The Relationship Between Pre-Service Teachers’ Social Emotional Competence and Teacher Burnout, Secondary Traumatic Stress, and Compassion Satisfaction

Abstract

Teachers are essential to the academic and social-emotional progress of children in the US (Jennings & Greenberg, 2009). American teachers work tirelessly to provide quality instruction in a safe learning environment that nurtures the educational and emotional needs of their students (Jennings & Greenberg, 2009). Many teachers report that the emotional toll of teaching has impacted their professional and personal lives in a negative way (Werner Juarez et al., 2020) As a result, teachers are vulnerable to the development of occupational hazards such as stress, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress (STS) which may diminish their professional quality of life (Richards, 2012). The literature indicates that the deterioration of professional quality of life is strongly correlated to more systemic problems in education, such as elevated attrition rates and the retention of highly qualified teachers (Schutz & Zembylas, 2009). The research suggests that indicators for these professional deficits may begin to present during the preparation phase of teaching (Miller & Flint-Stipp, 2019). However, most universities provide inadequate training for the protection and improvement of teacher well-being across the span of their careers (Schonert-Reichl, 2017). In addition, there has been little research invested in the development of compassion satisfaction, a protective factor in cultivating teacher resilience (Pérez-Chacón et al., 2021). The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between social and emotional competence (SEC) and professional quality of life factors in pre-service teachers. A nonexperimental, correlational design was used to examined whether emotion regulation and relationship management skills is predictive of an educators’ perceived levels of burnout, STS, and compassion satisfaction (N = 51). Additionally, the participants’ characteristics (e.g., highest degree earned, content area, school setting, and school level) are explored to determine their role, if any, and their influence on the outcomes. Using a multiple regression, results indicated non-statistically significant relationships between emotion regulation and relationship management on pre-service teachers’ levels of burnout, STS, and compassion satisfaction. Further, no significant relationships were determined between emotion regulation and burnout, STS, and compassion satisfaction when controlled against participant school setting and school level. However, the results indicated a significant link between relationship management and burnout when controlled against participants’ highest degree earned and content area. The results of this study, as well as a discussion related to the outcomes are addressed.