Trust in school: a pathway to inhibit teacher burnout?

2015 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
pp. 93-115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dimitri Van Maele ◽  
Mieke Van Houtte

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to consider trust as an important relational source in schools by exploring whether trust lowers teacher burnout. The authors examine how trust relationships with different school parties such as the principal relate to distinct dimensions of teacher burnout. The authors further analyze whether school-level trust additionally influences burnout. In doing this, the authors account for other teacher and school characteristics. Design/methodology/approach – The authors use quantitative data gathered during the 2008-2009 school year from 673 teachers across 58 elementary schools in Flanders (i.e. the northern Dutch-speaking region of Belgium). Because teacher and school characteristics are simultaneously related to burnout, multilevel modeling is applied. Findings – Trust can act as a buffer against teacher burnout. Teachers’ trust in students demonstrates the strongest association with burnout compared to trust in principals or colleagues. Exploring relationships of trust in distinct school parties with different burnout dimensions yield interesting additional insights such as the specific importance of teacher-principal trust for teachers’ emotional exhaustion. Burnout is further an individual teacher matter to which school-level factors are mainly unrelated. Research limitations/implications – Principals fulfill an important role in inhibiting emotional exhaustion among teachers. They are advised to create a school atmosphere that is conducive for different kinds of trust relationships to develop. Actions to strengthen trust and inhibit teacher burnout are necessary, although further qualitative and longitudinal research is desirable. Originality/value – This paper offers a unique contribution by examining trust in different school parties as a relational buffer against teacher burnout. It indicates that principals can affect teacher burnout and prevent emotional exhaustion by nurturing trusting relationships in school.

2016 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 18-33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Inge van Seggelen - Damen ◽  
Karen van Dam

Purpose – How does self-efficacy affect employee well-being? The purpose of this paper is to increase insight in the underlying process between employee self-efficacy and well-being at work (i.e. emotional exhaustion and job satisfaction) by investigating the mediating role of employees’ engagement in reflection and rumination. Design/methodology/approach – A representative sample of the Dutch working population (n=506) filled out an online questionnaire. Structural equation modeling was used to test the measurement model and research model. Findings – As predicted, self-efficacy was significantly related to emotional exhaustion and job satisfaction. Rumination mediated the self-efficacy-exhaustion relationship. Reflection did not serve as a mediator; although reflection was predicted by self-efficacy, it was unrelated to exhaustion and job satisfaction. Research limitations/implications – This cross-sectional study was restricted to self-report measures. Longitudinal research is needed to validate the findings and to further investigate the relationship between reflection and rumination. Practical implications – Organizations might try to support their employees’ well-being through interventions that strengthen employees’ self-efficacy, and prevent or decrease rumination. Originality/value – This study increases the understanding of the role of reflection and rumination at work. The findings indicate that self-reflection can have positive as well as negative outcomes.


2019 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 578-599 ◽  
Author(s):  
Myoung-Soung Lee ◽  
Sang-Lin Han

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of relationship bonds on the psychological response and behavior of bank employees based on the job demands–resources theory. Specifically, it examines the effects of relationship bonds in terms of person–job (P–J) fit, emotional exhaustion, job satisfaction and boundary-spanning behaviors, all of which comprise the behavioral dimensions of bank employees. In addition, the study examines how the resiliency of bank employees influences their emotional exhaustion and determines whether a moderating effect related to emotional exhaustion exists. Design/methodology/approach To achieve this aim, data were collected from 365 customer-facing banking employees in South Korea. Reliability, validity and the hypotheses were verified through structural equation modeling; any moderating effects were identified using the bootstrap method and the process model. Findings Study results showed that financial, structural, internal social and external social bonds – the bonds pertaining to relationship elements – have positive effects on P–J fit. P–J fit influenced emotional exhaustion negatively and job satisfaction positively. Furthermore, emotional exhaustion negatively influenced job satisfaction. Job satisfaction had positive effects on service delivery, external representation and internal influence, the elements comprising boundary-spanning behavior. Finally, resiliency was shown to lower emotional exhaustion but revealed no moderating effect. Originality/value First, this study examined relationship bonds, which reference relationship marketing when introducing organizational resources that influence the psychological and behavioral responses of bank employees. Second, this study introduced resiliency as a personal resource and clarified the way it applies to an individual’s psychological response. Third, existing literature has been limited to conducting fragmented research of the psychological factors that intervene in predisposing factors and job outcomes. This study makes a unique contribution by establishing a psychological response process.


2018 ◽  
Vol 56 (1) ◽  
pp. 127-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Darlene García Torres

Purpose Singapore is a country with low teacher attrition rates and high performance on international assessments (TIMSS 2011/2015 and PISA 2012/2015). Consequently, its education system is often considered as a model for other nations. The purpose of this paper is to extend research on teacher job satisfaction in Singapore and provide comparative information for other education systems. Design/methodology/approach This paper presents a secondary analysis of data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s 2013 Teaching and Learning International Survey with a focus on relationships among teacher and principal perceptions of distributed leadership and teachers’ job satisfaction in Singapore. Hierarchical linear modeling is applied to investigate teacher job satisfaction with principal perceptions and aggregate teacher perceptions of distributed leadership as school-level (level 2) variables and individual teacher perceptions of distributed leadership as a level 1 variable. Findings Results indicated that distributed leadership significantly predicted teachers’ work and professional satisfaction; higher distributed leadership scores were associated with higher satisfaction scores. Originality/value The significant positive relationship between distributed leadership and both dimensions of job satisfaction after accounting for individual teacher characteristics is a new finding in the Singapore schooling context.


2016 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clive Roland Boddy ◽  
Robin Croft

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to make a contribution to knowledge by examining what happens to marketing in a time of toxic leadership, embodied in a corporate psychopath, in response to a call for marketers to seek a broader understanding of how marketing operates within organisations. Design/methodology/approach – Commentators have suggested that concepts outside the usual marketing domain may aid in the gaining of an intra-organisational understanding of how marketing operates. Here, the concept of corporate psychopathy was used to identify a psychopathic UK board director and chief executive officer (CEO) via a constructivist approach to research involving six in-depth interviews. A CEO and a main board director who were measurably psychopathic were studied via these reports. Findings – The paper examines how corporate psychopaths, as archetypal toxic leaders, are detrimental to marketing. Overseeing the marketing function within the UK part of an established and well-branded multi-national services company, corporate psychopaths capriciously dismantled the marketing initiatives that were in place and needlessly abandoned future marketing plans. Marketing services, marketing ethics, product quality and corporate reputation declined. Good marketers left. Practical implications – The research demonstrates the dangers to marketing of toxic leadership. The paper also suggests that marketing may be uniquely qualified to deal with toxic leaders because it can, through research, identify them through their effects and behaviour. The results illustrate the value of longitudinal qualitative market research in investigating complex organisational situations. Originality/value – The paper makes a unique contribution to the marketing field by empirically investigating, for the first time, the influence of a corporate psychopath director and a psychopathic CEO on the marketing function and practice. The research was conducted longitudinally using qualitative market research techniques via in-depth interviews over a two-year period. Longitudinal research aids in establishing causality, and this was evident in this research, as the negative influence of psychopathic leadership was monitored over time.


2016 ◽  
Vol 116 (3) ◽  
pp. 320-340 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva Neely ◽  
Mat Walton ◽  
Christine Stephens

Purpose – The health-promoting schools (HPSs) framework has emerged as a promising model for promoting school connectedness in the school setting. The purpose of this paper is to explore the potential for food practices to promote school connectedness within a HPSs framework. Design/methodology/approach – This study explores food practices within a New Zealand secondary school by using an ethnographic methodology, with interviews and observations, to explore in-depth the range of food practices that occurred within the school across a whole school year. Thematically the data were ready for school connectedness indicators across the recorded events, and categorically the practices were coded according to their level of occurrence within the HPS framework. Findings – The findings showed that food practices occurred across class- and school-level organisation, ethos, environment, and community partnerships, and indicated that they may be valuable assets for a HPS approach to school connectedness. By integrating the findings of the present study with previous literature the authors suggest a HPS framework for promoting school connectedness through food practices. Originality/value – This paper contributes to the emerging research on whole-school approaches to building school connectedness, and provides a first contribution on the value of food practices for school connectedness.


2017 ◽  
Vol 55 (4) ◽  
pp. 376-389 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alice Huguet ◽  
Caitlin C. Farrell ◽  
Julie A. Marsh

Purpose The use of data for instructional improvement is prevalent in today’s educational landscape, yet policies calling for data use may result in significant variation at the school level. The purpose of this paper is to focus on tools and routines as mechanisms of principal influence on data-use professional learning communities (PLCs). Design/methodology/approach Data were collected through a comparative case study of two low-income, low-performing schools in one district. The data set included interview and focus group transcripts, observation field notes and documents, and was iteratively coded. Findings The two principals in the study employed tools and routines differently to influence ways that teachers interacted with data in their PLCs. Teachers who were given leeway to co-construct data-use tools found them to be more beneficial to their work. Findings also suggest that teachers’ data use may benefit from more flexibility in their day-to-day PLC routines. Research limitations/implications Closer examination of how tools are designed and time is spent in data-use PLCs may help the authors further understand the influence of the principal’s role. Originality/value Previous research has demonstrated that data use can improve teacher instruction, yet the varied implementation of data-use PLCs in this district illustrates that not all students have an equal opportunity to learn from teachers who meaningfully engage with data.


2021 ◽  
pp. 003452372110315
Author(s):  
Nina Kolleck ◽  
Johannes Schuster ◽  
Ulrike Hartmann ◽  
Cornelia Gräsel

In recent years, teachers around the world have been increasingly confronted with various expectations concerning the improvement of their classroom practices and school activities. One factor widely acknowledged to facilitate school and classroom improvement is a strong collaborative culture among teachers. As such, teachers are expected to work in teacher teams, to collaborate closely with colleagues, to co-construct classroom practices, and thus to strengthen trust relationships within the team. A growing number of researchers has analyzed how teachers address these expectations. They suggest that there is a link between teachers’ embeddedness in collaboration networks and teachers’ trust relationships. The present study seeks to contribute to the research literature by presenting results of Social Network Analyses (SNA) and exponential random graph models (ERGMs) on teacher collaboration in nine secondary schools in Germany (N = 366 teachers). We investigate how the involvement of teachers in co-constructive collaboration in schools, measured by the amount of team teaching (TT), relates to teachers’ trust levels. Results of our analyses suggest that a high amount of TT is not necessarily related to a higher degree of trust among teachers at the school level. However, a high involvement of teachers in TT is related positively to their being perceived as trustworthy. Furthermore, the emergence of trust relations in teacher networks depends on general network characteristics, such as homophily, reciprocity and transitivity.


2020 ◽  
pp. 1-19
Author(s):  
SHARON WRIGHT ◽  
PETER DWYER

Abstract Universal Credit is the UK’s globally innovative social security reform that replaces six means tested benefits with one monthly payment for working age claimants - combining social security and tax credit systems. Universal Credit expands welfare conditionality via mandatory job search conditions to enhance ‘progression’ amongst working claimants by requiring extra working hours or multiple jobs. This exposes low paid workers to tough benefit sanctions for non-compliance, which could remove essential income indefinitely or for fixed periods of up to three years. Our unique contribution is to establish how this new regime is experienced at micro level by in-work claimants over time. We present findings from Qualitative Longitudinal Research (141 interviews with 58 claimants, 2014-17), to demonstrate how UC impacts on in-work recipients and how conditionality produces a new coerced worker-claimant model of social support. We identify a series of welfare conditionality mismatches and conclude that conditionality for in-work claimants is largely counterproductive. This implies a redesign of the UK system and serves as an international warning to potential policy emulators.


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 319-328
Author(s):  
Ian Pepper ◽  
Ruth McGrath

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the impact of an employability module, the College of Policing Certificate in Knowledge of Policing (CKP), on students’ career aspirations, their confidence and wish to join the police along with the appropriateness of the module. This will inform the implementation of employability as part of the College of Policing-managed Police Education Qualifications Framework (PEQF). Design/methodology/approach A three-year longitudinal research study used mixed methods across four points in time to evaluate the impact on students studying the employability module. Findings The research suggests that the employability-focussed CKP was useful as an introduction to policing, it developed interest in the police and enhanced the confidence of learners applying to join. Lessons learnt from the CKP should be considered during the implementation of the PEQF. Research limitations/implications The ability to generalise findings across different groups is limited as other influences may impact on a learner’s confidence and employability. However, the implications for the PEQF curriculum are worthy of consideration. Practical implications As the police service moves towards standardised higher educational provision and evolution of policing as a profession, lessons can be learnt from the CKP with regards to the future employability of graduates. Originality/value Enhancing the employability evidence base, focussing on policing, the research identified aspects which may impact on graduates completing a degree mapped to the PEQF. The research is therefore of value to higher education and the professional body for policing.


Author(s):  
Jennifer Erica Duyne Barenstein

Purpose – This paper aims to examine people's strategies to regain control over the socio-spatial organisation of their villages and transform their agency-built houses in culturally meaningful places post-disaster. In the aftermath of a disaster, building processes are often taken over by external agencies whose approach towards reconstruction is governed by considerations such as safety, efficiency, cost-effectiveness and – in some cases – also by an explicit will to trigger social transformations. As a result, reconstruction often entails dramatic changes in settlement location and morphologies, housing designs, building materials and construction processes. Design/methodology/approach – Based on an ongoing interdisciplinary empirical research project focusing on communities’ patterns of adaptation to post-disaster relocated settlements in India, the paper examines people’s strategies to regain control over the socio-spatial organisation of their villages and to transform their agency-built houses in culturally meaningful places. Findings – The paper shows that people are not passive recipients of external agencies’ often culturally insensitive project and that they have the capacity to transform externally imposed notions of appropriate housing to meet their cultural- and livelihood-specific needs. Based on a micro-level case study of a village in Gujarat, it is argued that underestimating communities’ capacity to rebuild their own houses and villages and the failure to recognise the inherent functionality of local housing and building culture often entail not only missing the opportunity to enhance their resilience but also, in some cases, may lead to increasing their vulnerability. Originality/value – This paper presents a rare example of longitudinal research, calling attention to the long-term impacts of post-disaster reconstruction. It is of particular interest to scholars and humanitarian agencies concerned about the social consequences of relocation and reconstruction after natural disasters.


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