Addressing Teacher Occupational Health in Challenging Times: The Role of a Positive Organizational Climate in Buffering Teachers’ Burnout

Abstract

Highlights: Public health relevance—How does this work relate to a public health issue? Teacher burnout represents a growing public health concern, with implications for teachers’ occupational health, education quality, and student outcomes. The study examines how the COVID-19 pandemic intensified pre-existing psychosocial risks in school settings, emphasizing the role of contextual job resources in mitigating teacher burnout. Public health significance—Why is this work of significance to public health? By using longitudinal data with a pre-pandemic baseline, this research provides robust evidence on how teacher burnout indicators developed over time, addressing a critical gap in predominantly cross-sectional public health research. The findings identify organizational climate and perceived personal accomplishment as key protective factors, informing prevention-oriented approaches to occupational mental health. Public health implications—What are the key implications or messages for practitioners, policy makers, and/or researchers in public health? Our results underscore the need to prioritize organizational-level interventions, such as supportive leadership, social support structures, and professional development, to mitigate teacher burnout and promote sustainable working conditions. The study highlights the value of longitudinal and context-sensitive designs, supporting the inclusion of positive organizational resources as central components of public health strategies targeting work-related stress. Teacher occupational health is a critical issue worldwide that COVID-19 has worsened. While previous research has highlighted the impact of chronic work-related stress and limited personal resources on burnout, much of this research relies on cross-sectional data that do not capture how these effects develop over time. Additionally, the role of positive organizational factors remains underexplored. Our study examined burnout trajectories among 101 Portuguese elementary teachers (94.1% women, M = 46.03 years, 85.6% enrollment rate) over five data collection points spanning the 1st and 2nd COVID-19 waves (2019–2021) and investigated the impact of organizational climate on teacher burnout indicators. Main work-related stressors were identified through an open-ended question. Trajectories of occupational stress and burnout were analyzed using independent ANOVAs, and moderation analyses tested the relationship between organizational climate, occupational stress, and burnout indicators. Results showed a significant drop in perceived personal accomplishment during the first lockdown. Key stressors included greater job demands and more strained interpersonal relationships. Organizational climate significantly moderated the effect of work-related stress on emotional exhaustion, while having a positive main effect on personal accomplishment. This research contributes to a strengthened theoretical understanding of burnout as a dynamic, context-sensitive process, offering new empirical evidence, especially in underrepresented educational systems like Portugal. It emphasizes the importance of addressing contextual factors when working to reduce teacher burnout. Rethinking professional development and workplace relationships is essential for supporting teachers’ occupational health in today’s uncertain educational environments.