The role of teacher efficacy in the development and prevention. of teacher burnout. Elizabeth Labone. Australian Catholic University

Transcription

1 The role of teacher efficacy in the development and prevention of teacher burnout Elizabeth Labone Australian Catholic University Paper Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Australian Association for Research in Education, Brisbane December 1-5, 2002

2 The role of teacher efficacy in the development and prevention of teacher burnout Elizabeth Labone Australian Catholic University Teacher burnout is a significant problem within the teaching profession, yet investigations of burnout have not adequately addressed teacher beliefs that contribute to burnout, or strategies that build resilience in teachers. This study aimed to address these two issues through the investigation of the role of teacher efficacy beliefs in the development and prevention of teacher burnout. A two-phase research design addressed these issues. Phase one aimed to assess the predictive value of changes in personal teaching efficacy on the three dimensions of burnout over a period of three years, and to establish whether changes in personal teaching efficacy mediate the effects of organisational stressors on burnout. Phase two aimed to develop selfregulated use of a heuristic strategy with preservice teachers, to maintain or enhance their level of personal teaching efficacy. Analysis of the phase one models using LISREL found teacher efficacy to be a direct predictor of burnout and to also mediate the impact of key organisational stressors. Phase two results revealed significant gains in levels of efficacy for teachers who engaged in the strategy training. The paper reports on this research and discusses implications for building resilience in teachers through efficacy enhancement. Introduction Review of literature investigating teacher burnout has focused mainly on organisational factors and static personal factors associated with increased feelings of burnout. Organisational factors associated with burnout include factors at both classroom level and school level. Personal factors associated with burnout include demographic characteristics and some personality factors. At classroom level organisational factors found to be associated with burnout include: grade level (Anderson and Iwanicki, 1984; Fisher, 1984, O'Connor and Clarke, 1990; Russell, Altmaier, and Van Velzen, 1987; Schwab and Iwanicki, 1982; Van Horn, Schaufeli, and Enzmann, 1999), class size (Blase, 1986; Kalekin-Fishman, 1986; Russell, Altmaier, and Van Velzen, 1987), student progress (Ayalon, 1989; Brissie, Hoover-Dempsey, and Basser, 1988; Farber, 1984), and student behaviour (Burke, Greenglass, and Schwarzer, 1996; Byrne, 1994; Friedman, 1995). These findings generally indicate that burnout is associated with large heterogenous secondary school classes, and with poor student progress, and disruptive student behaviour. At school level, organisational factors associated with burnout include: collegial support (Brissie et al., 1988; Greenglass, Fiskenbaum, and Burke, 1996; Jackson, Schwab, and Schuler, 1986; Leithwood, Menzies, Jantzi, and Leithwood, 1996; Mercado, 1986 O'Connor and Clarke, 1990; Pierce and Molloy, 1990a, Sarros and Sarros, 1992), principal support (Brissie et al., 1988; Burke and Greenglass, 1995; Byrne and Hall, 1989; Greenglass and Burke, 1988; Hanchey and Brown, 1989; Jackson, Schwab, and Schuler, 1986; Mercado, 1986; Russell, et al., 1987; Sarros and Sarros, 1992), role conflict (Capel, 1992; Byrne, 1994; Greenglass and Burke, 1988; Hanchey and Brown, 1989; Mazur and Lynch, 1989), and school cultural characteristics (Burke at al., 1996; Friedman, 1991; Leithwood et al., 1996). These findings generally indicate that burnout is more likely to occur within a school

3 environment that is characterised by low levels of collegial and principal support, and in which the goals of the school are perceived to be incongruent with the goals of the individual teacher. Personal factors found to be associated with teacher burnout include gender (Anderson and Iwanicki, 1984; Burke et al., 1996; Byrne, 1991; Greenglass and Burke, 1988; Pierce and Molloy, 1990a; Russell et al., 1987; Schwab and Iwanicki, 1982b Van Horn et al., 1999), age (Anderson and Iwanicki, 1982; Byrne, 1991; Fisher, 1984; Pierce and Molloy, 1990a; Russell et al., 1987; Schwab and Iwanicki, 1982b), teaching experience (Anderson and Iwanicki, 1984; Friedman, 1996; Holt, Fine, and Tollefson, 1987; Pierce and Molloy, 1990a), selfconcept (Friedman and Farber, 1992; Hughes, McNelis, and Hoggard, 1987; Sarros and Sarros, 1987), and locus of control (Byrne, 1994; Capel, 1992; Mazur and Lynch, 1989). Conclusions from these investigations suggest that male secondary teachers, with low selfconcept and an external locus of control are most likely to experience burnout. While these findings enable the identification of school environments most likely to induce burnout, and the identification of teachers most likely to experience burnout, individual variations in levels of burnout in teachers either fitting this typology or exposed to these environmental stressors, remain largely unexplained. Although more recent research has investigated some dynamic personal and professional beliefs associated with teacher burnout (Brouwers, 2000; Burke et al, 1996; Friedman and Farber, 1992; Leithwood et al., 1996), investigation of the role of dynamic individual variables in mediating the impact of organisational stressors is limited. Individual differences in responses to environmental stressors for teachers in similar school situations remain largely unexplained (Byrne, 1994). Social Cognitive Theory (Bandura, 1986, 1997) considers all experiences and related behaviour or action to be mediated by self-regulatory mechanisms, with perceived selfefficacy constituting one of the most important of these self-regulatory mechanisms. Parallel findings in both the teacher burnout and teacher efficacy research indicate that conditions associated with high levels of burnout are also associated with low levels of efficacy (see Table 1). Table 1 Personal and organisational conditions associated with differing levels of teacher efficacy and teacher burnout Factor High Burnout / Low Efficacy Low Burnout / High Efficacy Grade level secondary elementary Student Progress poor progress good progress Student Behaviour disruptive orderly Collegial Support low support high support Principal Support low support high support

4 Goal Congruence low congruence high congruence Gender male female Locus of Control external internal Hence, differing levels of teacher efficacy may account for variations in responses to organisational stressors. Based on this, a new model of teacher burnout is proposed in which teacher efficacy mediates the effects of organisational stressors on teachers (see Figure 1). Pre-conditions Conflict 1 Conflict 2 Result Teacher unsuccessful lowered burnout performance attempts to personal (for teachers maintain teaching emotional whose ge ³ pe) peformance efficacy exhaustion acts results conflicts depersonal on in with low personal organisational reassessment general accomplish. stressors of personal teaching efficacy efficacy Figure 1. Model of the conceptual framework of teacher burnout This research aimed to test this model by studying longitudinally changes in the dynamic individual variable of teacher efficacy and its relationship to reported levels of burnout over a three year period, and subsequently investigating the effectiveness of efficacy enhancing strategies in insulating against teacher burnout. This provides hope for reducing levels of burnout by confirming the dynamic variable of efficacy as a mediator of the level of burnout experienced by an individual and then providing, through efficacy enhancing strategies, an

5 intervention strategy as a means to reduce an individual's susceptibility to burnout. The study focused on two major research questions: 1. Are changes in levels of teaching efficacy over time associated with feelings of burnout? If so, 2. Can personal teaching efficacy be enhanced through training in self-regulated use of a heuristic strategy? A two-phase research design was most effective in addressing these research questions. Phase one aimed to confirm empirically a predicted relationship between levels of efficacy and reported levels of burnout, while phase two aimed to develop strategies with preservice teachers that help them enhance or maintain their efficacy beliefs. The two phases provide complementary ways of addressing inadequacies in current teacher burnout research. Phase one investigates the mediating role of dynamic personal beliefs, specifically efficacy beliefs, while phase two investigates training in self-regulated use of a heuristic strategy to enhance or maintain levels of efficacy in order to reduce feelings of burnout. Methodology: Phase One The research design for phase one constituted a longitudinal investigation of the hypothesised model. The primary focus of phase one was to investigate the relationship between changes in levels of personal teaching efficacy over time and associated changes in reported levels of burnout. The secondary focus of phase one was to investigate the effects of the four environmental factors on changes in levels of personal teaching efficacy and burnout. Participants This study involved 800 teachers randomly selected from the membership of the New South Wales Teachers Federation. The sample comprised of 500 females and 300 males. A first year return rate of 41% yielded responses from 330 teachers. Of these approximately half the sample were primary school teachers (n=148), and half secondary school teachers (n =156). Half of the sample were classroom teachers (n =165), while the remainder held executive positions. The mean age of the sample was 39 years (SD= 7.87) with a mean of 16 (SD= 8.04) years of teaching experience. The majority of the sample were four-year trained (n =209). The hypothesised model requires the precondition that those who idealise their work are the most susceptible to burnout. In operationalising this precondition a person's general teaching efficacy, or ideal, must be greater than or equal to their personal teaching efficacy. Hence, participants who did not satisfy this precondition were excluded from the analysis. The number meeting the precondition was n=171 in year one, n=137 in year two, with 123 for participants meeting the precondition in both year one and year two. Demographic characteristics of these samples are listed in Table 2.

6 Table 2 Demographic characteristics of the samples used in the phase one analysis Year Sample n=123 Year 1-2 Sample n =171 Year 2-3 Sample n =137 Mean Age 38yrs 39 yrs 39 yrs Grade Level taught: Primary Secondary Position: Classroom Teacher Executive Position Mean Years of Teaching Experience 15 yrs 16 yrs 16 yrs Training: Year Year Year Year Measures A 61-item composite questionnaire was developed, measuring two dimensions of efficacy, three dimensions of burnout, four environmental factors. Five items measuring conceptions of ability were included in the questionnaire but were not analysed in this study. Goal congruence, collegial support, and leadership support were measured at occasions two and three as these variables were of secondary interest. Items from the various subscales were intermixed. Burnout

7 Burnout was measured using the Maslach Burnout Inventory developed by Maslach and Jackson (1981). This is a twenty-two item scale measuring three dimensions of burnout: Emotional exhaustion (9 items), personal accomplishment (8 items), and depersonalisation (5 items). The word "student" was substituted for recipient and items were rated on a 5-point Likert scale. The validity of this instrument for use with Australian teachers was tested by Sarros and Sarros (1990) who found twenty of the twenty-two items to load above 0.4 on the appropriate factors. Teacher efficacy Teacher Efficacy was measured using the short form of Teacher Efficacy Scale (Gibson and Dembo, 1984). The sixteen items in this short form scale were selected from the original 30 items on the basis of factor loadings greater than 0.45 (Gibson and Dembo, 1984). This scale measures two dimensions of efficacy: (general) teaching efficacy (7 items) and personal teaching efficacy (9 items), and was scored on a 5-point Likert scale. The Teacher Efficacy Scale (derived from Gibson and Dembo, 1984) has been widely used in studies of teacher efficacy. Validation of this instrument provides support for its use as an effective measure of teacher efficacy and clearly supports the construction of teacher efficacy as a bidimensional construct. In the final year of the study the teacher efficacy scale was extended to include 7 additional items. These items were the Gibson and Dembo items with altered orientation taken from Guskey and Passaro (1994) These items were not used in this analysis as they were not comparable to the measures of efficacy at occasion one and two, but were included for further study of the construct of teacher efficacy. Environmental factors Collective efficacy Collective efficacy was first proposed by Bandura (1992) and is concerned with the teacher's perception of the efficacy of the school within which s/he works. Seven items were developed to measure this construct. Organisational stressors Goal congruence, collegial support, and Leadership support were measured using items from the School Organisational Health Questionnaire (Hart, Conn, and Carter, 1992). This scale was developed for use with Australian teachers. Four items were included for each of the three organisational stressors. Goal congruence aimed to measure the level of congruence between the teacher's goals and the goals of the school in which s/he is working. Collegial support assessed the teacher's perceived level of support from colleagues within their school. Leadership support measured the level of perceived support for the teacher from the school administration. These items were measured using a 5-point Likert scale. Procedure The sixty-two item questionnaire was mailed to the teacher's home address; this method was chosen as the most effective way of maintaining the sample over the three years of the study. Home addresses were accessed through the New South Wales Teachers Federation membership data base. Of the 800 questionnaires mailed in the first year of the study, a response rate of 41% yielded 330 completed questionnaires. These three hundred and thirty respondents were mailed the questionnaire again in the second year and third year of the study. Of the 330 year one respondents, a year two response rate of 82% yielded 270 questionnaires, a year three response rate of 82% yielded 271 questionnaires. Of note is the

8 low attrition rate of the initial sample in subsequent years. The year three response rate includes subjects who responded in year three but not in year two. Results: Phase One The phase one analysis responded to the first major research question, specifically: 1. Are changes in levels of teaching efficacy over time associated with burnout? This question was addressed through the analysis of the hypothesised models 1.1 (see appendix A) and 2.1 (see appendix A) proposing that changes in levels of personal teaching efficacy: A. Predict levels of the three dimensions of burnout, and B. Mediate the effects of environmental factors on the three dimensions of burnout. The primary analysis addressed section A of the major research question predicting the relationships between changes in levels of personal teaching efficacy and burnout. The secondary analysis addressed section B of the research question predicting the effects of the four environmental variables on personal teaching efficacy change and relationships between the four environmental variables and levels of emotional exhaustion. A summary of the main findings for the primary and secondary analysis is presented below. Primary analysis The focus of the primary analysis was to investigate the relationships between changes in levels of personal teaching efficacy over time and levels of the three dimensions of burnout. Fit statistics for the hypothesised model are presented in Table 3. The fit statistics indicated that the model fitted the data reasonably well. While the chi-square was significant chi sq = (p< ), the CFI=.95 and the NNFI=.88 together with a RMR =.049 indicate that the model is a reasonable fit. Table 3 Fit indices for primary analysis Model 1.1 Model CFIa NNFIb RMRc RMSEAd Chi Sq df p Model a Comparative Fit Index;b Non-Norm Fit Index; c Root Mean Square Residual; d Root Mean Square Error of Approxiamtion Parameter estimates for the full year model (Model 1.1) are presented in appendix B The analysis provided moderate support for the major hypothesised relationships, finding:

9 Personal teaching efficacy change between occasion one and occasion two was a significant direct predictor of emotional exhaustion at occasion two, and personal teaching efficacy change between occasion two and occasion three was a significant direct predictor of emotional exhaustion at occasion three. Decreased levels of personal teaching efficacy were associated with increased levels of emotional exhaustion and conversely, increased levels of personal teaching efficacy were associated with decreased levels of emotional exhaustion. Personal teaching efficacy change between occasion one and occasion two was a significant direct predictor of personal accomplishment at occasion two, and personal teaching efficacy change between occasion two and occasion three was a significant direct predictor of personal accomplishment at occasion three. Decreased levels of personal teaching efficacy were associated with decreased levels of personal accomplishment and conversely, increased levels of personal teaching efficacy were associated with increased levels of emotional exhaustion. While personal teaching efficacy change was not significantly directly related to depersonalisation at either occasion, the indirect relationship between these variables was significant. This relationship was mediated by emotional exhaustion. Secondary analysis The focus of the secondary analysis was to determine whether personal teaching efficacy change remained a significant predictor of emotional exhaustion when the environmental variables were included in the model, and secondly to assess the effects of the environmental factors on changes in personal teaching efficacy, and emotional exhaustion. Results of model fitting procedures indicated that the major model 2.1 did not fit the data well, however, post hoc addition of three substantively justifiable paths resulted in a satisfactory fit. Fit statistics for both models are presented in Table 4. While the parameter estimates in the hypothesised model 2.1 and the modified model were very consistent in significance, magnitude, and direction, interpretation of the revised model should be treated with caution. Parameter estimates for Model are presented in appendix A Table 4 Fit indices for secondary analysis models: Model 2.1 and model Model CFIa NNFIb RMRc RMSEA e Chi Sq df p Model Model a Comparative Fit Index;b Non-Norm Fit Index; c Root Mean Square Residual; droot Mean Square Error of Approximation The analysis found that changes in levels of personal teaching efficacy remained a significant predictor of emotional exhaustion even when environmental stressors were included in the model. Comparison of the parameter estimates for the effect of personal teaching efficacy change on emotional exhaustion, before and after the inclusion of the environmental stressors, indicates that the predictive power of personal teaching efficacy

10 change remained consistent after the inclusion of the environmental stressors. This provided support for the proposed model suggesting that changes in levels of personal teaching efficacy may partially mediate the effects of organisational stressors. The analysis provided moderate support for the hypothesised relationships between the environmental factors and personal teaching efficacy change, finding: Collective efficacy at occasion two was significantly directly associated with personal teaching efficacy change between occasion one and occasion two, and collective efficacy at occasion three was significantly directly associated with personal teaching efficacy change between occasion two and occasion three. Higher levels of collective efficacy were associated with higher levels of personal teaching efficacy. Goal congruence at occasion two was significantly indirectly associated with personal teaching efficacy change between occasion one and occasion two, and goal congruence at occasion three was significantly indirectly associated with personal teaching efficacy change between occasion two and occasion three. This relationship was mediated by collective efficacy. Higher levels of goal congruence were associated with higher levels of personal teaching efficacy. Collegial support at occasion two was significantly indirectly associated with personal teaching efficacy change between occasion one and occasion two, and collegial support at occasion three was significantly indirectly associated with personal teaching efficacy change between occasion two and occasion three. This relationship was mediated by goal congruence and collective efficacy. Higher levels of collegial support were associated with higher levels of personal teaching efficacy. Leadership support at occasion two was significantly indirectly associated with personal teaching efficacy change between occasion one and occasion two, suggesting that higher levels of leadership support were associated with higher levels of personal teaching efficacy. The association between leadership support at occasion three and personal teaching efficacy change between occasion two and occasion three was, however, not significant. Parameter estimates indicated that collective efficacy was the strongest predictor of personal teaching efficacy change. The analysis provided moderate support for the hypothesised relationships between the environmental factors and emotional exhaustion, finding: Leadership support had a strong direct association with emotional exhaustion within both occasion two and occasion three. Lower perceptions of leadership support were associated with higher levels of emotional exhaustion and higher perceptions of leadership support were associated with lower levels of emotional exhaustion. Interpretation of the total effects of leadership support on emotional exhaustion indicated that the association between leadership support and emotional exhaustion was not mediated by changes in levels of personal teaching efficacy. Collegial support was strongly indirectly associated with emotional exhaustion within both occasion two and occasion three. This association was mediated by collective efficacy, goal congruence, and leadership support. Higher perceptions of collegial support were associated with lower levels of emotional exhaustion, and lower perceptions of collegial support were associated with higher levels of emotional exhaustion.

11 Collective efficacy was indirectly associated with emotional exhaustion within both occasion two and occasion three. This association was mediated by goal congruence. Higher perceptions of collective efficacy were associated with lower levels of emotional exhaustion, and lower perceptions of collective efficacy were associated with higher levels of emotional exhaustion. Goal congruence was indirectly associated with emotional exhaustion at occasion two only. This association was mediated by collective efficacy. Higher perceptions of goal congruence were associated with lower levels of emotional exhaustion, and lower perceptions of goal congruence were associated with higher levels of emotional exhaustion. Parameter estimates indicate that leadership support had the strongest association with emotional exhaustion. Collegial support had the strongest indirect association with emotional exhaustion The results of phase one indicate that changes in levels of personal teaching efficacy over time do contribute directly to emotional exhaustion and personal accomplishment, and indirectly to depersonalisation. Furthermore, changes in personal teaching efficacy over time mediate the effects of collegial support on emotional exhaustion. These findings provide affirmation for the first major research question. In responding to the second major research question, the findings indicate that both changes in levels of personal teaching efficacy, and leadership support, contribute directly to feelings of burnout. These findings suggest that burnout can be reduced by increasing levels of leadership support within schools or increasing teachers' levels of personal teaching efficacy. Individual teachers have little influence on the degree of leadership support within the school in which they work. Short of changing schools, there is little individual teachers can do to increase the level of leadership support they are receiving. Hence, strategies to reduce levels of burnout should focus on buffering teachers against the impact of an unsupportive organisational climate. These findings indicate that burnout may be prevented or reduced by enhancing teachers' levels of personal teaching efficacy. Investigation of strategies to enhance personal teaching efficacy is the focus of phase two. Based on a review of research investigating the enhancement of teacher efficacy, phase two specifically investigated the effectiveness of training in self-regulated use of a heuristic strategy in enhancing levels of personal teaching efficacy. Methodology: Phase Two The research design for phase two focused on the investigation of second major research question: Can personal teaching efficacy be enhanced through training in self-regulated use of a heuristic strategy? To address this question the design incorporated three areas of focus: The primary focus of phase two was to assess the effectiveness of training in self-regulated use of the heuristic strategy on personal teaching efficacy, general teaching efficacy, self-efficacy for selfregulation, and general classroom management efficacy. The secondary focus investigated the effect of self-regulated use of the heuristic strategy on the five dimensions of classroom management efficacy. The subsiduary focus was the relative effectiveness of the guided practice phase and independent practice phase on the five dimensions of management efficacy.

12 Participants Participants were 124 preservice teachers enrolled in the third and fourth year of the Bachelor of Education (Primary) programme. Of these 59 were third year students and 65 were fourth year students. Participation in the study was voluntary. Questionnaires were issued to students enrolled in the third and fourth year two weeks before commencement of their block practicum. In addition to the questionnaires the students received a written invitation to participate in the strategy training intervention. 124 students returned the completed questionnaire; of these 23 agreed to participate in the strategy training, leaving 101 students in the control group. The 23 intervention participants consisted of 12 third year students and 11 fourth year students; three of the students were males, twenty were females. All 23 students completed the guided practice phase but four (three female third year students and one male fourth year student) did not implement the independent practice phase of the intervention and did not complete the post-intervention questionnaire. At posttest the sample was reduced to 91 participants; 19 of the 91 post practicum respondents were the intervention participants, while 72 were from the control group. Of the 19 intervention participants, nine were third year students (two males and seven females) and ten were fourth year students (all females). The loss of 29 students form the control group is most likely due to the fact that the students were on holidays at the time of issuing the post-practicum questionnaire. As participation in the intervention was voluntary, ANOVA was used to compare the pretest means of workshop participants with the control group for all variables used in the phase two analyses. No statistically significant group differences were found for any of the four main dimensions of efficacy, or any of the dimensions of classroom management efficacy. This indicates that while participation in the intervention was voluntary, the two groups did not systematically differ at pretest. Measures A three-part questionnaire was used in this phase of the research; part one assessed the preservice teacher's conceptions of teaching, optimistic bias, motivational orientation and conceptions of ability for both students and teachers; part two included twenty-nine randomly sequenced items measuring four dimensions of efficacy: personal teaching efficacy, general teaching efficacy, self-efficacy for self-regulation, general classroom managment efficacy; part three measured efficacy beliefs for the five core and two elective classroom management dimensions. Procedure During the last week of semester, third and fourth year students were issued with the three part pretest questionnaire at the beginning of a lecture period. In addition to the questionnaire, the students received a letter inviting them to participate in the intervention. Students who accepted the invitation were divided into four groups, two third year groups and two fourth year groups, resulting in approximately six students attending each workshop. Guided practice The four workshops were held on separate days in the week prior to the practicum. Students received a workshop manual and a workshop response booklet. The manual dealt with each

13 of the five core and two elective topics in sequence. For each topic the manual included; the distal and proximal goals, the classroom management problem, the problem resolution sheet, a general overview of content for the topic area, specific content for each of the proximal goals, and a cognitive model. The workshop response booklet contained; the workshop heuristic problem resolution sheets, and goal progress record sheets for each of the topic areas. The procedure set out in the workshop heuristic was modelled by the researcher for Topic one. The participants then moved to Topic two to carry out the above procedure autonomously, recording problem resolutions and goal progress in their workshop response booklet. Participants could work collaboratively or alone in much the same way as they would in a school situation. The researcher moved around the room to guide and check recording, and adherence to the workshop heuristic, and to provide assistance when requested. After all participants had completed each topic, the participants reported their resolutions to the group, providing the researcher with opportunities to give positively framed feedback for efficacy enhancement (Bandura and Cervone, 1983; Chester, 1991), and monitor the quality of the resolutions. This continued until all participants had completed the five core topics. Those who moved more quickly through the strategy development also completed the elective topics. When all participants had completed the five core topics they completed part three of the questionnaire to provide post-workshop assessment of their levels of efficacy for the dimensions of classroom management. The workshops lasted for approximately four hours. Independent practice At the conclusion of the workshop the researcher issued students with a practicum response booklet containing goal progress record sheets to be completed during the practicum. Participants were asked to set and monitor one proximal goal per week. The focus for the weekly goal may be one of the proximal goals studied during this workshop, or could be related to something other than classroom management, perhaps an area for development highlighted during their last practicum, or something suggested by their supervisor or cooperating teacher. Participants were telephoned one a week to monitor progress. Practicum supervisors were also briefed about the procedures. Participants returned the record booklet at the conclusion of the block practicum. Results: Phase two Conceptions of teaching for preservice teachers were focused mainly on roles within the categories of instruction, and organisation and management. While there was some focus on interpersonal relations prior to the practicum, this focus was not present post-practicum with conceptions of teaching moving more strongly to the focus on organisation and management, particularly for workshop participants. The analysis revealed both general classroom management efficacy and self-efficacy for self-regulation were significantly enhanced in preservice teachers who engaged in guided and independent practice of self-regulated use of the heuristic strategy when compared with preservice teachers who did not engage the strategy training. However, hypotheses predicting that personal teaching efficacy and general teaching efficacy would be enhanced in preservice teachers who participated in the strategy training intervention, were not supported.

14 Analysis of the levels of efficacy for the five core dimensions of classroom management indicated that, while levels of efficacy of all participants increased over the practicum for all five dimensions, comparison of pretest and posttest group means, indicated that the increases reported by preservice teachers engaging in self-regulated use of the heuristic strategy were of a greater magnitude than non-strategy trained participants. Greater increases in efficacy of the strategy trained students resulted in the strategy trained students having significantly higher levels of efficacy than non-strategy trained participants in all five dimensions of classroom management efficacy at posttest. Finally, the subsidiary analysis compared the effectiveness of the guided-practice and independent practice phases of the intervention for enhancing levels of efficacy within the strategy trained group. Results of this analysis indicated that greater gains in levels of efficacy were achieved after the independent practice than after the guided practice. While efficacy increased significantly in two of the five core dimensions of classroom management efficacy after guided practice, significant increases in all five dimensions of classroom management efficacy were evident after independent practice. Discussion Teacher burnout research to date has focused mainly on establishing school organisational characteristics that are associated with increased levels of burnout. While this information is valuable in identifying organisational structures that contribute to teacher burnout, burnout research to date has contributed little to the understanding of individual variation in responses to organisational stressors, or to the development of innovations that may alleviate feelings of burnout in teachers exposed to detrimental organisational structures. The main purpose of this study was to address these two issues first by investigating dynamic personal factors that explain individual variations in levels of burnout, and secondly by developing a strategy that may help to alleviate burnout. Specifically, the two phases of this study responded to two complementary research questions: the first aimed to investigate the contribution of personal teaching efficacy beliefs to burnout; the second aimed to investigate the effectiveness of training in self-regulated use of a heuristic strategy to maintain or enhance levels of efficacy. The results of the analysis of the two phases of the research have furthered the understanding both of the contribution of self-efficacy beliefs to burnout, and of the effectiveness of the development of self-regulatory processes in enhancing. Each of these is discussed in turn. The role of teachers' perceptions of personal teaching efficacy in the development of burnout. The results of phase one indicated that change in perceptions of personal teaching efficacy contributed both independently and as a mediating factor to levels of burnout. Furthermore, change in personal teaching efficacy remained a significant predictor of emotional exhaustion when environmental factors were included in the model. These findings suggest that perceptions of professional competence do contribute to burnout over time. Low perceptions of competence intensify feelings of burnout, and high perceptions of competence reduce feelings of burnout. While these findings provide preliminary support for the role of personal teaching efficacy beliefs in the development of burnout, interpretation of the findings is qualified by two important factors; the constraints of the precondition, and effects of changing efficacy beliefs. The interpretation that personal efficacy beliefs contribute to levels of burnout is qualified by the fact that teachers in this study met the precondition that their perceptions of their

15 personal performance were just meeting or falling below their expectations of teachers in general. An individual's perception that his or her performance is falling below that of the group, induces lower levels of efficacy (Bandura and Jourden, 1991). This disjunction between individual levels of efficacy and ideals intensifies feelings of burnout. This disjunction may not occur, however, if teachers hold personal teaching efficacy beliefs that surpass their expectations of teacher in general. This suggests that decreasing levels of efficacy would contribute more strongly to burnout in teachers meeting the precondition. This study however, did not establish the robustness of the contribution of personal teaching efficacy to burnout, when the precondition was not considered. Further research should test the robustness of parameter estimates when the sample is not constrained to those meeting the precondition in order to establish whether the intensified feelings of burnout resulting from reduced levels of efficacy are confined to those teachers satisfying the precondition and can be attributed to this disjunction. Secondly, the findings indicated that change in personal teaching efficacy, rather than efficacy beliefs per se, contributed to burnout. This supports the interpretation that burnout results from the disjunction between perceptions of individual performance and ideals. Efficacy beliefs of individuals meeting the precondition may be less robust as they already perceive their performance to be below the capabilities of teachers in general and hence are more likely to interpret challenging situations negatively and modify their efficacy beliefs downwards, while teachers who believe themselves to be performing beyond expectations of teachers in general are less likely to lower their efficacy beliefs when they experience difficulties. Future research should investigate the robustness of the contribution of change in levels of efficacy when the sample is not constrained by the precondition. While the primary analysis provided preliminary support for the contribution of personal teaching efficacy change to burnout, the secondary analysis indicated that personal efficacy change did not contribute as strongly to burnout as leadership support. Furthermore, the association between leadership support and burnout was not mediated by change in personal teaching efficacy, suggesting that key organisational stressors such as lack of leadership support induce feelings of burnout regardless of levels of efficacy. The strong contribution of leadership support to emotional exhaustion is consistent with previous research. Leithwood et al. (1996) indicated that personal factors did not contribute as strongly to burnout as organisational factors, and Van Horn et al. (1999) found burnout to be strongly associated with stressors at school organisational level. While such organisational stressors remain strongly associated with burnout when levels of efficacy are considered, teachers have little control over such organisational stressors and the second purpose of this study was to investigate strategies to alleviate burnout. Therefore, it was necessary to focus on alleviating burnout through factors that are controllable. Hence, phase two aimed to complement the findings of phase one by enhancing personal efficacy beliefs as efficacy beliefs are both internal and unstable and therefore controllable, while organisational stressors are external and stable and therefore uncontrollable. Enhancement of efficacy beliefs Phase two was successful in enhancing both self-efficacy for self-regulation and classroom management efficacy. While the training in self-regulatory processes did not enhance personal teaching efficacy, the findings contributed further to the understanding of efficacy enhancement in four important respects: the effectiveness of explicit training in selfregulatory processes in the development of self-directedness, the importance of selfevaluation in enhancing efficacy beliefs, the importance of independent practice, and the domain specificity of efficacy enhancement.

16 The strength of effect of the intervention on SESRL, indicated that explicit training in selfobservation, self-judgement, and self-reaction is effective in building efficacy beliefs about an individual's capacity to manage his/her resources. These findings are consistent with previous research findings that teaching of self-regulatory skills raises self-efficacy (Butler, 1997; Schunk, 1983). The fact that the strategy trained preservice teachers raised their perceptions of SESRL through both the guided and independent practice phases, and maintained these beliefs during the practicum, in which the scaffolds provided in the guided practice phase were withdrawn, enabled these teachers to attribute their successes to internal factors and hence enhance their efficacy. These findings considered together with the review of previous investigations of efficacy enhancement, indicate that independent practice of innovations is a necessary condition for the enhancement of efficacy beliefs. Self-evaluation has been found to be effective in raising self-efficacy beliefs (Schunk and Ertmer, 1999; Stein and Wang, 1988). The review studies of enhancement of teacher efficacy indicated that the most successful efficacy enhancing interventions provided opportunities for self-reflection (Fritz et al., 1995; Moss, 1997; Ross, 1994; Shachar and Shmuelevitz, 1997; Stein and Wang, 1988; Volkman, Sheffler and Dana, 1992). The effectiveness of this intervention in enhancing domain specific efficacy may be attributed to the explicit use of procedures for self-evaluating progress towards goals, and determining satisfactory attainment of the goals. Furthermore, the findings of this study indicate that interventions to enhance efficacy act very specifically on the domain within which the innovation was focused. The strategy focused specifically on training the participants in self-regulatory skills, particularly within the area of classroom management. This strategy training successfully enhanced efficacy within these two domains. The domain specific effects of interventions to enhance teacher efficacy are consistent with previous research (Moss, 1997; Shachar and Shmuelevitz, 1997). While these domain specific effects are evident in short term studies (Moss, 1997), longitudinal studies have found the interventions to increase the more general dimension of personal teaching efficacy (Fritz et al., 1995; Shachar and Shmuelevitz, 1997; Stein and Wang, 1988). Enhancing efficacy in specific domains enables teachers to set more specific goals and more readily assess progress towards these goals. It is suggested that use of these self-regulatory processes first builds efficacy within the focused domain but this may later transfer to a higher perception of more general competency. This study did not assess the long-term effects of the intervention; future research should investigate whether domain specific efficacy enhancement increases personal teaching efficacy over time. Alleviation of burnout While the broad focus of this study was on the development of strategies to alleviate burnout, the findings of the study do not conclusively provide a solution for the reduction of burnout. The phase one analysis focused on the contribution of personal teaching efficacy to burnout. While phase two successfully enhanced self-efficacy for self-regulation and efficacy for classroom management competencies, the intervention did not significantly raise the personal teaching efficacy of the strategy trained students. However, personal teaching efficacy beliefs may increase over time as the strategy trained preservice teachers enter the workplace and become more confident in their ability to manage their own resources and to manage their students. Furthermore, enhanced efficacy in specific domains might operate to reduce burnout tendencies. The strength of the effects of the intervention in enhancing SESRL, together with previous research findings of the association between training in selfregulatory skills and increased self-efficacy beliefs (Butler, 1997; Schunk, 1983), holds promise for the alleviation of burnout through consistent and independent implementation of this intervention. Future studies should assess personal teaching efficacy beliefs and levels of burnout at various times after the implementation of efficacy enhancing interventions to

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