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Teacher well-being and student achievement: A multilevel analysis

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Abstract

The present study examined the associations between school-average teacher well-being (emotional exhaustion and behavioral engagement) and school-average student achievement (literacy and numeracy) among a sample of 486 teachers in 39 elementary schools. Multilevel structural equation modelling was used to assess a two-level model, with teachers at level 1 (L1) and schools at level 2 (L2). Results revealed a significant negative association between school-level emotional exhaustion and school-level academic achievement, such that schools with higher levels of emotional exhaustion among teachers were also lower in school-average student achievement. School-level behavioral engagement among teachers was not significantly associated with school-level student achievement; however, the effect size was large highlighting the need for additional research with greater power at L2 (school-level) to examine this further. These findings hold important implications for the way in which emotional exhaustion is addressed among staff at a whole-school level and extends prior knowledge of the role teachers play in school-level academic achievement.

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Fig. 1

Notes

  1. When comparing key sample characteristics with available national statistics, we consider the sample to be broadly representative of teachers in the population in terms of comparable age (sample mean = 40 years; national mean = 46 years; AITSL, 2021), gender distribution (sample females = 88%; national females = 84%; AITSL, 2021), and years teaching (sample mean = 15 years; national mean = 15 years; OECD, 2018).

  2. Alpha coefficients were calculated as data obtained from ACARA used this as its measure of reliability.

  3. As an exploratory test of whether contagion was present, we compared standard deviations of school-average emotional exhaustion across low, medium, and high levels of this variable. There was no evidence that schools with higher means on emotional exhaustion had higher agreement (as evidenced by lower associated standard deviations).

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  1. School of Education, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    Helena Granziera, Andrew J. Martin & Rebecca J. Collie

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  1. Helena Granziera
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by HG, AJM and RJC. The first draft of the manuscript was written by HG and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Helena Granziera.

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Rebecca J. Collie is on the Editorial Board of Social Psychology of Education. The authors hereby declare that the study received full institutional ethics approval. All participants were required to provide informed consent in order to participate in the study.

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Granziera, H., Martin, A.J. & Collie, R.J. Teacher well-being and student achievement: A multilevel analysis. Soc Psychol Educ 26, 279–291 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11218-022-09751-1

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