NYKids’ Latest Research: Job Demands and Control among Elementary School Teachers

By Aaron Leo, Elizabeth A. Holdsworth, & Kristen C. Wilcox

As discussed in previous blogs, NYKids conducted a survey study of educators’ experiences of stress during the pandemic. For our most recent analysis, NYKids collaborated with Elizabeth Holdsworth, Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Ohio State University to explore the experiences of elementary school teachers. The paper was published Education 3-13 and is available here.

A range of scholarship – including work from NYKids – has demonstrated that the pandemic increased the stress levels of educators across the world. Few studies, however, have focused specifically on the experiences of elementary school teachers despite research which has shown that the pandemic and related school closures had unique impacts on elementary-aged children, their families, and their teachers.

To help address this gap, our research team drew on survey data from the 252 elementary school educators who took part in our study. The participants worked in 23 schools across New York State.

Job Demands and Control in Teaching

Prior research has found that workforce stress is associated varied levels of job demands, control, and support. In this research, it has been found that jobs which have high demands but low levels of control – “high strain jobs” – create the most stress for workers In contrast, “passive jobs” with low demands and low levels of control can also produce exhaustion and burnout due to their repetitiveness and lack of engagement for workers.

Jobs with high demands, but with high levels of support and control – “active jobs” – can stimulate learning, motivation, and professional growth. Lastly, a “low strain” work environment is characterized by low demands and high levels of control. In these different scenarios, workers may adopt four different roles: participatory leader (high job control and high social support), obedient comrade (low job control and high social support), cowboy hero (high job control and low social support), and isolated prisoner (low job control and low social support).

In this study, we tested whether educators’ reports of stress and job dissatisfaction were greater when their job demands exceeded the amount of support and job control they had, while accounting for educators’ years of experience, remote teaching, gender, and teaching role. We also drew on participants’ responses to the final, open-ended question which allowed educators to elaborate on their experiences teaching during the pandemic.

Findings

Quantitative analyses revealed several significant findings about elementary school teachers’ experiences during the pandemic.

• Survey participants reported low or moderate general job demands, however, they also reported an overall lack of job-related control.
• Educators experienced more work-related stress, work-life balance challenges, and job dissatisfaction when they felt their job demands outweighed the supports available to them.
• Several differences among the elementary school teacher sample were notable:
  • Teachers with fewer years of experience reported more job demands and less control than their more experienced colleagues.
  • Mainstream classroom teachers felt that less support was available to them than special subject teachers, however, they also reported more frequent collaboration with colleagues in planning and preparing instructional materials.
  • Elementary teachers with any remote teaching responsibilities reported significantly more job-related demands than those who did not have any remote teaching responsibilities.

A Juggling Act

In our survey, we noted a number of common issues elementary school teachers confronted.

• First, educators detailed the stress they incurred from rising job demands and expectations. For many educators, the uncertainty and ever-changing responsibilities were especially challenging for educators to manage. As one teacher explained:

I feel as though all the constantly changing rules and regulations have added an immeasurable amount of stress onto a career that is already stressful enough. To top it off we have had to worry about budget cuts, state testing, and catching COVID ourselves. We cannot juggle all of these responsibilities.

• Second, educators described a lack of job-related control which was also present in survey results. Some educators used this space to voice frustrations that they were not included in decision-making or planning by school and district leaders and thus had little control over their working conditions. As one teacher wrote:

We had little to no say in what happened to our work environment this year.

• Finally, educators reported a lack of or insufficient support available to them to meet the increasing demands of their jobs. As one teacher wrote:

The demands of teaching for me have at least doubled. The support I receive is almost non-existent.

Conclusion

By focusing solely on elementary school teachers, our analysis adds an important dimension to scholarship which has documented the impacts of the pandemic on the educator workforce. Because elementary schools are pivotal sites for encouraging children’s social, emotional, and cognitive development, it is imperative to understand the unique experiences of elementary school educators.

Since stress is closely related to educator burnout and turnover, it is crucial to better understand ways to support elementary school teachers. In particularly challenging times, schools should ensure that teachers have more control over their own work environment. As Karasek’s research cited above suggests, even those working in demanding environments can be motivated in positive ways if they are provided adequate support. These efforts are crucial not only for educators but for the students they serve.

Thank you for your interest in NYKids! You can read the full paper here and we welcome all your questions or feedback at nykids@albany.edu. Please follow us on Facebook, Twitter/X, Instagram, and LinkedIn. You can learn more about Elizabeth Holdsworth’s work here.