Relationships among teacher enjoyment, emotional labor, and perceived student engagement: A daily diary approach.

The present daily diary study among 587 Canadian primary and secondary school teachers assessed teachers' genuine expression, faking, hiding of happiness and enthusiasm, and their daily associations with perceived student emotional and behavioral engagement. Moreover, we measured teachers' trait enjoyment before and after the diary study to examine whether teacher trait enjoyment predicted the use of emotional labor strategies that, in turn, were related to teachers' perceptions of their students' engagement. In addition, we examined whether perceived student engagement predicted future levels of teacher trait enjoyment. Results from multilevel structural equation modeling showed that, at the between-person level, teachers who had higher levels of trait enjoyment tended to spontaneously show their positive feelings to their students (ß = 0.381, p < .001), which was further positively related to student engagement (ß = 0.257, p < .001). In turn, teachers' perceptions of heightened student engagement led to even greater enjoyment in the future (ß = 0.134, p < .05). In contrast, teacher trait enjoyment was negatively related to faking (ß = -0.297, p < .001) and hiding positive emotions (ß = -0.130, p < .05), but was further unrelated to student engagement or future enjoyment. At the within-person level, genuine expression of positive emotions was positively related to student engagement (ß = 0.219, p < .001), faking was negatively related to student engagement (ß = -0.134, p < .001), and hiding was unrelated to student engagement.

Are student engagement and disaffection important for teacher well-being? A longitudinal examination of between- and within-person effects.

Although a lot is known about how teachers influence student motivation, evidence on the importance of student engagement for teacher well-being is lacking. In addition, studies investigating the effects of student behavior on teachers have mostly focused on the between-person perspective while neglecting the within-person processes. Thus, in the present study, we examined longitudinal associations between perceived student behavioral and emotional engagement and disaffection and teacher well-being (i.e., job satisfaction and emotional exhaustion) by acknowledging their fluctuating nature and investigating the associations at both the between- and within-person levels. Specifically, we conducted a full-panel four-wave longitudinal study involving 1141 secondary school teachers and employed a random-intercept cross lagged panel modeling approach to analyze the data. At the between-person level, teachers who perceived their students as being more emotionally and behaviorally engaged, but less emotionally and behaviorally disaffected, tended to have higher levels of job satisfaction and lower levels of emotional exhaustion. At the within-person level, higher than usual levels of student emotional engagement were concurrently associated with higher than usual levels of job satisfaction and lower than usual levels of emotional exhaustion, whereas the associations concerning disaffection showed the opposite pattern. Regarding the longitudinal spill-over effects at the within-person level, behavioral and emotional engagement positively predicted job satisfaction whereas behavioral disaffection negatively predicted job satisfaction and positively predicted emotional exhaustion. Our results highlight the importance of student motivation for shaping teacher occupational well-being and indicate that efforts aimed at increasing student motivation could also be beneficial to teachers.

Teachers' Emotions and Self-Efficacy: A Test of Reciprocal Relations.

Previous research has suggested that higher levels of teachers' self-efficacy (TSE) tend to be positively related to positive teachers' emotions (e.g., joy, pride) and negatively to negative teachers" emotions (e.g., anger, anxiety). However, these studies predominately relied on cross-sectional design and therefore were unable to test the reciprocal relations between the two constructs. Based on the propositions of social-cognitive theory (Bandura, 1997), TSE may be viewed as an antecedent or as a consequence of emotions. More specifically, TSE may shape emotions since it directs teachers' attentional, appraisal, and regulatory processes, while emotions may shape TSE since they act as a source of information about teachers' performance in a given task (i.e., emotions can serve as a filter that determines which efficacy information is seen as salient and how it is interpreted). To test these assumptions, an initial sample of 3010 Croatian teachers (82% female) participated in a longitudinal study based on a full panel design with three measurement points and time lags of approximately 6 months. Teachers taught at different educational levels (i.e., elementary, middle, and secondary schools) and had on average 15.30 years (SD = 10.50) of teaching experience. They completed self-report measures that assessed their self-efficacy beliefs and six discrete emotions experienced in relation to teaching and students - joy, pride, love, anger, hopelessness, and exhaustion. An autoregressive cross-lagged analysis showed that teachers' emotions and TSE are indeed related to each other. However, the direction of this association is not bidirectional as was suggested by theoretical assumptions; instead, it is asymmetrical - higher levels of TSE beliefs predicted higher levels of positive emotions of joy and pride, while higher levels of teachers' negative emotions of anger, exhaustion, and hopelessness predicted lower levels of teachers' self-efficacy beliefs.

The relations between Principal support and work engagement and burnout: Testing the role of teachers' emotions and educational level.

BACKGROUND: One of the resources that may prevent burnout and foster the work engagement of teachers is Principal support. In this study we aimed to further explore the links between Principal support and work engagement and burnout, by testing the role of the teachers' emotions and the educational levels of primary schools. OBJECTIVES: Testing 1) the mediating role of teachers' emotions in explaining the relationship between perceived Principal support and work engagement and burnout, 2) differences in tested constructs, and the structural equivalence of the proposed relationship among constructs, between teachers from two educational levels of primary schools. METHODS: The study included subsamples of 868 class teachers (lower grades) and 1057 subject teachers (upper grades) employed at 104 primary schools in Croatia. Teachers filled out self-report scales measuring burnout, work engagement, perceived Principal support and the positive and negative emotions experienced in relation to students. RESULTS: Emotions partially mediate the relationship between perceived Principal support and work engagement and burnout among teachers. Although class teachers experience higher levels of positive emotions and work engagement compared to subject teachers, the results confirmed the structural equivalence of the hypothesized model across two education levels of primary school. CONSLUSION: The Principal support predicts work engagement and burnout in teachers both directly and indirectly via emotions.

A two-wave panel study on teachers' emotions and emotional-labour strategies.

The aim of this study was to examine the reciprocal relations between discrete emotions that teachers typically experience while teaching and interacting with students (i.e., joy, love, anger, and hopelessness) and emotional labour strategies (i.e., deep acting and two forms of surface acting-hiding feelings and faking emotions) over time. To address these research aims, two-wave panel design and cross-lagged structural equation modeling were implemented. An initial sample of 2,022 teachers filled in questionnaires with a time lag of 6 months. The results showed that teachers' emotions and emotional labour are related to each other over time. Love positively predicted deep acting and anger positively predicted hiding feelings and faking emotion over time. The opposite direction of association was also established-deep acting positively predicted joy, whereas hiding feelings positively predicted hopelessness. The results highlight the importance of taking a discrete approach to emotions and triadic approach to emotional labour when examining their reciprocal relations and may have important practical implications in promoting teachers' emotional well-being.