Teaching Careers: Exploring Links Between Well-Being, Burnout, Self-Efficacy and Praxis Shock

• Main Authors: Julie Ballantyne, James Retell
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2020-02-01
• Series: Frontiers in Psychology
• Subjects: teacher education; music teacher attrition; professional identities; pre-service and in-service education and training; occupational stress
• Online Access: https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02255/full

Burnout and attrition are issues facing many professions. In a bid to better understand this phenomenon and ways to address it, this paper explores experiences of praxis shock, well-being, burnout, and self-efficacy during teachers’ careers. Regression and mediation analyses of 836 responses to a questionnaire reveal that praxis shock may occur at multiple points in a music teachers’ career. Findings reveal that praxis shock predicts patterns of reported burnout, well-being and self-efficacy. This impacts on the development of productive professional identities, career satisfaction and success. Evidence is presented regarding praxis shock and its impact across a teaching career.