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Teachers’ job stressors and coping strategies: Their structural relationships

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DOI: 10.1016/j.tate.2019.07.001

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 Teaching and Teacher Education 85 (2019) 269e280

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Teaching and Teacher Education

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/tate

Teachers’ job stressors and coping strategies: Their structural

relationships with emotional exhaustion and autonomy support

pez-Sangil b, M. Mar García-Sen
Elisabete F. Pogere a, M. Carmen Lo ~ ora

n c,
Antonio Gonza
lez c, *
a
Escola Secunda
ria de Monça ~o, Agrupamento de Escolas de Monça ~o, Estrada dos Arcos - Mazedo, 4950-277, Mazedo (Monça
~o), Portugal
b
sica e Secunda
Escola Ba
ria de Muralhas do Minho, Agrupamento Muralhas do Minho, Avenida da Juventude s/n, 4930-599, Valença do Minho, Portugal
c
n. As Lagoas, 32004, Ourense, Spain
Universidad de Vigo. Facultad de Ciencias de la Educacio

h i g h l i g h t s g r a p h i c a l a b s t r a c t

The study compared two job

stressors and two types of coping
strategies among secondary educa-
tion teachers.

Concern for students enhanced
adaptive coping and autonomy-
support, preventing exhaustion and
palliative strategies.

Inversely, work overload led to palli-
ative coping and exhaustion, under-
mining autonomy-support, and
adaptive strategies.

A similar pattern of opposing results
was found when comparing adaptive
vs. palliative strategies.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: This study applied structural equation modeling (SEM) to analyze relationships between two teachers’
Received 22 November 2018 job stressors (concern for students and work overload), coping strategies (problem-focused and emotion-
Received in revised form focused), emotional exhaustion, and autonomy support/suppression (choice, relevance, and control). The
25 June 2019
sample consisted of 251 secondary education teachers from Portugal. Instructors concerned for their
Accepted 8 July 2019
students applied more problem-focused strategies and less emotion-focused coping, experienced lower
emotional exhaustion, offered students more opportunities of choice, and enhanced the relevance of
learning. The inverse pattern of results was observed in the most overloaded teachers. A similar pattern
Keywords:
Teachers' stressors
of opposing results was found in the comparison of problem-focused vs. emotion-focused strategies.
Coping strategies Coping strategies mediated the association between stressors and emotional exhaustion, in such a
Emotional exhaustion manner that the teachers most concerned for their students and with less work overload experienced
Autonomy support less exhaustion because these teachers applied more frequently problem-focused strategies and less
frequently emotion-focused strategies.
© 2019 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

1. Introduction
* Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: efpogere@gmail.com (E.F. Pogere), sangilc@gmail.com

pez-Sangil), msenoran@uvigo.es (M.M. García-Sen
(M.C. Lo ~ ora

n), aglez@uvigo.es Several studies and reports have shown that teaching surpasses
(A. Gonz

alez). the average level of stress in comparison to other professions,

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2019.07.001
0742-051X/© 2019 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
270 E.F. Pogere et al. / Teaching and Teacher Education 85 (2019) 269e280
which confirms the assumption that teaching is a stressful pro-
fession (Hakanen, Bakker, & Schaufelli, 2006; Kyriacou, 2001).
Burnout is a likely response to prolonged teachers’ work stressors, a
reaction conditioned by coping strategies. Burnout is a personal
experience characterized primarily by emotional exhaustion, which
generates depersonalization and reduced personal accomplish-
ment (Maslach, 2003; Maslach, Schaufeli, & Leiter, 2001). Teacher
burnout leads to several maladaptive outcomes, both for teachers
(e.g., illness symptoms, and intentions to leave the profession), and
students (e.g., increased control over students, and reduced op-
portunities of choice).
Although the sources of job stress are unique for each teacher,
two of the main stressors are context of work and interactions with
students (Skaalvik & Skaalvik, 2017a). One of the most researched
teachers' job stressor is work overload, frequently operationalized
as the mandatory realization of unimportant or/and non-academic
tasks, such as excessive paper work, attending endless meetings, or
carrying work home (Chaaban & Du, 2017; Van Droogenbroeck,
Spruyt, & Vanroelen, 2014). Another source of stress is related to
some negative teacher-student interactions, such as disruptive
class behavior or discipline problems. However, research is scarce
on the role of certain positive teacher-student interactions, in line
with constructs such as social and emotional competence (Jennings
& Greenberg, 2009), practical knowledge (Rytivaara & Frelin, 2017),
empathetic teachers (Cross & Hong, 2012), or justice-oriented ed-
ucation (Boylan & Woosley, 2015). There is some evidence sug-
gesting that specific teacher-student interactions activate positive
stress or eustress (Mutjaba & Reiss, 2013), enhance wellbeing, and
ward against teachers’ negative emotions.
Like other professionals, teachers use different coping strategies
to manage work challenges and demands, especially when these
exceed their personal resources (Lazarus, 1993a). These manifold
strategies have been grouped under several categories of opposi-
tions such as problem-focused vs. emotion-focused, adaptive or
productive vs. maladaptive or palliative, and engagement vs.
disengagement (Carver, 1997; Carver, Scheier, & Weintraub, 1989;
Folkman & Lazarus, 1988; Lazarus, 1993a). Active coping and
planning are examples of problem-focused, adaptive or engage-
ment strategies, while denial and self-distraction denote emotion-
focused, palliative, or disengagement coping.
Certain teacher behaviors aim to support and promote students’
autonomy and autonomous motivation, whilst others strive to
control the class, and foster controlled motivation (Ryan & Deci,
2017). The most burned out teachers tended to maximize
autonomy-suppressing behaviors in class through the control over
their students, and the propensity to curtail the provision of au-
tonomy, offering less opportunities of choice, and less relevance of
learning (Shen et al., 2015; Sierens, Soenens, Vansteenkiste,
Goossens, & Dochy, 2012).
Thus, the aim of the present study was to analyze the structural
relationships between these variables. Specifically, the goal is to
determine whether emotional exhaustion would be differentially
associated to two work stressors and two types of coping strategies
(as antecedents), and with autonomy support/suppression (as
outcomes) in a sample of secondary school teachers. Previously,
research on these constructs was reviewed, starting with the
analysis of burnout, presenting two different types of coping styles,
explaining three diverse teacher-student relationships, and
concluding with the identification of two teacher stressors.
2. Theoretical framework
2.1. Burnout: emotional exhaustion
Burnout is a prolonged response to chronic emotional and
interpersonal stressors on the job (Maslach, 2003; Maslach et al.,
2001). There is actually an underlying consensus about the three
core components of burnout experience, i.e., emotional exhaustion,
depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment.
The emotional exhaustion experience represents the basic in-
dividual stress dimension of burnout (Maslach, 2003; Maslach
et al., 2001). It refers to feelings of being overextended and
depleted of one’s emotional and physical resources. Emotional
exhaustion is the central quality of burnout, the most obvious
manifestation of this complex syndrome, the most widely reported,
and the most thoroughly analyzed. Exhaustion prompts actions to
distance oneself emotionally and cognitively from one’s work as a
way to cope with workload. The depersonalization (or cynicism)
component represents the interpersonal context dimension of
burnout and refers to a negative or excessively detached response
to various aspects of the job. Cynicism is an attempt to put distance
between oneself and service recipients by actively ignoring the
qualities that make them unique and engaging people (Maslach
et al., 2001). Reduced personal accomplishment (or inefficacy)
represents the self-evaluation dimension of burnout and refers to
feelings of incompetence and a lack of achievement and produc-
tivity at work. Reduced personal efficacy appears to be a function of
exhaustion, cynicism, or a combination of both. This model of stress
goes beyond the individual experience (exhaustion) to encompass
the personal response to the job (cynicism) and to his or her
(feelings of inefficacy).
Among teachers, emotional exhaustion positively correlated
with illness symptoms and intentions to leave the teaching pro-
fession (Hakanen, Bakker, & Schaufeli, 2006; Skaalvik & Skaalvik,
2011; 2016, 2017b, c; Wang, Hall, & Rahimi, 2015). Exhaustion
also negatively correlated with teachers’ self-efficacy for teaching
(Dicke, Parker, Holzberg, Kunina, Kunter, & Leutner, 2015; Skaalvik
& Skaalvik, 2017b; Wang et al., 2015), work engagement (Hakanen
et al., 2006; Skaalvik & Skaalvik, 2016), optimism and life satis-
faction (Otero-Lo
pez, Castro, Santiago, & Villardefrancos, 2010;
Otero-Lo
pez, Villardefrancos, Castro, & Santiago, 2014), and job
satisfaction (Skaalvik & Skaalvik, 2010; 2011; 2017b, c; Wang et al.,
2015).
The most extensively used scale for assessing burnout is un-
doubtedly the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) designed by
Maslach, Jackson, and Leiter (1996). This instrument assesses the
three dimensions of burnout: emotional exhaustion, depersonal-
ization, and reduced personal accomplishment. Maslach and cols.
adapted this scale to measure burnout among teachers and pro-
posed the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Educators Survey (MBI-ES).
This instrument has been widely applied among teachers of
elementary, middle, high school, and college from different
nationalities.
In the present study, we applied a subscale of the Maslach and
cols. Burnout Inventory-Educators Survey (MBI-ES) proposed by
Maslach et al. (1996). The emotional exhaustion subscale (hence-
forth, “emotional exhaustion”) was applied in order to assess the
core of burnout, according Maslach et al. (2001; Maslach, 2003).
Many authors have only evaluated emotional exhaustion as the
major indicator of teachers’ burnout (Skaalvik & Skaalvik, 2011,
2016, 2017b; Dicke et al., 2015; Santavirta, Solovieva, & Theorell,
2007; Voss, Wagner, Klusmann, Trautwein, & Kunter, 2017).
2.2. Coping strategies
Coping was defined as the person’s efforts to manage specific
external and/or internal demands that are appraised as taxing or
exceeding the person’s resources (Folkman, Lazarus, Dunkel-
Scetter, DeLongis, & Gruen, 1986; Folkman & Moskowitz, 2004;
Lazarus, 1993a). As a simplified definition, coping consists of
 E.F. Pogere et al. / Teaching and Teacher Education 85 (2019) 269e280
cognitive and behavioral efforts to manage psychological stress or
to reduce and overcome challenges (Carver & Connor-Smith, 2010;
Chaaban & Du, 2017).
As Carver and Connor-Smith (2010) recognized, coping is a very
broad concept and several distinctions have been made within this
domain. Lazarus (1993a) asserted that the term of coping is used
whether the process is adaptive or non-adaptive, successful or
unsuccessful. On the other hand, according to Folkman et al. (1986),
coping has two major functions: regulating stressful emotions, and
altering the troubled person-environment relation causing the
distress. These two characteristics of coping (effectiveness and
functions) were used to classify coping strategies.
Considering the effectiveness, an opposition is established be-
tween adaptive or productive versus non-adaptive, maladaptive or
palliative strategies (Faulk, Gloria, & Steinhardt, 2013; Hastingns &
Brown, 2002; Kahn, Jones, & Wieland, 2012; Lazarus, 1993a;
Salkovsky, Romi, & Lewis, 2015). Adaptive and productive strategies
refer to the effectiveness of coping to improve adaptational out-
comes, such as personal health (Lazarus, 1993b). In contrast, palli-
ative coping does not deal with the source of stress, but aims to
reduce the impact of the stressor (Salkovsky et al., 2015).
From the perspective of the functions of the strategies, research
has contrasted problem-focused coping versus emotion-focused
coping (Carver, 1997; Carver et al., 1989; Folkman & Lazarus,
1988; Lazarus, 1993a; Parker, Martin, Colmar, & Liem, 2012;
Scheier, Weintraub, & Carver, 1986). Problem-focused coping is
directed at the problem or stressor itself and intends to do some-
thing in order to alter the source of stress, to remove or to evade it,
or to diminish its impact. By contrast, emotion-focused coping aims
to reduce, minimize, or manage the emotional distress that is
associated with a stressor. These two coping strategies can also
facilitate one another and can be complementary. Analogously,
Carver and Connor-Smith (2010) contrasted engagement vs.
disengagement strategies. Engagement coping is aimed at dealing
with the stressor or the resulting distress emotions. Disengagement
coping mainly involves acting as though the stressor did not exist.
Other authors have drawn a distinction between direct versus
palliative coping (Chaaban & Du, 2017; Parker & Martin, 2009).
Direct or direct-action coping strategies aim to resolve or eliminate
the perceived stressor, and are effective in reducing teacher
burnout. On the contrary, palliative or avoidance coping strategies
provide a temporary solution to a stressful situation without
necessarily eliminating the cause of stress.
Teachers' coping strategies have been the subject of much
research. Some studies compared adaptive vs. maladaptive strate-
gies (Faulk et al., 2013; Hastings & Brown, 2002; Kahn et al., 2012),
problem-focused coping vs. emotion-focused coping (Foley &
Murphy, 2015; Parker et al., 2012), and direct strategies vs. pallia-
tive or avoidance strategies (Chaaban & Du, 2017; Parker & Martin,
2009). Recent studies have shown that problem-focused or direct
strategies (e.g., planning or active coping) positively correlated with
workplace buoyancy and participation, positive career aspirations,
work engagement, self-efficacy for teaching, and enjoyment at
work (Briones, Tabernero, & Arenas, 2010; Foley & Murphy, 2015;
Parker et al., 2012; Parker & Martin, 2009). All of these adaptive
variables negatively correlated with emotion-focused or palliative
strategies (e.g., self-handicapping or behavioral disengagement),
which positively correlated with teachers’ somatic symptoms,
anxiety and insomnia, severe depression, and negative emotions at
work (Faulk et al., 2013; Griffith, Steptoe, & Cropley, 1999; Kataoka,
Ozawa, Tomotake, Tanioka, & King, 2014).
One of the most widely used instruments for assessing coping
strategies among different professions is the COPE scale, both in the
extended version (Carver et al., 1989), and in the shorter version,
the Brief COPE (Carver, 1997). Both instruments evaluate 14 coping
271
strategies grouped in the two categories previously stated, i.e.,
problem-focused and emotion-focused coping. Two of the
problem-focused strategies are planning and active coping (Carver,
1997; Carver et al., 1989). Planning is thinking about how to cope
with a stressor, and involves coming up with action strategies to
best handle the problem. Active coping implies taking steps to try
to remove or circumvent the stressor or to minimize the effects, and
includes increasing one’s effort or initiating direct actions. Among
the emotion-focused strategies, Carver et al. (1989) and Carver
(1997) included denial and self-distraction. Denial is operational-
ized as reports of refusal to believe that the stressor exists or of
trying to act as though the stressor is not real. Self-distraction or
mental disengagement includes a variety of activities that serve to
distract the person from thinking about the stressor, such as doing
something to think about the stressor less or work on other activ-
ities to take one’s mind off the stressor. This instrument was
applied to assess coping strategies among teachers (Briones et al.,
2010; Faulk et al., 2013; Foley & Murphy, 2015; Griffith et al.,
1999; Hastingns & Brown, 2002; Kahn et al., 2012; Marque
s,
Lima, & Lopes, 2005).
In the present study, we measured four coping strategies
included in the Brief COPE. According to Carver et al. (1989) and
Carver (1997), the strategies of active coping and planning pertain
to the category of problem-focused coping (henceforth, “problem-
focused”). The other two strategies, denial and self-distraction, were
included by these authors in the category of emotion-focused
coping (henceforth, “emotion-focused”).
2.3. Autonomy support/suppression
According to Ryan and Deci (2017), some classroom teachers'
behavior was autonomy supportive (i.e., promote students' auton-
omous motivation), whilst other behavior was controlling (i.e.,
promote students' controlled motivation). In the context of this
dichotomy, different authors contrasted autonomy supportive vs.
controlling teachers (Aelterman, Vansteenkinste, Keer, De Meyer,
Van den Berge, & Haerens, 2013), autonomy enhancing vs. auton-
omy suppressing teacher behaviors (Assor, 2012; Assor, Kaplan, &
Roth, 2002), or teachers’ autonomy support vs. autonomy thwart-
ing (Kaplan, 2018; Stroet, Opdenakker, & Minnaert, 2013).
Reeve (2009, p. 160) defined autonomy support as an interper-
sonal sentiment and behavior teachers provide during instruction
to identify, nurture, and develop students' inner motivational re-
sources. Autonomy supportive teachers offer students the possi-
bility to choose between different alternatives, provide them with
meaningful rationale for tasks, and minimize the use of pressure
and control (Assor, 2012; Reeve, 2009). Although there is no una-
nimity about the teachers’ behaviors referring to autonomy sup-
port, the most investigated practices were choice and relevance
(Aelterman et al., 2013; Sierens, Vansteenkinste, Goossens,
Soenens, & Dochy, 2009; Stroet et al., 2013; Wallace, Sung, &
Williams, 2014).
Stroet, Opdenakker, and Minnaert (2015, p. 133) assert that
choice implies the creation of opportunities for students to work in
their own way and incorporating their interests, curiosity, or sense
of challenge into the lesson. Aelterman et al. (2013) and Wallace
et al. (2014) operationalized choice as allowing students to work
in their own way by offering students freedom of mobility, oppor-
tunities to collaborate with other students and for initiative taking,
or choice to use their own methods for completing activities. As
examples of classroom practices providing meaningful choice,
Sierens, Vansteenkiste, Goossens, Soenens, and Dochy (2009) and
Wallace et al. (2014) suggest listening to students, to provide
helpful prompts for groups to make decisions about choices, to help
students think through ways to complete the task, or to offer
272 E.F. Pogere et al. / Teaching and Teacher Education 85 (2019) 269e280
freedom with respect to one’s study behavior.
According to Assor et al. (2002), behaviors that clarify the rele-
vance of schoolwork involve teachers' actions that help students to
grasp the contribution of academic work to the attainment of their
own personal goals, interests, and values. Among the behaviors
fostering relevance, Aelterman et al. (2013), Assor et al. (2002), and
Wallace et al. (2014) have included the following: explaining the
purpose in a lesson or the objectives that connect to students' lives
and plans, providing a meaningful rationale for learning goals and
activities, making explicit connections among topics, and linking
content and students’ ideas and experiences. According to Stroet
et al. (2013), the opposite of relevance occurs when a teacher
forces meaningless and uninteresting activities.
Control is the most paradigmatic example of autonomy-
suppressing teacher behaviors (Assor, 2012; Sierens et al., 2012).
Control is characterized as an interpersonal sentiment and
behavior teachers provide during instruction to pressure students
to think, feel, or behave in a specific way (Reeve, 2009, p. 160).
Moreover, control is defined as keeping control of learning mate-
rials, providing solutions before students have time to reflect by
themselves, exerting pressure, or disrupting students’ natural
rhythm by not allowing them to realize their action plans (Stroet
et al., 2015, p. 133). Controlling teachers apply pressure tactics to
persuade students to think, feel, or behave in certain ways, (Assor,
2012). These pressuring or intrusive strategies include implicit or
explicit threats of punishments, rewards, orders, guilt induction,
and expressions of disappointment (Aelterman et al., 2013; Sierens
et al., 2012).
Teachers' autonomy-support and relevance positively correlated
with students' autonomous motivation (Haerens, Aelterman,
Vansteenkinste, Soenens, & Van Petegem, 2015; Reeve, Jang, &
Jang, 2018), task value (Savard, Joussemet, Pelletier, & Mageau,
2013), academic positive feelings (Assor et al., 2002), academic
self-concept (Leflot, Onghema, & Colpin, 2010), self-regulatory
strategies (Schuitema, Peetsma, & van der Veen, 2016), and
engagement (Assor et al., 2002; Jang, Kim, & Reeve, 2016; Jang,
Reeve, & Deci, 2010). Teachers' autonomy support and relevance
negatively correlated with students' amotivation, controlled moti-
vation, and oppositional defiance (Haerens, Aelterman,
Vansteenkiste, Soenens, & Van Petegem, 2015), anxiety and
depression (Yu, Li, Wang, & Zhang, 2016), negative affect and
feelings (Assor et al., 2002; Savard et al., 2013), and academic
disengagement (Jang et al., 2016). On the other hand, controlled
teaching was positively related with students' amotivation,
controlled motivation, and defiance (Haerens et al., 2015), and
negatively related with students' autonomous motivation (Haerens
et al., 2015). Furthermore, teachers' controlling motivating style
positively correlated with teachers’ authoritarianism and neuroti-
cism (Reeve et al., 2018).
One of the most commonly applied scales for measuring
autonomy-support is the Teachers as Social Context (TaSC)
designed by Wellborn, Connel, Skinner, and Pierson (1992), with
two versions, a Teacher Report and a Student Report. The Teacher
Report version evaluates three major constructs: involvement,
structure, and autonomy-support. The autonomy-support scale was
applied as this version was explicitly designed for teachers;
furthermore, this instrument evaluates two well-analysed in-
dicators of autonomy-support (i.e., choice and relevance), and the
most evident form of autonomy-suppression (i.e., control)
(Wellborn, Connell, Skinner, & Pierson, 1992). Several subscales of
the TaSC assessing autonomy-support have been applied among
teachers (Leflot, Onghena, & Colpin, 2010; Reeve et al., 2018; Taylor
& Ntoumanis, 2007; Taylor, Ntoumanis, & Standage, 2008; Van den
Berge, Soenens, Aelterman, Cardon, Tallir, Haerens, 2014).
In the present study, two subscales of the TaSC were applied to
assess the most frequently assessed components of autonomy-
support, i.e., the different choices provided (henceforth, “choice”)
and the relevance fostered by teachers (henceforth, “relevance”). In
addition, a subscale of the TaSC was applied to assess the most
commonly evaluated indicator of autonomy-suppression, the con-
trol exerted by teachers (henceforth, “control”).
2.4. Teacher job stressors
As Lazarus (1993a) established, psychological stress occurs
when a person-environment relationship is considered relevant to
individual goals, and when a person believes demands tax or
exceed personal resources. Stress is the experience of anticipating
or encountering adversity in one’s goal-related efforts (Crum,
Salovey, & Achor, 2013).
Teacher job stress may be defined as the unpleasant and nega-
tive emotions, such as anxiety, frustration, anger, tension and/or
depression experienced by teachers, resulting from some aspect of
their work as teachers (Kyriacou, 2001, p. 28). This is the most
frequent characterization of stress. However, some authors have
contrasted this conception of stress (i.e., distress, negative stress or
bad kind of stress) with eustress (i.e., positive stress or good kind of
stress) (Crum et al., 2013; Hartney, 2008; Lazarus, 1993a; Mutjaba &
Reiss, 2013). For these authors, eustress is the stress experienced
when the person adapts positively to a challenge. Eustress is
associated with goal-oriented behavior, promotes positive striving
and emotions, and produces adaptive outcomes.
The sources of job stress experienced by a particular teacher will
be unique to him or her (Kyriacou, 2001). However, two of the main
sources of teacher’s stress are the context of work and the in-
teractions with students (Kyriacou, 2001; Skaalvik & Skaalvik,
2017a).
The most investigated teachers' job stressor is workload or work
overload. In a qualitative study, Chaaban and Du (2017) concluded
that teacher’s workload includes (among other tasks) excessive
paper work, attending meetings, writing detailed reports, taking
part in professional development after school hours, carrying their
work home, or continue working throughout the weekend. The
constant educational changes imposed from the government au-
thorities also demands from teachers an extra workload (Chaaban
& Du, 2017; Van Droogenbroeck et al., 2014). All these tasks
distract teachers from their perceived core job of teaching students.
According to Byrne (1994), work overload is frequently related with
role conflict, the simultaneous occurrence of two or more sets of
goals, such that the compliance of one hinders the fulfillment of the
other (i.e., the quantity and quality of work realistically possible
within certain time constraints). As accurately characterized by
Ballet, Kelchtermans, and Loughran (2006), teachers' work over-
load implies that “more and more work has to be done, whereas
less and less time is available to do it”.
Work overload and time pressure among teachers have been
positively correlated to low student motivation (Skaalvik &
Skaalvik, 2016), teacher anxiety (Dome
nech, 2006), physical
symptoms of stress (Van Dick & Wagner, 2001), amotivation
(Dome
nech & Go
mez, 2010), intentions to quit teaching (Skaalvik &
Skaalvik, 2016), and remains a leading cause of teacher turnover
(Torres, 2016). Workload is negatively correlated with self-efficacy,
motivation, and job satisfaction (Dome
nech, 2006; Fernet, Guay,
Sene
cal, & Austin, 2012; Skaalvik & Skaalvik, 2010, 2011, 2016,
2017b, 2017c), and vigor, dedication, and self-rated health
(Hakanen et al., 2006).
Other job stressors are related with teacher-student in-
teractions. Some of these relationships are clearly causes of stress,
such as disruptive class behavior, discipline problems, or teacher-
student conflicts, and were positively correlated to burnout
 E.F. Pogere et al. / Teaching and Teacher Education 85 (2019) 269e280
(Fernet et al., 2012; Otero-Lo
pez et al., 2010; Skaalvik & Skaalvik,
2011, 2017c; Spilt, Koomen, & Thijs, 2011). At the opposite end of
the spectrum, several authors have examined classroom in-
teractions that enhance teachers’ wellbeing and buffer against
burnout. As Spilt et al. (2011, p. 460) have pointed out, personal
healthy relationships with their students afford teachers internal
rewards, give meaning to their work, and are often mentioned as
one of the core reasons for staying in the profession.
Thus, Jennings and Greenberg (2009) analyzed teachers' social
and emotional competence. Socially competent teachers are cultur-
ally sensitive, understand different perspectives and contexts, and
take this in account in their interactions with students. Emotionally
competent teachers recognize and understand the students' emo-
tions as a basis to build strong and supportive relationships with
them. Likewise, Rytivaara and Frelin (2017) suggested that teachers'
practical knowledge is characterized as the understanding of
learners and their characteristics, such as their domestic situation
or personal problems. This knowledge may be the basis for building
the teacher’s emotional bonds in personal relationships with their
students when faced with difficulties, the first step to teacher
commitment in supporting the student.
Similarly, Cross and Hong (2012) analyzed the characteristics of
empathetic teachers, and found it quite common that teachers, on
the knowledge that their students undergo negative family and
social influences, carry out multiple supportive relationships and
roles, such as teacher, caregiver, advocate, friend, or model. Like-
wise, according to Eldor and Shoshani (2016), the construct of
compassion in the workplace can be characterized as an attitude
toward other cognitions, feelings, and behaviors that are focused on
caring, concern, and an orientation toward supporting, especially
when the other is perceived to be suffering or in need. This concept
was also related with justice-oriented education (Boylan & Woosley,
2015; Conklin, 2008), focusing on the role of teachers in promoting
practices for social transformation in order to increase justice and
equity in society, especially in ethnical, socially, culturally, or
economically diverse classrooms.
As Kyriacou (2001) has indicated, the most widespread measure
of teacher stress has been the self-report questionnaires. To assess
teachers' job stressors, the Inventory of Occupational Stressors for
Secondary Education Teachers was applied (Otero-Lo
pez et al.,
2006). This instrument was explicitly designed to assess second-
ary teachers' stress and evaluates some of the most researched job
stressors, such as work overload, student motivation and charac-
teristics, student disruptive attitudes and behavior, or educational
changes imposed by the administration. This scale was previously
applied to measure secondary teachers’ stressors (Otero-Lo
pez
et al., 2010, 2014, 2006; Otero-Lo
pez et al., 2008; Villardefrancos,
Santiago, Castro, Ache
, & Otero-Lo
pez, 2012).
In the present study, two stressors were analyzed. The first was
work overload, operationalized as the mandatory fulfillment of
activities, such as carrying out unimportant and/or non-academic
tasks, attending extensive meetings, doing different tasks simul-
taneously, or carrying work home (henceforth, “work overload”).
The second construct measured stress caused by certain challenges
related to the concerns of learners, such as students' difficult so-
cioeconomic situation, low academic aspirations, or school atten-
dance problems, and the teacher’s limited time to pay attention to
the students' personal problems (henceforth, “concern for stu-
dents”). The latter stressor has received little attention in the
literature in line with some of the previously mentioned constructs,
such as practical knowledge, empathy, or compassion. Work over-
load is the paradigm of distress or negative stress; on the contrary,
we hypothesized that concern for students would be an example of
eustress or positive stress.
273
2.5. Relations between variables: research hypotheses
Different authors proposed theoretical models of relations be-
tween some of the variables evaluated in this study. Thus, according
Folkman and Lazarus (1988), problem-focused and emotion-
focused coping mediated the influence of stressful encounters on
the quality and intensity of emotion. Similarly, active and passive
coping strategies mediated the influence of external stressors (e.g.,
work overload) on teachers’ emotional response and burnout
(Montgomery & Rupp, 2005; Van Dick & Wagner, 2001). Work
stressors influence coping resources, and determine eustress or
distress, which produce positive (e.g., engagement) or negative
outcomes (e.g., counterproductive behaviors) (Hargrove, Becker, &
Hargrove, 2015). The level of work burnout can be associated with
job demands (e.g., work overload) (Schaufeli & Bakker, 2004), and
with personal resources (e.g., coping strategies) (Troesch & Bauer,
2017).
Bearing in mind these and other theoretical models, this study
analyzed the relationships between two stressors (i.e., concern for
students and work overload), four coping strategies (i.e., two
problem-focused and two emotion-focused), emotional exhaustion
as the core of burnout, and three autonomy supportive/suppressive
behaviors (choice, relevance, and control) in a sample of secondary
teachers. Fig. 1 shows the main expected relationships. The
following summarizes previous research on constructs similar to
those of the present study, as a partial basis for formulating the
hypotheses.
2.5.1. Concern for students, coping, exhaustion, and autonomy
support
Some studies have analyzed the relationships between some
constructs, similar to concern for students, with other variables
among teachers. Foley and Murphy (2015) found that “helpful and
cooperative” teacher-student relationships protected secondary
teachers from emotional exhaustion. Similarly, Van Droogenbroeck
et al. (2014) found that the positive relationships with students
(e.g., respect) was a negative predictor of teachers’ emotional
exhaustion. Cross and Hong (2012) also showed that deep knowl-
edge of students tended to mitigate teacher burnout.
Taking into account these results, it was hypothesized that
concern for students would positively correlate with problem-
focused coping, choice, and relevance, and would negatively
correlate with emotion-focused coping, exhaustion, and control.
2.5.2. Work overload, coping, exhaustion, and autonomy support
Teachers’ emotional exhaustion was positively related with

nech, 2009; Dome
nech &
work overload (Avanzi et al., 2018; Dome
Fig. 1. Hypothesized model of the main relations between the variables of the study.
274 E.F. Pogere et al. / Teaching and Teacher Education 85 (2019) 269e280

mez, 2010; Fernet et al., 2012; Gomes, Faria, & Gonçalves, 2013;
Go
Gomes et al., 2006; Gonza
lez-Morales, Peiro

, Rodríguez, & Bliese,
2012; Hakanen et al., 2006; Kokkinos, 2007; Maslach, 2003; Van
Droogenbroeck et al., 2014), time pressure (Skaalvik & Skaalvik,
2016; 2017a, b, c), and time constraints (Kokkinos, 2007).
Based on these findings, it was hypothesized that work overload
would be positively associated with emotion-focused coping,
exhaustion, and control, and would be negatively associated with
problem-focused coping, choice, and relevance.
2.5.3. Coping strategies, exhaustion, autonomy support
Teachers’ emotional exhaustion was negatively related with
problem-focused or adaptive coping (e.g., planning and active
coping), and was positively associated with emotion-focused
coping (e.g., behavioral disengagement and denial) (Dome
nech &
Go
mez, 2010; Foley & Murphy, 2015; Hastingns & Brown, 2002;
Parker et al., 2012).
On the basis of these results, it was hypothesized that problem-
focused coping would positively correlate with choice and rele-
vance, and would negatively correlate with exhaustion and control.
The inverse pattern of relationships was expected for emotion-
focused coping: these strategies would positively correlate with
exhaustion and control, and would negatively correlate with choice
and relevance.
2.5.4. Exhaustion and autonomy support
Sierens et al. (2012) found that psychologically controlling
teaching was positively related with emotional exhaustion. On the
contrary, emotional exhaustion was a negative predictor of auton-
omy support (providing choice and rationale) (Shen et al., 2015;
Van den Berge et al., 2014).
Based on this research, it was hypothesized that emotional
exhaustion would be positively associated with control and would
be negatively associated with choice and relevance.
2.5.5. Mediated relations between variables
As mentioned above, Folkman and Lazarus (1988) predicted that
problem-focused and emotion-focused coping mediated the re-
lationships from stressful events to the emotions experienced.
Sierens et al. (2012) found that emotional exhaustion mediated the
effects of constraints at work on control.
Hence, it was hypothesized that coping strategies would
mediate the influence of stressors on exhaustion. Exhaustion would
mediate the influence of coping strategies on autonomy support/
suppression. Finally, exhaustion and coping strategies would
mediate the influence of stressors on autonomy support/
suppression.
3. Method
3.1. Participants and procedure
The sample of the present study consisted of 251 in-service
lower and upper secondary education teachers (K7 to K12) from
Portuguese public schools. The most frequent age category re-
ported by participants ranged from 35 to 45 years (49%), with 65%
of participants being female (n ¼ 164). With regard to teachers’
educational attainment, 82.1% reported having a bachelor degree,
15.5% a master degree, and 2% a PhD. degree. These demographic
characteristics of the sample (age group, gender, and educational
achievement) were broadly in line with the general secondary
teaching population in Portugal (DGEEC, 2018). The teachers of the
sample taught science (e.g., biology, physics or chemistry), tech-
nology, mathematics, computer science, geography, history,
Portuguese language, philosophy, music, or foreign languages (e.g.,
English, French or Spanish), among others.
First, participating schools were randomly sampled, taking the
school roster, mainly from North and Central Portugal. Second, all
teachers from each selected school were requested to collaborate,
and were given the corresponding questionnaires. All participants
freely volunteered to take part in the study. A paper and pencil
questionnaire was administered during the middle of the school
year that took approximately 15 min to complete. The percentage of
teachers responding to the questionnaires ranged from 20% to 65%
of the total for each selected school.
3.2. Measures
3.2.1. Job stressors
To assess teachers' work stressors, two subscales were applied
of the Inventory of Occupational Stressors for Secondary Education
Teachers (IELPS) designed by Otero-Lo
pez et al. (2006). Each of the
two subscales contained four items. All of the items were assessed
in relation to the degree of tension they generated in teachers. The
first subscale, named by the authors as “Students' motivation, at-
titudes, and characteristics”, assessed the teacher’s concern for
students, presenting situations such as “The poor economic cir-
cumstances of several of my students” or “The lack of time to tackle
the individual problems of my students.” The second subscale,
named by the authors as “Work overload in teaching”, assessed
work overload valuing situations such as “Spent a lot of time in
meetings” or “The fact that irrelevant tasks interfere in my pro-
fession.” In both subscales, participants responded on a 5-point
scale ranging from 0 (It causes me no tension) to 4 (It causes me a
lot of tension). Previous research applied these subscales to measure
secondary teachers' stressors (Otero-Lo
pez et al., 2008, 2010, 2014,
2006; Villardefrancos et al., 2012), with adequate reliability and
validity characteristics. In the present study, the reliability indices
(Cronbach’s alpha) were a ¼ 0.83 for concern for students and
a ¼ 0.82 for work overload.
3.2.2. Coping strategies
To assess teachers' strategies for coping with stress, we applied
four scales of the Brief COPE Inventory designed by Carver (1997).
Each coping strategy contained two items. Two of these strategies
were currently considered as problem-focused strategies, such as
active coping (e.g. “I’ve been concentrating my efforts on doing
something about the situation I’m in”), and planning (e.g., “I’ve
been trying to come up with a strategy about what to do”). The
other two strategies were examples of emotion-focused strategies,
such as self-distraction or mental disengagement (e.g., I've been
turning to work or other activities to take my mind off things”), and
denial (e.g., I've been saying to myself: this is not real”). Participants
responded on a 4-point scale, ranging from 1 (I haven’t been doing
this at all) to 4 (I’ve been doing this a lot). Previous research applied
this scale to assess coping strategies among teachers (Briones et al.,
2010; Faulk et al., 2013; Foley & Murphy, 2015; Griffith et al., 1999;
Hastingns & Brown, 2002; Kahn et al., 2012; Marque
s et al., 2005),
showing excellent psychometric characteristics. In the present
study, reliability indices were a ¼ 0.80 for active coping, a ¼ 0.77 for
planning, a ¼ 0.77 for self-distraction, and a ¼ 0.79 for denial.
3.2.3. Burnout: emotional exhaustion
In order to assess teacher burnout, the Maslach and cols. Burnout
Inventory-Educators Survey (MBI-ES) was applied as proposed by
Maslach et al. (1996). In this study, the emotional exhaustion sub-
scale was applied. As stated above, this most recognized dimension
of burnout is characterized as a feeling of being emotionally
 E.F. Pogere et al. / Teaching and Teacher Education 85 (2019) 269e280 275

overextended. Emotional exhaustion was assessed with 9 items 4. Results

such as “I feel emotionally drained from my work” or “I feel like I’m
at the end of my rope”. Teachers rated all the items on a 7-point 4.1. Preliminary analyses
frequency scale ranging from 0 (never) to 6 (always). Previous
studies applied this subscale to assess teachers' burnout (Skaalvik & In terms of relationships between constructs (see Table 1), both
Skaalvik, 2011, 2016, 2017b; Dicke et al., 2015; Santavirta et al., stressors (r ¼ 0.57), both problem-focused coping strategies
2007; Voss et al., 2017), even with Portuguese samples (Gomes (r ¼ 0.52), both emotion-focused strategies (r ¼ 0.70), and both
et al., 2013, 2006; Marque
s et al., 2005; Sampaio, Marque
s, & indicators of autonomy-support (r ¼ 0.46) were positively
Maro^co, 2017), showing good reliability and validity indices. In correlated.
the present work, the reliability index for emotional exhaustion Concern for students was uncorrelated with most of the vari-
was a ¼ 0.92. ables, and poorly correlated with active coping and control. By
contrast, work overload was positively associated with denial, self-
distraction, and exhaustion, was negatively correlated with choice
3.2.4. Autonomy support/suppression and relevance, and was uncorrelated with active coping and plan-
To assess teachers' autonomy support, we applied the Teacher ning. Both problem-focused coping strategies positively correlated
Report of the scale of Autonomy Support, included in the Teacher as with choice and relevance, and negatively correlated with
Social Context (TaSC) questionnaire (Wellborn et al., 1992). We exhaustion and control. Both emotion-focused strategies showed
applied three subscales, each of which included three items. Two an inverse pattern of relationships: a positive correlation with
subscales assessed two components of autonomy-support, i.e., exhaustion and control, and negative associations with choice and
choice and relevance. Choice assessed the extent to which the relevance. Finally, emotional exhaustion positively correlated with
teacher encouraged students to follow their own interests or pro- control, and negatively with choice and relevance.
vided options in academic tasks (e.g., “I try to give students a lot of
choices about classroom assignments”). Relevancy evaluated how 4.2. Measurement model
much rationale for learning activities was provided by the teacher
(e.g., “I explain to students why we learn certain things in school”). Due to the complexity of the hypothesized relationships be-
The third subscale evaluated the main component of autonomy- tween variables, a two-step approach was used to confirm the final
suppressing behaviors, i.e., control. Control measured the level of model, in line with procedures described by Byrne (2010).
teacher’s coercion and direction exerted through authority (e.g., The first step was to test the measurement model through CFA
“When it comes to assignments, I’m always having to tell students using the AMOS 22 software. For CFA and SEM analyses, two
what to do”). In all three subscales, participants responded on a 4- composite constructs were created: two coping strategies, planning
point scale ranging from 1 (not at all true) to 4 (very true). These and and active coping, were collapsed as “problem-focused”; similarly,
other subscales of the TaSC were previously applied to assess the two other coping strategies, self-distraction and denial, were
teachers' autonomy-support (Leflot et al., 2010; Reeve et al., 2018; termed “emotion-focused”. Therefore, the CFA included eight latent
Taylor & Ntoumanis, 2007; Taylor et al., 2008; Van den Berge et al., constructs and 25 indicators.
2014), and exhibited adequate reliability and validity characteris- All indicators obtained asymmetry and kurtosis indices below
tics. In the present study, the reliability indices were a ¼ 0.83 for j1.96j, confirming the univariate normality assumption (Byrne,
choice, a ¼ 0.85 for relevance, and a ¼ 0.88 for control. 2010). The measurement model, with covariances among all con-
structs, fitted the data well [c2/df ¼ 1.39, CFI ¼ 0.960, TLI ¼ 0.961;
RMSEA ¼ 0.040 (CI ¼ 030, 049); SRMR ¼ 0.047]. The standardized
3.3. Outline of data analyses factor loadings, representing the relationships between the in-
dicators and the latent variables, ranged from 0.500 to 0.956 and all
In this study, data analyses involved tree steps. Firstly, CFA were were statistically significant (p < .001). The correlations between
performed to test the adequacy of each applied subscale, and the latent constructs were very similar to the Pearson’s correlations
Cronbach’s alpha calculated. Furthermore, the Pearson correlations between manifest variables (see Table 1).
between variables were calculated.
Secondly, structural equation models (SEM) were applied to test
4.3. Structural model
the proposed model of relations between variables (Fig. 1),
following the two-step approach, estimating the measurement
Thereafter, a SEM was performed to corroborate the initial hy-
model and the structural model (Byrne, 2010). In the first step, a
potheses regarding the relationships between variables (Fig. 1). The
CFA provided information on the construct validity of the mea-
surement model by examining the links between indicators or
items and factors or constructs. The second step determined Table 1
whether the hypothesized structural model fitted the data. Bivariate Pearson’s correlations between variables.
Finally, the mediated relations between variables were analyzed 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
using bootstrap method (Preacher & Hayes, 2008). Mediation
1.Concern for students e
analysis attempts to identify an intermediary process (mediator) 2.Work overload .57 e
between an independent variable (predictor) and a dependent 3.Active coping .14 -.01 e
variable (criterion). 4.Planning .01 -.09 .52 e
As goodness-of-fit indices in CFA and SEM, the following were 5.Denial .10 .27 -.17 -.19 e
e
used (Byrne, 2010): chi-square divided by degrees of freedom (c2/ 6.Self-distraction .01 .25 -.10 -.16 .70
7.Emotional exhaustion .14 .49 -.26 -.32 .59 .54 e
df), the comparative fit index (CFI), the Tucker-Lewis Index (TLI), the 8.Choice .05 -.15 .25 .22 -.28 -.29 -.34 e
root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA), and the stan- 9.Relevance .03 -.16 .39 .39 -.22 -.21 -.35 .46 e
dardized root mean square residual (SRMR). For both CFI and TLI, 10.Control .17 .31. -.15 -.17 .24 .23 .44 -.17 -.09
values greater than 0.90 indicated a good fit. Values below 0.08 for Note: r < 0.13, not significant; r > 0.13, significant at p < .05; r > 0.16, significant at
RMSEA and SRMR indicated an acceptable fit. p < .01.
276 E.F. Pogere et al. / Teaching and Teacher Education 85 (2019) 269e280
indices revealed that the model fitted the data well [c2/df ¼ 1.50;
CFI ¼ 0.958; TLI ¼ 950; RMSEA ¼ 0.045(CI ¼ 0.036, 0.054);
SRMR ¼ 0.061]. Fig. 2 shows the direct standardized paths between
variables.
Concern for students was positively associated with problem-
focused coping (b ¼ 0.28, p < .01), and negatively with emotional
exhaustion (b ¼ 0.20, p < .05), and emotion-focused coping
(b ¼ 0.28, p < .01). In contrast, work overload was positively
associated with emotion-focused coping (b ¼ 0.52, p < .001), and
emotional exhaustion (b ¼ 0.49, p < .001), and was negatively
associated with problem-focused coping (b ¼ 0.24, p < .05).
Problem-focused strategies were positively associated with
choice (b ¼ 0.23, p < .05), and relevance (b ¼ 0.44, p < .001), and
negatively with exhaustion (b ¼ 0.19, p < .05). In comparison,
emotion-focused coping strategies positively correlated with
emotional exhaustion (b ¼ 0.48, p < .001), and negatively with
choice (b ¼ 0.22, p < .05). Finally, emotional exhaustion was
positively associated with control (b ¼ 0.37, p < .001). The pro-
portions of explained variance were 5% for problem-focused stra-
tegies, 16% for emotion-focused strategies, 61% for emotional
exhaustion, 22% for choice, 32% for relevance, and 23% for control.
4.4. Mediated relationships
Finally, the last step of data analyses was to establish the partial
and total mediation among variables. The AMOS 22 software
computed the indirect effects, and the significance of a specific
effect was determined by the bootstrapping confidence interval
(Preacher & Hayes, 2008). The results are summarized in Table 2.
Problem-focused and emotion-focused coping strategies
partially mediated the influence of concern for students
(b ¼ 0.188, p ¼ .012), and work overload (b ¼ 0.298, p ¼ .001) on
emotional exhaustion (see the top of Table 2). The mediated effects
(through emotional exhaustion) from problem-focused strategies
to choice and relevance, and from emotion-focused strategies to
choice were not significant.
In some other paths (see the bottom of Table 2), the data support
the existence of full mediation. Problem- and emotion-focused
strategies and emotional exhaustion mediated the effects of
concern for students on choice (b ¼ 0.153, p ¼ .002), relevance,
(b ¼ 0.187, p ¼ .003), and control (b ¼ 0.165, p ¼ .001). Both coping
Fig. 2. Model of relationships among variables (standardized regression coefficients).
Only significant paths were depicted.
strategies and exhaustions also mediated the effects of work
overload on choice (b ¼ 0.227, p ¼ .004), relevance (b ¼ 0.236,
p ¼ .007), and control (b ¼ 0.313, p ¼ .001). Emotional exhaustion
mediated the effect of problem-focused (b ¼ 0.072, p ¼ .001) and
emotion-focused strategies (b ¼ 0.181, p ¼ .001) on control. The
indirect effect of emotion-focused strategies on relevance (through
exhaustion) was not significant.
The total effects from concern for students to control, from
problem-focused coping to control, and from emotion-focused
coping to relevance were not significant.
5. Discussion
The aims of this study was to contrast two stressors and two
types of coping strategies, and to analyze their predictive power on
burnout and autonomy support in a sample of compulsory sec-
ondary education teachers. Previously, the adequacy of the applied
measurement instruments had been determined, and the different
CFA showed that the theoretical structure of the applied subscales
fitted the data well, with adequate reliability indices.
5.1. Theoretical implications
The first stressor to be assessed was teachers' concern for the
socioeconomic and academic situation of their learners, and for the
teacher’s limited time to pay attention to the students' personal
problems. The teachers more concerned for their students also
applied more problem-focused coping strategies (active coping and
planning), offered their students more possibilities of choice, and
made explicit the relevance of the academic tasks, specifying rea-
sons for learning. These most concerned teachers also used less
frequently emotion-focused coping strategies (denial and self-
distraction), and experienced lower levels of emotional exhaus-
tion in their work. These results are partially in line with previous
research (Cross & Hong, 2012; Foley & Murphy, 2015; Van
Droogenbroeck et al., 2014). Furthermore, Day and Hong (2016)
underscore the importance of the teachers' sense of vocation and
moral purpose (“living on the edge”) in facing extreme challenges
posed by some learners, such as students' lack of academic aspi-
rations or school absenteeism, reduced parental involvement in
students' learning, or limited home caring and support.
An entirely different stressor is work overload. The most over-
loaded teachers showed the opposite pattern of outcomes
compared with the instructors most concerned for their students.
Overloaded teachers applied most commonly emotion-focused
coping strategies, showed more emotional exhaustion, and exer-
ted more intense control over their students; complementary, they
applied less problem-focused coping strategies and offered their
students less possibilities of choice and reasons for learning. Pre-
vious studies have also shown that work overload is a potent pre-
dictor of teachers’ emotional exhaustion (Avanzi et al., 2018;
Dome
nech, 2009; Dome
nech & Go
mez, 2010; Fernet et al., 2012;
Gonza
lez-Morales et al., 2012; Hakanen et al., 2006; Kokkinos,
2007; Van Droogenbroeck et al., 2014).
In short, these two stressors lead to opposite outcomes among
teachers, even though both stressors were positive and intensely
related (with correlations from 0.57 to 0.72). Lazarus (1993b, p. 9)
provides a plausible explanation for this peculiar association be-
tween stressors and strategies. The author stated that coping de-
pends on appraisal of whether anything can be done to change the
stressful situation. If the appraisal concludes something can be
done, problem-focused strategies predominate; if the appraisal
concludes nothing can be done, emotion-focused coping is more
probable. In the present study, it would appear that many teachers
from the sample felt they could help to mitigate (to some extent)
 E.F. Pogere et al. / Teaching and Teacher Education 85 (2019) 269e280 277

Table 2
Indirect and total effects on emotional exhaustion, choice, relevance, and control.

Predictor / Criterion Indirect effect Total effect (p)

a b
Sum (p) CI

Partial mediation
Concern for students / Exhaustion -.188 (.001) -.342, .074 -.384 (.01)
Work overload / Exhaustion .298 (.001) .190, .439 .793 (.001)
Full mediation
Concern for students / Choice .153 (.002) .057, .302 .344 (.002)
Concern for students / Relevance .187 (.003) .067, .369 .321 (.006)
Concern for students / Control -.165 (.001) -.308, .073 -.042 (ns)
Work overload / Choice -.227 (.004) -.401, .078 -.419(.001)
Work overload / Relevance -.236 (.007) -.446, .065 -.409(.002)
Work overload / Control .313 (.001) .176, .489 .380 (.001)
Problem-focused / Control -.072 (.001) -.143, .024 -.153 (ns)
Emotion-focused / Control .181 (.001) .075, .293 .175 (.02)

Notes: (a) The probability associated with the sum of standardized indirect effects was estimated using the two-sided bias-corrected confidence interval bootstrap test
of AMOS 22 (confidence level ¼ 95%; samples ¼ 5000). (b) CI ¼ Confidence Interval. (ns) ¼ no significance.

the difficult socioeconomic and academic situation of some of their exhausted.

students; on the other hand, they felt they were less able to modify
specific aspects of an educational system that forced them to
5.2. Applications for teacher education
perform too often non-academic tasks. In view of the results ob-
tained, the concern for students might seem to be an example of
In line with previous research, the present study assessed a
teachers’ stress positively influencing behavior or eustress (Evers,
model including different factors that safeguard from or generate
Tomic, & Brouwers, 2004; Mutjaba, 2013; Mutjaba & Reiss, 2013),
burnout; and analyzed the outcomes of teacher burnout. The
in contrast to work overload, a stress negatively influencing
findings have implications for both pre-service and in-service
behavior or distress.
teacher education.
Similarly, the two types of coping strategies measured showed
This study has highlighted the positive outcomes associated to
an inverse pattern of relationships. Active coping and planning
the so-called teachers' concern for students, a construct closely
negatively correlated with the teachers’ experience of emotional
associated to other concepts related to positive teacher-student
exhaustion, and were positively associated with the provision of
interactions, such as emotional competence, practical knowledge,
choice and relevance. Inversely, denial and self-distraction of
compassion, empathetic teaching, or justice-oriented education.
stressful situations were positively correlated with emotional
Different authors, such as Rytivaara and Frelin (2017) or Spilt et al.
exhaustion and control imposed in the class, and simultaneously
(2011) recognized that teacher-student relationships is one of the
negatively related with opportunities of choice. These results

nech & Go
mez, 2010; Foley most difficult skills in teaching and require more attention
corroborated previous research (Dome
throughout the education system. Hence, teacher educators and
& Murphy, 2015; Hastingns & Brown, 2002; Parker et al., 2012;
school administrators need to understand the critical role of beliefs
Sierens et al., 2012; Van den Berghe et al., 2014). Finally, exhausted
and feelings about classroom relationships as well as how teachers
teachers significantly increased the control over their students, in
can be equipped with adequate resources to interact with their
line with previous research (Shen et al., 2015; Sierens et al., 2012).
students. Thereupon, pre-service teachers need explicit training in
However, another main contribution of this study was the
the necessary skills and strategies to build and maintain adequate
mediating role of coping strategies and emotional exhaustion
interactions with their students. Both, the consideration of teacher-
(Table 2). The teachers more concerned for their students also
student relationships as a core aspect of the teaching profession
experienced less exhaustion (in part) because they used more
and the provision of adequate support and strategies to enhance
problem-focused strategies and less emotion-focused strategies.
relational pedagogy, will contribute to educational outcomes
Inversely, the most overloaded teachers experienced more
because good relationships between teachers and students are
emotional exhaustion (in part) because they applied more
central for learning and teaching (Spilt et al., 2011). As Cross and
emotion-focused strategies and less problem-focused strategies.
Hong (2012) recognized, given that most societies are becoming
This result supported the forecast from Folkman and Lazarus (1988)
increasingly multicultural and heterogeneous, ensuring that
who predicted that problem-focused and emotion-focused coping
teachers develop a deeper understanding of the culture and his-
mediated the relationships from stressful events to the experienced
tories of their students and families will support their ability to be
emotions.
empathetic. According to these authors, promoting equity-oriented
Teachers who used more often active coping and planning
beliefs about all students within teacher education programs can
exerted less control over students because they experienced less
serve to anchor teachers’ professional identities creating a psy-
emotional exhaustion. On the contrary, teachers who applied more
chological mechanism to help teachers interpret challenges
frequently strategies of denial and self-distraction exerted more
meaningfully and deal more adaptively with highly emotional
control over learners because they were more exhausted.
situations.
Finally, teachers more concerned for their students offered
In line with previous work, the present study found that work
learners more opportunities of choice and relevance because they
overload was a negative stressor. This result suggested that efforts
applied more problem-focused and less emotion-focused strate-
aimed at reducing job demands should be a primary concern for
gies, and because they were less exhausted. By contrast, the most
schools (Hakanen et al., 2006). Thus, Van Droogenbroeck et al.
overloaded teachers offered less choice and relevance and exerted
(2014) stated that non-teaching-related workload diminishes
more control because they applied more emotion-focused and less
teachers' autonomy and, as strategies to reduce work overload,
problem-focused strategies, and because they were more
these authors urged to involve teachers in school policy-decisions.
278 E.F. Pogere et al. / Teaching and Teacher Education 85 (2019) 269e280
These authors also question whether pre-service teachers are suf-
ficiently prepared for the administrative component of the teaching
profession. Furthermore, Torres (2016) argued that principals could
clearly lessen teachers' work overload looking at ways to protect
teachers’ time and reduce as much as possible their tasks and
responsibilities.
5.3. Limitations and directions for future research
Although this study was carefully designed and undertaken, the
findings should be interpreted with caution given their limitations.
The first limitation is related to certain potentially cultural and
local intervening factors of the analyzed sample. Undoubtedly, the
Portuguese education system may have differentiated characteris-
tics, rules, norms, and organizational climate as compared to other
countries. Notwithstanding, recent research analyzing the variables
measured in the present study found similar results with compa-
rable samples of teachers from Portugal (Gomes et al., 2013, 2006;
Marque
s et al., 2005; Sampaio et al., 2017), Spain (Briones et al.,
2010; Dome
nech, 2006, 2009; Dome
nech & Go
mez, 2010; Otero-
Lo
pez et al., 2008, 2010, 2014), and another countries of the Euro-
pean Union.
Second, as the data collected relied on self-report surveys, the
relationships between variables may be influenced by the common
variance bias. Self-report measures are typically used to study the
evaluated variables, as was evidenced in the theoretical framework
of the present study. However, other instruments could also be
used to obtain data, such as trained raters assessing classroom in-
teractions from videotaped recordings (Jang et al., 2010; Reeve &
Jang, 2006; Stroet et al., 2015), or comparing students' and in-
structors’ perceptions of teacher burnout and coping strategies
(Evers et al., 2004).
Third, although several theoretical and empirical studies have
provided support for the proposed model, the possibility of inverse
or reciprocal relationships between variables cannot be excluded.
Even though previous research analyzed teachers’ coping strategies
or burnout with cross-sectional designs applying SEM (Avanzi et al.,
2018; Parker & Martin, 2009; Parker et al., 2012; Skaalvik &
Skaalvik, 2017a, b), this research design does not allow causal in-
ferences between variables to be established. Some recent studies
analyzed similar constructs using longitudinal designs (Schuitema
et al., 2016; Stroet et al., 2015; Yu et al., 2016), a procedure more
adequate for drawing causal relationships.
Finally, this study examined a limited number of significant
examples of relevant variables. Future research could assess other
teachers’ stressors (Paquette & Rieg, 2016), coping strategies (Foley
& Murphy, 2015), components of burnout (Skaalvik & Skaalvik,
2017a), and instructional behaviors supporting autonomy (Reeve
& Jang, 2006).
6. Conclusion
Mainly, this work showed the benefits derived from a good
teachers' job stressor (concern for students) and an adaptive type of
coping strategies (problem-focused) in contrast to the negative
outcomes resulting from a bad job stressor (work overload) and a
maladaptive kind of coping strategy (emotion-focused). Concern
for students and problem-focused strategies were positively
related, minimized teachers’ emotional exhaustion, and maximized
the provision of relevance and choice. Finally, work overload and
emotion-focused coping were positively correlated, enhanced
exhaustion and control, and lowered opportunities of choice.
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