduction Policy

• In Event: AERA Poster Session Thursday 7:45am
  In Poster Session: Global Metrics, Local Resistance: Education Policy, Technology, and the Politics of Learning

Abstract

This study focuses on China’s 2021 ‘Double Reduction’ Policy (DRP), a nationwide initiative to reduce students’ academic pressure, to examine its impact on primary school teachers’ emotional and professional well-being. This study adopted a mixed-methods approach. The quantitative study collected survey responses from 303 teachers and documented a significant increase in teachers’ workload in both instructional and non-instructional tasks. Results of the structural equation model found that increased non-instructional workload significantly predicted greater role stress and subsequently influenced self-efficacy and burnout, while increased instructional workload had a significant positive influence on job satisfaction. Complementary qualitative interviews with 13 teachers revealed that DRP increased teachers’ working hours, but also involved uncertainty in instructions and a lack of institutional support.

Authors

• Pengyu Lin, Wenzhou-Kean University

• Jingyu Ma, Wenzhou-Kean University

• Qingqing Zhou, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

• Jiayue Zhang, Wenzhou-Kean University

• Qian Li, Wenzhou-Kean University