Associations Among Elementary Teachers’ Burnout and their Lesson Length and Classroom Grouping in Mathematics, Science, and English Language Arts

• In Event: Exploring Well-Being in Teachers From an International Perspective: How Does Context Come Into Play?

Abstract

Objectives. K-12 teachers experience burnout at high rates (Carlotto & Camara, 2017; 2019), with these experiences magnified in the years following the COVID-19 pandemic (Pressley et al., 2021; 2024). While the broader implications of teacher burnout for teacher and classroom outcomes have been well-studied (Madigan & Kim, 2021a; b), what is less clear is how burnout might impact teachers’ more precise instructional decisions, and almost no work exists exploring how these associations might surface differently across learning contexts (i.e., content areas). The goal of the present study is to explore how fourth grade teachers’ emotional exhaustion and depersonalization relate to the amounts of time they spend in mathematics, science, and English language arts (ELA), and to the amounts of time they spend in whole-class (WC), small-group (SG) and independent (IND) instruction in each content area.

Theoretical Framework. The Transactional Model of Stress and Coping (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984) illustrates that when in-the-moment stressors outweigh one’s resources, one’s resulting decisions and actions are most likely to center around avoiding or delaying stress. The concept of Allostatic Load (McEwan & Stellar, 1993) illustrates that chronic, unresolved stress is associated with impaired cognition, executive functioning, and memory (D’Amico et al., 2020) which can ultimately influence decision-making (McGee, 1989).

Methods & Data Sources. 65 fourth-grade teachers from 28 schools in the Southwestern U.S. participated. Teachers reported symptoms of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization via the Maslach Burnout Inventory (Maslach et al., 2007) in the Fall, and provided four classroom video observations each of mathematics, science, and ELA lessons throughout the year. Lessons were assessed using Electronic Quality of Inquiry Protocol (Marshall et al., 2010), which derived the number of minutes the classroom was grouped in WC, SG, or IND. Multiple imputation was used to account for missing data, and path modeling was used to explore the extent to which teachers’ burnout symptoms were associated with lesson length and time spent in each grouping category.

Results. See Tables 2 through 7. More symptoms of emotional exhaustion were associated with decreased time in WC and increased time in IND in mathematics lessons; increased time in IND in science lessons; and decreased time in SG in ELA lessons. More symptoms of depersonalization were associated with decreased overall time in science lessons; increased time in IND in mathematics; decreased time in SG and increased time in IND in science; and decreased time in SG in ELA.

Scientific Significance. More precise knowledge of when, where, and how burnout surfaces in teachers’ instructional decision-making could serve to guide interventions and supports meant to reduce the effects of burnout in the classroom. This study serves as a first step in this direction by illustrating that teachers experiencing burnout might approach lessons differently, opting for less overall time in science; by avoiding grouping configurations that trigger more stress, and by spending more time in grouping configurations they find less stressful. Interventionists and practitioners could use this information to pinpoint the instructional scenarios in which teachers experiencing more burnout may need targeted support.

Authors

• Leigh McLean, University of Delaware

• Catherine Corbin, University of Florida