The importance of job-related self-insight, not self-reflection, for well-being and burnout in student teachers

Year 2023, Volume: 12 Issue: 3, 261 - 268, 31.12.2023

Franziska Bredehöft

Abstract

The present study aims to explain the relationship between the need for self-reflection, job-related self-reflection, job-related self-insight, and well-being as well as burnout in student teachers. A cross-sectional study of 607 student teachers in Germany reveals that job-related self-insight, but not job-related self-reflection nor the need for self-reflection, significantly predicts levels of well-being and burnout. The study results imply that gaining insight into one's career choice and one's strengths and weaknesses concerning the teaching profession are important factors in predicting well-being and burnout. Student teachers with high levels of job-related insight may be more inclined to embrace their impending responsibilities as educators, feel satisfied with their career decision, recognize their individual professional skills and development opportunities, be aware of the challenges associated with the teaching profession, and have appropriate mechanisms for overcoming these challenges or know how to cultivate such mechanisms. In this way, job-related insight might serve as a resilience factor in maintaining long-term employability. Interventions should aim to enhance student teachers' job-related insight by having participants engage in guided self-reflection on topics relevant to their professional advancement, facilitating exploration of the challenges individuals face as they begin their teaching careers, particularly in the early stages.

Keywords

Self-reflection, Self-insight, Burnout, Well-being, Student teachers

Ethical Statement

All subjects gave their informed consent for inclusion before they participated in the study. The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. No funding was provided for the research project.

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