Returning to Teaching During COVID-19: The Role of Administrators, Self-Efficacy, and Anxiety on Burnout

• In Event: Teaching During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

As teachers returned to the classroom during Fall 2020, they faced a new environment and instructional challenges due to COVID-19. These challenges included technology issues (Marshall et al., 2020), incorporating new approaches to planning and instruction (Honigsfeld & Nordmeyer, 2020), and teachers required to learn new technology platforms (Authors, 20XXa; Wiggins, 2020). This study aimed to understand the influence of administrative support, teacher self-efficacy, and teacher anxiety on teacher stress (burnout) during COVID-19. The study explored teacher perceptions during Fall 2020 as teachers and schools returned to teaching. Teachers (N=311) representing 16 states completed an electronic survey in October 2020. The survey questionnaires were selected from the previous studies: a) anxiety (Davey et al., 2007) focused on teaching during fall 2020, b) self-efficacy in student engagement and instructional strategies (Tschannen-Moran & Hoy, 2001), c) teachers' stress (burnout), and d) administration support (Seidman & Zager, 1986). The Cronbach alpha reliability of all the subscales showed higher values than .80 in the previous studies.
To explain teachers' burnout during the COVID-19 pandemic period, we developed a SEM model with the relevant variables (Figure 1). This study tested the path model with latent variables; we suggested seven paths with the five variables in the conceptual model. Through the confirmatory factor analysis process, the suggested final SEM model showed acceptable reliability levels in all subscales (see Table 1) and good model fit indices [CFI= .935. TLI= .924, RMSEA= .067, SRMR= .062, and χ2 (163)= 387.645]. The current results found support for five of the seven hypotheses/paths within the final SEM model including, the association between administrative support, instructional efficacy, engagement efficacy, and teacher burnout (Figure 2). Additionally, we found a partial mediation effect between the school administrative support and teachers' stress. Specifically, school admin support could not directly predict instruction efficacy levels; however, it showed a meaningful indirect effect with the mediator, teacher engagement efficacy (Figure 3). Also, engagement efficacy was indirectly linked to teachers' stress (burnout) with another mediator (instruction efficacy). Because engagement efficacy was strongly linked to their instruction efficacy; therefore, teachers' efficacy, including these two efficacy variables, presented a meaningful indirect effect between school admin support and the teachers' stress (burnout). On the other hand, we could not find a significant mediation effect of anxiety between school admin support and teachers' stress (burnout) in our final model.
The model adds support that teacher self-efficacy is a mediating variable to teacher burnout as Rabaglietti et al. (2021) and Pellerone (2021) found with European teachers during COVID-19. Similar to previous studies, the current results suggest that administrative support plays a key role in teacher efficacy and burnout (Ryan et al., 2017; Sokal et al., 2021). The results also suggest low instructional self-efficacy may lead to higher stress and burnout (Savas et al., 2014; Skaalvik & Skaalvik, 2010). School administrators can support teacher self-efficacy by providing supportive feedback, allow teachers to learn vicariously through each other, and provide teachers with opportunities to master new instructional strategies incorporated during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Authors

• Tim Michael Forrest Pressley, Christopher Newport University

• Cheyeon Ha, Florida State University