Understanding teacher/coach role stressors and burnout
Abstract
Teaching has long been considered a stressful profession and is becoming even more stressful because of recent changes in state- and national-level educational policies that govern K-12 education. Teachers who take on additional, extracurricular roles, such as athletic coaching, may be even more prone to stress and burnout. Using occupational socialization theory and role theory, the purpose of this dissertation was to develop a more comprehensive understanding of role stressors, burnout, and resilience among teacher/coaches and non-coaching teachers. The study was divided into two phases. In phase one, 415 teachers (209 teacher/coaches, 206 non-coaching teachers) across a variety of academic disciplines in the American Midwest completed an online survey related to their feelings of role stressors, burnout, and resilience. These data were analyzed using factorial ANOVAs, exploratory and confirmatory factory analysis, multiple linear regression, and structural equation modeling. Results indicate that, while teacher/coaches and non-coaching teachers vary on some elements of role stressors, burnout, and resilience, the two groups share more similarities than differences. Structural equation modeling demonstrated that selected role stressors and components of burnout influence teachers' ability to develop resilient capacities. Finally, exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis resulted in the development and validation of a scale specifically intended to measure teacher/coach role conflict. In phase two, a subset of participants were invited to participate in interviews based on their perceived levels of role stressors and burnout. At the completion of this dissertation, phase two was still ongoing, but initial insights from the interviews are discussed. The results of this study speak to the importance of teachers' cognitive and emotional wellbeing. Implications for reducing role stressors and burnout and for fostering resilience are discussed at length.
Degree
Ph.D.
Advisors
Templin, Purdue University.
Subject Area
Educational sociology|Physical education
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