Thriving or Surviving? Work Engagement and Burnout Profiles among Early-Career Teachers

Prof. Tea Pavin Ivanec, PhD, Dora Petrović, PhD and Iris Marušić, PhD are the authors of the scientific paper “Thriving or Surviving? Work Engagement and Burnout Profiles among Early-Career Teachers“. The paper is published in the thematic issue of the journal “Društvena istraživanja”, 35 (2), which is dedicated to the analysis of teachers’ well-being.

The aim of this study was to identify early-career teachers' profiles based on their occupational well-being, i. e. work engagement and burnout, and to examine differences in job satisfaction and planned persistence in the teaching profession across these profiles. A total of 599 subject teachers with up to 5 years of teaching experience completed an online questionnaire assessing their occupational well-being and related outcomes. Latent profile analysis identified three distinct profiles: highly engaged (50.3%), moderately engaged (43.7%), and at risk (6.0 %).

Teachers who were more engaged in their work were also more satisfied with their job and more likely to remain in the teaching profession. In contrast, teachers in the at risk group reported lower job satisfaction and a weaker intention to stay.

These findings highlight the importance of supporting teachers’ well-being, especially at the beginning of their careers, as it is directly related to their job satisfaction and their decision to continue working in schools.

The paper is based on the results of the project “The role of personality, motivation and socio-emotional competences in early-career teachers’ occupational well-being - TeachWell“, financed by the Croatian Science Foundation. It is available here.