Teachers’ Emotional Intelligence, Burnout, Work Engagement, and Self-Efficacy during COVID-19 Lockdown

Abstract

Teachers’ psychological well-being is a crucial aspect that influences learning in a classroom climate. The aim of the study was to investigate teachers’ emotional intelligence, burnout, work engagement, and self-efficacy in times of remote teaching during COVID-19 lockdown. A sample of 65 teachers (Mage = 50.49), from early childhood through lower secondary education, were recruited during a period of school closure to answer self-report questionnaires and other measures assessing study variables. Results showed that during the COVID-19 pandemic, teachers reported higher levels of burnout and lower levels of self-esteem due to multiple challenges related to remote teaching and the growing sense of insecurity regarding health safety in the school environment. However, the negative effects of COVID-19 on teachers’ self-efficacy, work engagement, and burnout varied according to their own levels of emotional intelligence. These results demonstrate that emotional intelligence may support teachers in facing these challenges.

The role of teachers' socio-emotional competence in reducing burnout through increased work engagement

“…Specifically, consistent with the literature, teachers with higher levels of perceived stress also had higher levels of burnout (Rey et al, 2016;Bottiani et al, 2019). Furthermore, teachers with higher social-emotional competences tended to be more engaged in their work and to experience lower levels of burnout (Brackett et al, 2010;D'Amico et al, 2020;Geraci et al, 2023), as well as lower levels of stress (Messineo and Tosto, 2023). These associations highlighted their importance in understanding teacher wellbeing and job performance (Lester et al, 2020).…”

“…experienced in difficult and challenging situations-such as the COVID-19 pandemic. In this way, high competence helped to maintain good levels of work engagement and reduced the risk of burnout (Geraci et al, 2023).…”

“…Within this situation, possessing high emotional skills came in handy and allowed for cushioning the impact of perceived stress on teacher's mental health. In this regard, the negative effect of COVID-19 on teachers' work engagement and burnout was found to be associated with their level of emotional intelligence: high levels of emotional intelligence were related to greater work engagement and lower levels of burnout (Geraci et al, 2023).…”

“…The effect of perceived stress on burnout is amplified in difficult and challenging situations, as emerged world-wide during the COVID-19 pandemic (Lizana et al, 2021;Pellerone, 2021;Vargas Rubilar and Oros, 2021;Levante et al, 2023). In a recent study, Geraci et al (2023) found that the pandemic emergency did indeed increase the risk of teachers' burnout and negatively impacted their level of work engagement, which is a persistent, positive and satisfying work-related mental state, characterized by vigor, absorption and dedication to work activities (Schaufeli et al, 2002).…”

Exploring positive teacher-student relationships: the synergy of teacher mindfulness and emotional intelligence

“…Instructors with greater EI tend to exhibit greater empathy, understanding, and responsiveness to their students’ emotional needs, which can lead to increased student engagement and a sense of belonging in the classroom ( Mortiboys, 2013 ; Keefer et al, 2018 ). Also, research has shown that teachers with greater emotional intelligence tend to have lower levels of burnout and stress, which can positively influence their job satisfaction and overall well-being ( Mérida-López and Extremera, 2017 ; Greenier et al, 2021 ; Derakhshan et al, 2023 ; Geraci et al, 2023 ). The impact of teacher emotional intelligence on student outcomes has also been investigated in several studies.…”