Managing conflictual teacher-child relationship in pre-schools: A preliminary test of the job resources buffering-effect hypothesis in an emerging economy
Managing conflictual teacher-child relationship in pre-schools: A preliminary test of the job resources buffering-effect hypothesis in an emerging economy
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Date
2020
Authors
Asare, Kotor
Aboagye, Michael Osei
Boateng, Philip
Sekyere, Frank Owusu
Antwi, Collins Opoku
Qin, Jinliang
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Children and Youth Services Review
Abstract
As early childhood education in low- and middle-income countries experience (LMICs) rapid change, teachers’
wellbeing and the quality of their classroom relational practices have emerged as important issues. This study
employed the energetic process of health impairment of job demands, and the buffering hypothesis of job re sources of the Job Demands–Resources (JD-R) theory in the stressor–strain–outcome framework, to examine (1)
the relationship between teacher burnout (i.e., emotional exhaustion “EE”) and conflict teacher-child relation ship (TCR), and (2) the buffering effect of job resources (i.e., job autonomy “JA” and job reward “JR”) in the
burnout–conflict TCR link. Data was collected from pre-school teaching staff in Ghana (N = 285). High EE was
associated with high levels of conflict TCR, and high JA and JR buffered the EE–conflict TCR relation sig nificantly. The findings provide critical preliminary evidence for teacher burnout preventive and treatment
intervention programs (i.e., managing burnout effects on conflict TCR through strategic allocation of school level resources) in pre-schools in LMICs, where children and youth education remain a major policy