Greater emotional exhaustion among math teachers* in Corona pandemic

(© Image: Depositphotos) - Long-term study by a team of researchers led by Thamar Voss, an educational scientist from Freiburg, examining the period from 2007-2022 As part of a long-term study, researchers were able to examine the significance of the Corona pandemic for the professional well-being of math teachers: On a scale of 1 to 4, teachers* mean emotional exhaustion increased from 1.89 in 2019 to 2.41 in 2021. At the same time, mean enthusiasm for teaching decreased, from 3.52 in 2019 to 3.21 in 2021. These trends could be mitigated by good technical equipment at the school, among other factors, and individual personality also played a role in how affected they were. The study was conducted by Dr. Thamar Voss of the Faculty of Economics and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Freiburg together with Uta Klusmann of the Leibniz Institute for Science and Mathematics Education in Kiel, Nikolaus Bönke of the University of Freiburg, Dirk Richter of the University of Potsdam, and Mareike Kunter of the University of Frankfurt. The study was published in the Journal of Psychology. The authors analyzed data from six surveys that took place between 2007 and 2022. Mathematics teachers from different school types were surveyed, the first two surveys took place in 2007 and 2008 during their traineeship, two more in 2010 and 2019, and the last two during the Corona pandemic in summer 2021 and spring 2022.