Exploring the impact of Incredible Years Teacher Classroom Management training on teacher psychological outcomes

Abstract

ABSTRACT Teacher wellbeing is an important prerequisite for promoting student wellbeing, yet there is limited research exploring the potentiality of classroom management training for enhancing teacher psychological outcomes. This study used a pragmatic, pre-experimental design to evaluate a psychologist-led 6-month Incredible Years Teacher Classroom Management programme with 368 Irish primary teachers using well-validated measures of self-efficacy (Teacher Sense of Efficacy Scale-Long Version), wellbeing (Everyday Feelings Questionnaire) and burnout (Maslach Burnout Inventory Educators Survey). Mixed ANOVAs revealed significant improvements in wellbeing (p < .001, ηp 2 = .08), emotional exhaustion (p = .01, ηp 2 = .02), personal accomplishment (p < .001, ηp 2 = .07), and self-efficacy (p < .001, ηp 2 = .30) among participants. Whilst results must be interpreted cautiously, this study is positioned as being suggestive of psychological benefits for teachers accruing from evidence-based classroom management training.