Teaching is fundamentally an interactive endeavor, involving continuous emotional exchanges. Drawing on social exchange theory, this study examined how teachers’ perception of faculty trust influences their work engagement through interpersonal emotion regulation. Teachers’ interpersonal emotion regulation is differentiated between intrinsic (self-targeted) and extrinsic (other-targeted) interpersonal emotion regulation to capture both internal and relational dimensions of emotional exchange. A sample of 987 primary and secondary school teachers in China participated in an online survey. Structural equation modeling with mediation analysis revealed that teachers’ faculty trust was positively associated with intrinsic and extrinsic interpersonal emotion regulation, as well as with work engagement. Mediation analyses revealed that faculty trust was indirectly related to work engagement through extrinsic interpersonal emotion regulation alone, and sequentially through intrinsic interpersonal emotion regulation, followed by extrinsic interpersonal emotion regulation. By conceptualizing interpersonal emotion regulation as a social exchange mechanism, this study provides a novel theoretical perspective on understanding teachers’ emotional interactions at school, offering practical implications in teachers’ professional relationships and work engagement.
This paper examines teachers’ constructive support in dyadic teacher-student interactions and explores interindividual differences in teacher support depending on student characteristics. We developed an observational tool that assesses the duration and valence of teachers’ constructive support according to two facets: socioemotional and instructional support. Observational and survey data from 192 third- and fourth-grade students from 14 classes in 5 award-winning elementary schools in Germany were analyzed. The results show that 74
Digital technologies are increasingly integrated into education, raising concerns about teachers’ digital well-being. This study examined the associations among nomophobia, loneliness, and fear of missing out (FoMO) among Vietnamese teachers. It also explored whether loneliness may represent a potential affective factor associated with the relationship between nomophobia and FoMO. A survey was conducted with 332 primary, lower secondary, and upper secondary school teachers in Vietnam. Mediation analyses using PROCESS Model 4 indicated that nomophobia was positively associated with both loneliness and FoMO, whereas loneliness was also positively associated with FoMO. The findings further suggested an indirect association between nomophobia and FoMO through loneliness. Overall, the findings provide partial support for the Interaction of Person-Affect-Cognition-Execution (I-PACE) model and suggest that affective experiences may be involved in the associations between technology-related anxiety and concerns about missing online experiences. The findings further imply that FoMO among teachers may be understood within the broader context of maintaining professional connectedness in increasingly digitalized educational environments. These findings highlight the importance of considering occupational contexts when examining teachers’ digital well-being.
To address persistent educational disadvantages among rural-to-urban migrant learners, this study examines whether teacher growth mindset is associated with weaker hukou-related differences in students’ academic resilience. Using a multilevel cross-sectional survey design, data were collected from 53 teachers and 1,428 primary school students in China. After controlling for prior academic performance and demographic covariates, migrant hukou status was negatively associated with academic resilience. Teacher growth mindset moderated this association: the estimated hukou-related gap was larger when teacher growth mindset was low and much smaller when teacher growth mindset was high. Multilevel moderated mediation analyses further indicated that teacher expectations statistically mediated the association between teacher growth mindset and student academic resilience, with a stronger indirect effect among migrant students than among local students. Although broader institutional reforms remain necessary, the findings suggest that growth-oriented teacher beliefs and high expectations may be associated with more equitable resilience-related experiences at the classroom level.
Ethnic minority and Indigenous youth represent particularly vulnerable populations for involvement in cyberbullying. The existing literature is marked by conceptual confusion and methodological heterogeneity, highlighting the need for a scoping review to map current research in this area. This systematic scoping review provides an overview of empirical research conducted worldwide on cyberbullying involving ethnic minorities and Indigenous children and adolescents, with the goal of informing future research and offering relevant implications for interventions. The review was conducted in accordance with JBI guidelines, and results were reported following the PRISMA-ScR (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews). The following databases were searched: Academic Search Premier, ERIC, PsychINFO (OVID), PubMed, Scopus, SocINDEX, Web of Science, Medline, and ProQuest. The review included peer-reviewed studies published in English, involving children and adolescents (participants’ mean age below 18 years) identified as ethnic minorities or Indigenous, and reporting data on cyberbullying related to ethnicity or indigeneity. Following a two-stage screening process, 166 articles were selected for inclusion. Findings suggest that research on this topic is expanding. However, literature remains characterized by limited geographical coverage, underrepresentation of ethnic and Indigenous groups, scarce contextual and theoretical positionality, and a predominance of quantitative approaches. A lack of intervention studies and of research addressing identity-based cyberbullying and perpetration is evident. By disentangling and focusing on the role of ethnicity and indigeneity in cyberbullying, this scoping review represents a crucial step toward guiding future research focusing on the development of contextually responsive prevention and intervention strategies.
Racial/ethnic microaggressions in educational settings are subtle daily manifestations of interpersonal racism that may communicate harmful messages and disrespectful behaviors toward students belonging to marginalized groups. Given the pivotal role of schools and universities in students’ emotional, cognitive, and relational growth, it is critical to thoroughly understand the nuanced ways in which racial/ethnic microaggressions may manifest in education through accurate target- and context- specific measurement. In recent years, despite the growing amount of research in this area, there has been no systematic research specifically directed at comparing and analyzing the measurement tools used to assess students’ unique perspectives and experiences in formal educational settings. A systematic literature search on PsychINFO, Web of Science, Scopus, and PubMed was conducted in March 2024 following PRISMA guidelines. The search identified 8,406 papers and a final set of 83 papers has been selected. The specificities of the tools for the context, the theoretical dimensions evaluated, the characteristics of the samples, and the psychometric properties of the measurement tools were examined. The results revealed 28 different tools used in the educational settings to assess racial/ethnic microaggressions. However, only five (17.86
First-generation students are no longer a minority in higher education. However, their experience differs from continuing-generation students in several ways: For example, many of them report a lower sense of belonging and lower study satisfaction. Research has suggested different explaining mechanisms for these findings, one of which are negative stereotypes about the competence of students with lower social status, which, in turn, may lead to social identity threat. However, it is not clear whether and to which extend findings about social status related stereotypes translate to the group of first-generation students - especially not outside of the U.S. In this study, N = 459 German university students reported stereotypes about first-generation students, continuing-generation students, and students in general. Based on a mixed methods approach using qualitative and quantitative data, results indicated that other than expected, first-generation students were perceived as more competent than continuing-generation students and were also ascribed attributes like resilient, independent, and brave. Yet, first-generation students expected the competence of their group to be perceived as lower by others than continuing-generation students did. Furthermore, social identity threat was not related to sense of belonging in first-generation students and sense of belonging was not stronger related to study satisfaction for first-generation students either. However, first-generation students reported a lower sense of belonging than continuing-generation students. Limitations and practical implications are discussed.
The wellbeing of teachers has emerged as a significant global concern, prompting a substantial body of research examining the individual and contextual determinants of factors such as burnout and mental health. Although much research has focused on the precursors of burnout and the factors associated with attrition, comparatively less attention has been given to the role of interpersonal resources in shaping these processes. Harnessing the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) framework the present study sought to extend understanding of how three different forms of social support (teachers’ perceptions of support from colleagues, support from parents, support from supervisors) were associated with teachers’ emotional exhaustion, and in turn, two occupational outcomes: occupational commitment and turnover intentions in a study of 274 Australian primary and secondary school teachers. Of the three forms of support examined, support from supervisors appeared to be particularly useful for supporting teachers to navigate challenge. Specifically, teachers who reported more support from their supervisors also reported lower emotional exhaustion. Comparatively, support from parents appeared to play both a motivational and protective role as it was negatively associated with emotional exhaustion, but also positively associated with occupational commitment. Collectively, the findings echo those made by previous research and support the JD-R model, while demonstrating support from parents as an important job resource for teachers.
Teachers’ socio-emotional competencies (SEC) are known to contribute to their well-being and classroom climate. Yet, little is known about how these competencies interact with their conception of teaching and their implicit theories about emotions. We addressed this gap using a network analysis from 263 preservice teachers to explore the interrelations between preservice teachers’ intra and interpersonal SEC, their conceptions of teaching, and their beliefs about utility, source and malleability of emotions in the classroom. Results show that a constructivist approach to teaching is positively associated with perceiving oneself as a key source of students’ emotional experiences, with this association occurring alongside higher valuation of positive emotions in learning contexts. Intrapersonal SEC is associated with beliefs in the malleability of students’ emotions and co-occurs with teachers’ perceived capacity to support students’ emotional regulation. The central position of malleability beliefs and intrapersonal competencies suggests that these dimensions are highly connected within this system and may represent priorities for future longitudinal or intervention research. Overall, the findings provide a basis for examining how emotional competencies and pedagogical conceptions become translated into classroom practices during teacher development.
Although schools are now called to prepare a generation of globally competent students, little is known about the effectiveness of global competence interventions in the classroom. The current study aimed to examine the effectiveness of a collaborative intervention following a global competence framework in fourth-grade children’s perspectives on two issues: poverty and interculturality. Participants were 248 fourth-grade children (8 to 11 years old) enrolled in public schools in Portugal. Following a quasi-experimental design, classrooms were assigned to a control group or an intervention group. Within the intervention group, classrooms were dedicated either to the topic of poverty or interculturality. Children participated in structured interviews. Concerning poverty, we targeted children’s explanations and solutions to poverty. Concerning interculturality, we targeted references to cultural influences; prejudice; rights, values, and principles; authority and social conventions; and concerns with emotions. Data analysis involved thematic analysis to categorize children’s perspectives and linear and logistic regressions to test the effects of the intervention on perspectives at post-test, controlling for vocabulary and pre-test scores. The poverty intervention had small and positive effects on children’s contextual explanations and negative effects on naïve explanations and individual remediation solutions. No noteworthy effects were found for the intercultural intervention. Findings suggest that a global competence framework may be useful when teaching about social issues in primary school, but more systematic and targeted interventions might be necessary to foster greater effect sizes.
Teachers have a complex, multidimensional system of socially constructed beliefs that shape their practices. Grade retention beliefs, in particular, are embedded within a broader psycho-pedagogical framework and may be reinforced when shared by the teachers’ community. The present study used a person-centred approach to identify teachers’ profiles based on their perceptions of collective teacher culture and grade retention beliefs, to examine how these profiles relate to other psycho-pedagogical beliefs, and to their grade retention intentions and practices. An online questionnaire was completed by 1,597 Portuguese basic education teachers, assessing their beliefs about learning, assessment, intelligence, and grade retention; their intentions and practices regarding grade retention; and their perceptions of collective teacher culture. Latent profile analysis identified six profiles, differentiated by teachers’ perceptions of the collective teacher culture (two weak, two moderate, and two strong), with three profiles supporting grade retention and three sceptical of it. Covariate analyses showed that teachers in the Grade Retention Support profiles reported stronger transmissive and fixed intelligence beliefs, whereas teachers in the Grade Retention Scepticism profiles reported more malleable intelligence beliefs. Teachers in the Strong Collective Teacher Culture profiles also endorsed more transmissive teaching and summative assessment beliefs. Teachers in the Scepticism profiles showed a lower intention to use this practice. The highest grade retention rates were observed within the Weak Collective Teacher Culture and Grade Retention Scepticism profile. These findings highlight the importance of reflective and collaborative practices among teachers to share effective strategies that enhance student success, strengthen collective efficacy, and reduce grade retention rates.
The term involution has been widely adopted by Chinese college students to describe experiences of over-competition and diminishing returns in education. Academic involution appears to provide little developmental benefit while imposing psychological and physiological costs, yet prior research has lacked a clear definition and standardized measurement. Across four studies, we advanced its conceptualization and assessment. Study 1 identified four recurrent features from the literature and confirmed that these also structure public understandings. Building on this foundation, Study 2 developed and validated the Core Academic Involution Scale (CAIS), confirming a three-factor structure with strong psychometric properties. Study 3 demonstrated that the CAIS aligns with students’ lived experiences of academic involution, supporting its ecological validity. Study 4 further examined the nomological network of the CAIS, showing that CAIS scores were higher among individuals with stronger zero-sum beliefs, were associated with higher anxiety, poorer sleep, and lower life satisfaction, and were negligibly associated with creative tendency. Taken together, these studies provide an integrative framework and validated measurement tool for academic involution, laying a foundation for future research on its educational and psychological implications.
Emotional Intelligence (EI) intervention programs have gained increasing attention for their potential to enhance various aspects of individuals’ lives. Within the teaching population, where stress and burnout are prevalent, the efficacy of EI training programs holds particular significance. Despite previous research indicating positive outcomes of EI training, there remains a need to comprehensively evaluate the effectiveness of these interventions within educational settings. This study aims to address this gap by examining the impact of such training programs on teachers’ EI, well-being, and work-related outcomes. A systematic review was conducted, analyzing 27 studies that investigated the efficacy of EI intervention programs among teachers. Overall, the reviewed studies suggest that EI training programs can contribute to improvements in teachers’ emotional competencies and several work-related and well-being outcomes. However, the strength of this evidence is limited by methodological shortcomings, including heterogeneous intervention designs, inconsistent theoretical frameworks, and the predominant use of self-report measures. This review critically synthesizes the existing literature and outlines recommendations to support the development of more theoretically grounded and methodologically rigorous EI interventions for teachers.
Most research on teachers’ responses to bullying has focused factors leading to intervention. Moreover, research on the outcomes of teachers’ responses to bullying situations is still nascent, particularly when differentiating among response types. This systematic review aims to synthesize the available evidence regarding the outcomes of teachers’ responses to general and stigma-based bullying. A comprehensive search was conducted across six distinct databases, resulting in 18 studies that met the inclusion criteria for this review. The QualSyst tool was used to assess the methodological quality of each study. Non-intervention is associated with an increase in bullying and victimization, greater moral disengagement, and a negative perception of teachers. Passive responses are linked to greater victimization and student emotional distress. Authoritarian punitive responses show mixed outcomes: they may enhance reporting rates but can also increase victimization, particularly in stigmatizing contexts. Individual and cooperative supportive responses improve students’ perceptions of their teachers, promote willingness to seek help, and positively influence students’ perceptions of the responses’ success. The outcomes of multiple strategies are unclear due to the complexity of the different combinations, though promising results are noted. The results of this systematic review underscore the crucial role of teachers’ responses, which significantly impact student involvement in bullying as well as other related outcome factors. Future research should adopt a longitudinal design to analyze short-, medium-, and long-term outcomes of teachers’ responses, especially concerning stigma-based bullying.
Grounded in situated expectancy-value theory, this retrospective mixed-methods study examined how parent support during adolescence relates to STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) motivation among low SES undergraduates currently majoring in STEM (n = 222; 86
Existing evidence has suggested a positive association between school connectedness and bystanders’ defending behavior in bullying contexts. However, the directionality and underlying mechanisms of this effect remain unclear. The present study examined the bidirectional relationships between school connectedness and bystanders’ defending behavior in bullying, as well as investigated personal mastery as a mediator in these relationships. A total of 803 elementary school students (girls = 46.33
This study examines how parents’ beliefs about failure, specifically, whether failure is perceived as debilitating or as an opportunity for learning, are associated with adolescents’ relationships with teachers in lower secondary education. Drawing on research on parental belief systems and developmental perspectives on early adolescence, we propose that parental failure mindsets shape how parents interpret teachers’ competence, with implications for adolescents’ relational experiences at school. Using cross‑sectional data from 124 parent-student dyads, we assessed parental failure mindsets, parents’ perceptions of teacher competence, adolescents’ perceived student-teacher relationships, and students’ academic achievement. Results showed that a failure‑is‑enhancing parental mindset was positively associated with student-teacher relationships, even after controlling for academic achievement. Patterns of association were consistent with an indirect pathway via parents’ perceptions of teacher competence, particularly among lower‑achieving students; however, these indirect effects should be interpreted cautiously, given the study design. Taken together, the findings suggest that parents’ mindsets about failure represent an important yet often overlooked contextual factor linked to adolescents’ relational experiences with teachers during a developmentally sensitive educational phase. The study underscores the role of parental meaning‑making about failure and feedback during adolescence, particularly in efforts to strengthen parent-school partnerships and supportive learning environments.
Previous research often frames teacher–student dependency as negative, largely based on evidence from individualistic contexts, while studies in collectivistic settings suggest it may reflect a positive relational quality. However, the role of cultural values and potential subtypes of emotional dependency—seeking attention and approval versus clinginess and affection seeking— remains underexplored. This study examined (a) associations between cultural values and teachers’ perceptions of closeness and conflict with emotionally dependent children and (b) whether these perceptions differ across dependency subtypes. The sample consisted of 1,680 preschool teachers from seven European countries using a within-participant vignette design. Multilevel analyses showed that independent self-construal was associated with higher closeness and lower conflict, whereas interdependent self-construal predicted higher conflict. At the country level, higher individualism was linked to more conflict and less closeness. Teachers perceived seeking attention and approval as less conflictual than clinginess and affection seeking.
Teacher self-efficacy (TSE) is supposed to positively affect teachers’ well-being, instructional quality and students’ motivation. However, the extent to which secondary school teachers’ TSE is shaped by their social teaching environment—particularly the different classes they teach—remains largely unexplored. This pre-registered study exploratorily investigated to what extent TSE can be considered a context-specific construct that varies within teachers across classes. Intraclass correlations indicated substantial within-teacher variation for TSE related to student engagement (ICC = 0.40) and classroom management (ICC = 0.37), while TSE for instructional strategies appeared relatively stable (ICC = 0.61). Multilevel regression models, considering the data from 1,326 students in 74 classes taught by 26 teachers, revealed negative relations between class misbehavior and TSE beliefs across all domains of TSE. All other class characteristics (i.e., students’ emotional and behavioral engagement, percentage of boys in class, mean grade) were less consistent or not significantly related to TSE. These exploratory findings call for larger replications to further understand whether conventional approaches to measuring and promoting teacher self-efficacy should be challenged.
