Teachers' Perceived Disruption at School and Related Variables from Teachers and School Functioning

Area of Science:

• Educational Psychology
• School Climate Research
• Teacher Well-being Studies

Background:

• Teacher perception of school disruption is influenced by both individual and school-level factors.
• Understanding these factors is crucial for improving the school environment and teacher retention.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the relationship between teacher-level factors (personal accomplishment, disengagement, depersonalization, emotional exhaustion) and school-level factors (management, rules) on perceived disruption.
• To examine the moderating effect of school rules on the link between teacher burnout and perceived disruption.

Main Methods:

• Quantitative analysis of survey data from 4,055 teachers across 187 high schools.
• Hierarchical linear modeling was used to assess individual and contextual predictors of perceived disruption.
• Examined main effects and interaction effects between teacher and school variables.

Main Results:

• Individual teacher factors, particularly depersonalization and emotional exhaustion, significantly predicted perceived disruption (26% variance).
• School rules quality negatively correlated with perceived disruption (15% variance).
• School rules moderated the impact of depersonalization and emotional exhaustion on perceived disruption, reducing its effect when rules were fair and well-applied.

Conclusions:

• Teacher burnout significantly contributes to perceptions of school disruption.
• Effective school rules can mitigate the negative impact of teacher burnout on perceived disruption.
• Interventions should address both teacher well-being and the quality of school policies.