TITLE:
Teacher Emotions in Primary and Secondary Education: Effects of Self-Efficacy and Collective-Efficacy, and Problem-Solving Appraisal as a Moderating Mechanism
AUTHORS:
Georgia Stephanou, Anastasia Oikonomou
KEYWORDS:
Emotions, Efficacy Beliefs, Problem-Solving Appraisal, Teacher, Teaching Level
JOURNAL NAME:
Psychology,
Vol.9 No.4,
April
30,
2018
ABSTRACT: This study aimed to examine: 1) teachers’ self-reported emotions experienced at school, problem-solving appraisal, self-efficacy and school collective-efficacy; 2) the effects of self-efficacy on the formulation of collective-efficacy and problem-solving appraisal, and on the impact of problem-solving appraisal on collective-efficacy; 3) the influential role of efficacy beliefs, problem-solving appraisal and their inter-effects in the emotions; and 4) the effect of teaching level (primary/secondary school) in the examined concepts. The sample consists of 256 primary and secondary school teachers, 92 men and 164 women, who came from various Greek state schools. Data were collected at the middle of a school year, and they were analyzed between and within groups across all constructs. The results revealed: 1) teachers experienced positive emotions from moderate to high intensity, and negative emotions from low to high intensity, particularly context-, task- and self-related; 2) a moderate to high sense of both efficacy beliefs and problem-solving appraisal (except for personal control that was low); 3) while problem-solving appraisal influenced collective-efficacy, its effect was to a significant extent mediated by self-efficacy; 4) self-efficacy, problem-solving appraisal and collective-efficacy had complimentary impact on the emotions, with self-efficacy being the most powerful formulator of most of them; and 5) the primary school teachers, compared to secondary school teachers, felt more intense positive emotions, had a stronger sense of school collective-efficacy and reported lower impulsive and personal control in problem-solving. The findings are discussed with respect to their practical applications and future research.