Burnout and Perceived Agency Among Texas Choir Teachers

Abstract

The purpose of this exploratory study was to examine variables that contribute to burnout among Texas choral teachers. Specific research questions included: (1) What demographic variables predict burnout in Texas choir teachers? and (2) How do perceptions of teacher agency impact Texas choir teachers’ experience of burnout? After providing demographic information, participants (N = 151) completed a researcher-designed questionnaire assessing perceived teacher agency and the Maslach Burnout Inventory. We conducted three multiple regression analyses for each of the three dimensions of burnout: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment. Four variables (perceived teacher agency, teaching at a Title 1 school, years of teaching experience, and outside employment work hours) significantly predicted emotional exhaustion. Perceived teacher agency, gender, teaching at a Title 1 school, and years of teaching experience significantly predicted depersonalization. Perceived teacher agency and years of teaching experience significantly predicted personal accomplishment. When perceived teacher agency was lower, teachers experienced greater emotional exhaustion, more depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment. Women experienced more depersonalization compared to men, and teachers who taught at Title 1 schools reported more emotional exhaustion and depersonalization. Years of teaching experience correlated negatively with emotional exhaustion and depersonalization but positively with personal accomplishment.

Keywords

agency burnout choral depersonalization emotional exhaustion Maslach Burnout Inventory personal accomplishment

Burnout is a pervasive problem that impacts educators, with as many as half of beginning teachers leaving the profession in their first 5 years of teaching (Darling-Hammond & Schlan, 1996; Hanushek, 2007; Ingersoll & Smith, 2003). Given the national shortage of teachers (Lindemann, 2004; Sutcher et al., 2016; U.S. Office of Postsecondary Education, 2008) and the link between working conditions and burnout (Maslach et al., 2001), burnout is a topic that is critically important and timely. For music educators, it is well documented that limited support from administration and schoolwide concerns impact job migration and attrition decisions (Hancock, 2003, 2008, 2009, 2016).

Freudenberger (1974), a psychiatrist, was the first researcher to reference burnout. He described burnout as the gradual emotional depletion, loss of motivation, and reduced commitment among employees. Maslach (1982a), a social psychologist, continued researching the topic and is credited with cementing three key dimensions of burnout: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization/cynicism, and reduced personal accomplishment. She and her colleagues (Maslach et al., 2001) defined emotional exhaustion as being overextended and depleted of one’s emotional resources. Depersonalization/cynicism was understood as the negative, callous, or detached response to various aspects of the job. Reduced personal accomplishment occurred when workers experienced feelings of incompetence and a lack of achievement and productivity at work. These three dimensions made up the subscales of the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI; Maslach & Jackson, 1981), the most widely recognized assessment measure for burnout. The MBI has been adapted specifically for individuals in the human services professions, including educators.

Maslach (1982a) explored demographic variables to better understand who was most at risk for burnout. She learned that there were significant differences between people of varied ethnic backgrounds, age, marital and family status, and education. Specifically, Black participants did not experience burnout as much as White participants. Burnout was greatest for young workers compared to older workers. Married people experienced the least burnout, compared to single and divorced people. Being childless was associated with a greater risk of burnout. Those who completed college but did not have postgraduate training were also at greater risk of burnout. Men and women experienced burnout similarly.

Researchers have determined that both personal and organizational factors impact the experience of burnout (Freudenberger, 1977; Friedman & Rosenman, 1980; Maslach, 1982a, 1982b; Maslach et al., 2001; Maslach & Leiter, 1997). Individuals who needed more frequent approval or were Type A personalities had a more difficult time than those who were more easygoing (Friedman & Rosenman, 1980). Maslach (1982a) posited that burnout was a greater likelihood whenever people felt powerless or trapped by others’ demands or when they felt constrained by institutional regulations and endless demands of those they served. Excessive loads, restrictive regulations, and poor management were considered problematic (Maslach, 1982b), especially when goals and roles were not clear. Relatedly, Maslach and Leiter (1997) ascertained that there were several ways in which a mismatch between the person and the job occurred, including (a) work overload, (b) lack of control, (c) insufficient reward, (d) breakdown in community, (e) absence of fairness, and (f) conflicting values.

A few researchers have specifically examined the burnout phenomenon among music educators. Brown (2020), for instance, surveyed P–12 music teachers on their self-reported vocal health and found a positive correlation between vocal health concerns and higher levels of stress/burnout. Hamann and Daugherty (1984) discovered that participants who scored high on the MBI tended to be either single or divorced, had taught 4 to 12 years, and had all changed jobs at least once in their career. Later, Hamann et al. (1987) investigated burnout symptoms among K–12 public school music educators in the western United States. Also utilizing the MBI, they observed the following predictors of burnout (in order of magnitude): (a) workload and time to complete the work, (b) desire to change professional careers, (c) contentment with job, (d) unclear goals from administration, (e) lack of personal goals in career plans, (f) lack of recognition by students, and (g) lack of cooperation among teachers in the district outside of the area of music. Taken together, these findings indicate that both demographic variables and job factors contribute to burnout among music teachers.

Jorgensen (2010) cautioned that music educators should not be surprised when teachers experience burnout during their first few years of teaching. Given the number of ways in which they are marginalized, it is understandable that music teachers feel powerless when they are not consulted about relevant issues that impact them. Nápoles (2021) noted that “teachers cannot assume all the responsibility or work harder and harder to solve problems that they have no agency to solve” (p. 24).

Music Teacher Agency

Music teacher agency, or the lack of it, may have a substantial influence on the phenomenon of music teacher burnout. Tucker (2020) defined music teacher agency as “the decisions and actions music teachers make and take on behalf of their students, programs, and selves in areas of music teaching practice such as curriculum, instruction, repertoire selection, and performance” (p. 6). Within the larger educational research literature, teacher agency as a phenomenon has shifted from an individual educator’s capacity for agentic action to an interaction between the teacher’s ability for decision-making and the education setting within which they teach (Priestley et al., 2015). Structures such as school policy or cultural norms can promote or inhibit the perception of teacher agency within educators (Priestley et al., 2012). For music educators, administrative pressure, program expectations by parents and students, professional time commitments, lack of financial resources within music programs, and focus on high-pressure performance have been identified as stressors (Bazan, 2011; Shaw, 2014). These pressures may be structures or social values that influence the perception of agency and ultimately teacher burnout.

Music education researchers have recently begun to explore the phenomenon of music teacher agency. These inquiries have largely been in the form of qualitative investigations and have revealed the interaction of the context of music teaching and perceptions of teacher agency (Abramo, 2008; Natale-Abramo, 2014; Powell, 2019; Tucker, 2020). In her initial studies, Natale-Abramo (Abramo, 2008; Natale-Abramo, 2014) reported that shifts in teacher identity and values, specifically moving from a teacher-centered to a student-centered praxis, led to stronger feelings of music teacher agency. In Powell’s (2019) case study of student teachers and early career teachers, participants described how little agency they had within the student teaching experience and how first-year teachers yielded to the structural values of their teaching environment. In Tucker’s (2020) investigation into music teacher agency in highly competitive environments, she described a reciprocal relationship between an individual teacher’s agency and state-sponsored festivals and adjudication, where each gives the other value and meaning. Music educators were both constrained and empowered by this competitive context and, similar to the participants in Powell’s study, were willing to accede to the structures of the teaching context. Novice teachers experienced a transformation from disgruntled student teachers who wanted to explore different pedagogical approaches to accepting a specific and rigid teaching praxis that guaranteed success in the competitive environment. These studies illustrate that factors like identity, experience, educational philosophy, and teaching context can influence perception of music teacher agency. Therefore, it seems reasonable to assume that how music teachers perceive their agency in the classroom may impact their experience of burnout.

Need for the Study

Although the topic of teacher burnout has been well researched overall, there are relatively few studies directly related to music teacher burnout (Brown, 2020; Hamann & Daugherty, 1984; Hamann et al., 1997). Similarly, examinations of demographic variables contributing to teacher burnout are nearly 40 years old (Maslach, 1982a), and undoubtedly societal and structural changes have impacted teachers’ experiences. Given Jorgensen’s (2010) connection between music teacher marginalization and burnout, Maslach’s (1982a) admonition that burnout was a greater risk whenever people felt powerless or trapped by other people’s demands, and Powell’s (2019) use of strong structuration theory (Stones, 2005) to describe the ways in which music teacher agency is enabled and inhibited by the structures in which they work, we believe that more research is warranted. Specifically, there is reason to study teacher burnout and teacher agency in combination, especially in the context of secondary choral teaching, where performance demands and pressures can often be high stakes through competitive structures. Therefore, the purpose of this exploratory study was to examine variables that contribute to burnout among choral teachers. Specific research questions include: (1) What demographic variables predict burnout in Texas choir teachers? and (2) How do perceptions of teacher agency impact Texas choir teachers’ experience of burnout?

Method

Participants

We recruited participants through a master list of all music teachers in Texas, provided to us through Texas Music Educators Association (TMEA). We sorted the list by membership status, which included active, retired, and honorary life members, and then by members’ primary division, which included administration, band, collegiate, elementary, orchestra, and vocal. We extracted only active vocal members. In total, we sent 950 emails; 41 were returned as undeliverable. After distribution, 34 respondents were identified as no longer being active choral teachers in the state, and 5 were recognized as duplicates of the same person with multiple email addresses. We deleted 11 participants due to incomplete responses. Ultimately, there were 870 active choral teachers who received our emails and 151 who responded, resulting in a 17.36% response rate.

Of the 151 total participants who completed the questionnaire, 102 identified as male, and 49 participants identified as female. Almost everyone (n = 135) described their race as White. Five participants identified as Black or African American, 5 as multiracial, 1 as Filipino, and 5 preferred to self-describe their racial background as “other.” Most of our participants (n = 123) had no Hispanic, Latinx, or Spanish heritage; 20 teachers were of Mexican heritage, 2 of Cuban heritage, and 5 preferred to self-describe (e.g., Bolivian, Salvadoran, Spanish). Additional demographic data indicated our participants’ marital status (married, n = 110; unmarried, n = 40; preferred not to respond, n = 1), and parental status (had children at the time of the study, n = 78; did not have children, n = 72; preferred not to respond, n = 1).

Our teacher participants reported a range of 1 to 41 years of classroom teaching experience (M = 13.84, SD = 10.54). Participants worked many hours at school outside the school day (M = 9.81 hours per week, SD = 7.44). Eighty-four teachers taught at a Title 1 school, and 52 teachers did not. Another 14 teachers were unsure if their school was Title 1 or not. Seventy-nine respondents were the only choral teacher at their school; 40 teachers were a head director of a program, and 32 teachers were an assistant director.

Most responding teachers worked with students traditionally associated with middle schools (i.e., grades 6–8; n = 74) or high schools (i.e., grades 9–12, n = 49). Six teachers taught children in elementary grades (i.e., Pre-K–5). Seventeen teachers worked with grades that were a combination of middle and high school grades. Additionally, two respondents taught students in combinations of elementary and middle grade levels and another three respondents with combination of all grade levels, K–12.

Instrumentation/Development of the Questionnaire

We developed our questionnaire in three sections: demographic information, questions related to perceived teacher agency, and questions related to teacher burnout. Demographic information included elements in the Maslach (1982a) study: race, gender identification/sex-type, and marital and parental status. We added other questions related to school and teaching context, including (a) years of teaching experience, (b) whether participants worked in a Title 1 school, (c) extra hours worked outside of the school day on school-related matters, (d) hours of work spent in outside employment, and (e) the role of the choir teacher (only teacher at the school, head director, or associate/assistant director).

Using Tucker’s (2020) definition of music teacher agency, we posed seven questions related to areas of music teaching practice such as curriculum, instruction, repertoire selection, and performance. We pilot-tested this portion of the instrument with six choir teachers in the state, ensuring that terminology was appropriate in describing policies and events. Two music education researchers who had expertise in the topic of music teacher agency served as a content validity panel. We made appropriate adjustments to terminology, wording, and clarity resulting from collective feedback. A reliability and validity analysis of the scale revealed that two questions had low item-total correlation, and removing them improved reliability. Ultimately, five items were used in the agency scale resulting in a Cronbach’s alpha of .682. Due to the small number of items in the scale and the exploratory nature of the psychometric scale, alpha levels below .70 were deemed acceptable (Kline, 1999). These questions were answered using 7-point Likert-type scales. One question was reverse-coded, and we utilized only the total summative response for all five questions as an independent variable (range = 8–35; see Table S1 in the supplemental document included with the online version of this article).

For questions related to music teacher burnout, we used the Maslach Burnout Inventory Educators Survey (MBI-ES; Maslach et al., 1996). The MBI-ES addresses the three general scales of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment among educators. It is constructed as a 22-item survey that uses 7-point Likert-type scales for responses. There are nine questions related to emotional exhaustion, five related to depersonalization, and eight for personal accomplishment. The MBI has been found to be a valid and reliable tool for measuring burnout (Gold, 1984; Iwanicki & Schwab, 1981; Jackson et al., 1986; Leiter & Durup, 1996). Items are written in the form of statements about personal feelings and attitudes (e.g., “I feel burned out from my work” and “I don’t really care what happens to some students”) and answered in terms of frequency, ranging from 0 (never) to 6 (every day). In the published answer key, authors noted that scores should be averaged by category, rather than summed.

We created the questionnaire using Qualtrics software Version 10/2021, beginning with the informed consent as approved by our university’s institutional review board. We sent invitations to prospective participants and asked them to respond within 3 weeks and sent one reminder email after 2 weeks.

Results

Prior to examining the interaction of relationships between the demographic, burnout, and teacher agency variables, we compared group means on composite burnout and teacher agency scores by gender/sex type, marital status, parental status, race, working at a Title 1 school, and teacher role. Because of the number of comparisons, we utilized a Bonferroni correction with an adjusted alpha (α = .002). There were no significant differences between groups in perceptions of any of the dimensions of burnout, with the exception of women reporting more depersonalization than men. Furthermore, there were no significant group differences in reporting of teacher agency, with the exception of the variable of teacher role. Head directors reported significantly more teacher agency than assistant directors or sole choral teachers in a building. Summary details of these group comparisons can be found in online supplemental Table S2.

Maslach et al. (1996) cautioned that each dimension of the burnout construct should be considered distinctly rather than as a composite sum. Furthermore, this study was an exploratory effort, with no prior research examining these unique variables in combination or with this population. A reliability analysis of MBI responses indicated an overall Cronbach’s alpha of .823; for subscales, α = .930 for emotional exhaustion, α = .714 for depersonalization, and α = .741 for personal accomplishment. Therefore, we conducted three stepwise multiple regression analyses to determine which various independent variables (i.e., gender/sex-type, marital status, children, race, working at a Title 1 school, years of teaching experience, hours of work on school related matters outside of the school day, hours of work in outside employment, teacher role, and perceived teacher agency) significantly predicted emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment—the three dimensions of burnout in the MBI. Consistent with the instruction manual for grading the MBI, we calculated means by category. We examined scatterplots and histograms for violations of linearity and homoscedasticity. Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Shapiro-Wilk tests revealed some nonnormal distributions; however, the distributions were not extreme. Tolerance for each independent variable was above .1, indicating that multicollinearity assumptions were also met. We found no outliers using Mahalanobis distances and box plots.

The model summary for emotional exhaustion indicated that four of the 10 independent variables were entered into the model. For the first step, perceived teacher agency was entered because it accounted for the greatest variance in the dependent variable (R² = .13). The variables of teaching at a Title 1 school, years of teaching experience, and hours of outside employment were entered in the next three steps, respectively, creating a model that accounted for 27.5% of the variance in emotional exhaustion, F(4, 141) = 13.35, p < .001, R² = .275. The fitted regression equation was: Emotional Exhaustion = 8.150 −.088(agency) − .489(Title 1) −.033(years teaching) + .040(outside employment). See online supplemental Table S3 for the presentation of each step in the model and online supplemental Table S4 for the summary of the regression model. Bivariate and partial correlation coefficients between each predictor and the dependent variable are presented in online supplemental Table S5 and show negative correlations between perceived teacher agency and emotional exhaustion and negative correlations between years of teaching experience and emotional exhaustion. Teachers who taught at Title 1 schools were more emotionally exhausted than their peers who taught in other schools. There was a positive correlation (r = .18) between hours of outside employment and emotional exhaustion.

Regression results for depersonalization were somewhat similar, with perceived teacher agency also contributing the greatest variance in the dependent variable (R² = .09). The variables of gender/sex-type, years of teaching experience, and teaching in a Title 1 school entered in the next three steps of the model, respectively, for a total of 25.5% of variance in depersonalization, F(4, 141) = 12.05, p < .001, R² = .255. The fitted regression equation was Depersonalization = 4.683 − .074(agency) + .616(gender) − .019(years teaching) − .294(Title 1). Complete regression results for depersonalization appear in online supplemental Tables S6 through S8. The general trend was for participants with more teaching experience to report less depersonalization compared to teachers with fewer years of experience. Those who identified as women were more likely to experience depersonalization compared to men. As with emotional exhaustion, those participants teaching in a Title 1 school had greater depersonalization scores, and greater perceived teacher agency was associated with reduced depersonalization.

The model summary for personal accomplishment was quite different. Only two independent variables were entered into the model, perceived teacher agency and years of teaching experience, accounting for 15.1% variance in personal accomplishment, F(2, 143) = 12.70, p < .001, R² = .151. The fitted regression model was Personal Accomplishment = 3.975 + .048(agency) + .018(years teaching); Tables S9 through S11 in the online supplement provide a summary of the regression results. Results of this analysis illustrate that more years of teaching experience was positively associated with a sense of personal accomplishment, and higher perceived teacher agency correlated positively with personal accomplishment scores.

To further explore overall burnout in our sample of choir teachers, we observed means and standard deviations for scores in each of the burnout dimensions. Participants reported a high sense of personal accomplishment (M = 5.59, SD = 0.81), a low sense of depersonalization (M = 2.67, SD = 1.19), and a high sense of emotional exhaustion (M = 4.58, SD = 1.42). Recall that our scales ranged from 0 to 6.

Discussion

The purpose of this study was to identify factors that may contribute to music teacher burnout in our sample of Texas choral teachers, specifically examining the influence of teacher agency as well as other demographic and environmental variables. Through multiple linear regression, we were able to identify unique combinations of predictors for each of the dimensions of burnout: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment. For each of these components, the regression models revealed different variables as predictors, suggesting that burnout is a nuanced and multifaceted phenomenon and should indeed be studied by construct rather than summatively. More remarkably, however, teacher agency was the strongest predictor for burnout and accounted for the largest percentage of variance for each component.

Our interest in the effect of teacher agency on perceptions of burnout stemmed from an examination of the literature. Many of the indicators for increased feelings of burnout (e.g., feeling powerless within job responsibilities, poor management, untenable workload, lack of community) resonated with descriptions of limited teacher agency in music education literature (Powell, 2019; Tucker, 2020). Moreover, among music educators, feelings of work overload, lack of clarity from administration, lack of recognition, and few feelings of community led to increased perceptions of burnout (Hamann et al., 1987). It was therefore reasonable to examine how teacher agency potentially related to burnout. With the use of our instrument on music teacher agency in concert with the MBI, our findings suggest that these two phenomena are intricately linked. In fact, perceptions of music teacher agency were the strongest predictor of every dimension of burnout.

Emotional exhaustion is described as feeling depleted by job demands or being completely overextended (Maslach, 1982b). Our regression model identified four predictors for emotional exhaustion: perceptions of teacher agency, working at a Title 1 school, years of experience, and number of hours working in other jobs outside of teaching. These factors make logical sense toward feelings of emotional exhaustion. If teachers perceive that they have little control over their classroom or job duties, it is reasonable that they would be susceptible to feelings of emotional exhaustion. Similarly, educators who teach in Title 1 schools report higher levels of stress (O’Donnell, Lambert, & McCarthy, 2008; Pratt, 1978) and may consequently be more likely to feel that they have unsustainable demands on them. Years of experience may act as a buffer against emotional exhaustion because teachers may be able to prioritize the many demands of the job over time. Finally, it is unsurprising that teachers who worked more hours in an outside job felt more overextended. Readers should note, however, that outside employment was only a unique predictor for emotional exhaustion.

Depersonalization/cynicism is characterized as having feelings of detachment or negative associations with aspects of one’s job. Similar to the predictors for emotional exhaustion, perceptions of teacher agency, Title 1 school status, and years of teaching experience were unique predictors of depersonalization/cynicism, with perceptions of teacher agency accounting for the most variance. As mentioned previously, it is logical that teachers who feel less agentic have higher demands on them working in a Title 1 school and that those teachers with less teaching experience report negative feelings about their work. In addition, our regression model for depersonalization/cynicism identified gender/sex-type as a unique predictor, with those identifying as women reporting stronger feelings of depersonalization. This finding may indicate the effects of marginalization or lack of power many women experience in the workplace on feelings of burnout. The extant literature on gender/sex-type differences in perceptions of burnout is vast and presents many findings and theories about how men and women experience or report work stress differently (Malach-Pines & Ronen, 2016; Purvanova & Muros, 2010). Understanding the relationship between gender/sex-type and feelings of burnout in teachers is an important avenue of investigation in future studies.

The third component of burnout we examined was reduced personal accomplishment, which is described as lack of productivity or perception of incompetence. Two variables were identified as predictors of reduced personal accomplishment: perceptions of teacher agency and years of experience. Teachers with greater teaching experience appear to develop a greater sense of personal accomplishment, perhaps because of familiarity and predictability of the job. We also learned that overall means for our sample of Texas choral teachers was very high (M = 5.59, SD = 0.81) for personal accomplishment, leading us to wonder if perhaps the hardships experienced by teachers have created a sense of resilience. Further research is necessary to explore this variable more specifically.

It is curious to note how our data and regression models do not comport with extant research on burnout. As opposed to Maslach’s (1982a) findings, race, marriage status, and having children did not have any unique predicting effect on burnout. This discrepancy is likely due to issues in our sampling frame. The vast majority of the respondents reported being White (89% of the sample); perhaps a sample with more equal quantities of different racial backgrounds could produce different results. Similarly, marital status or number of children had no predictive effect on feelings of burnout. It could be that in our model, there was too much shared variance between these variables and years of teaching experience, which was identified as a unique predictor. Perhaps with a much larger sample, there would be enough power to disentangle these variables to indicate if they have predictive power with a population of music teachers. Alternatively, since these variables (years of experience, marital status, parental status) are intertwined with age; researchers may need to do more work to isolate the effects of these variables on burnout. While years of experience seems to help combat perceptions of burnout, it must be noted that this phenomenon may be a result of educators self-selecting to leave the field of teaching. Future researchers examining the reasons why music educators leave the field would be wise to examine the role of burnout and teacher agency in those decisions. The element of support systems (through family and marital status) merits further study as a possible mitigation for burnout in music educators.

We were also surprised to learn that the role of the teacher in the program (only teacher, head director, or associate director) was not predictive of any burnout dimension. We had included that variable based on our hypothesis that having a teaching partner would create a “shared load” or a sense of companionship, reducing burnout. We recommend further study to understand the function of those relationships in daily work environments.

As can be seen in online Tables S4, S7, and S10, our regression models accounted for just 27.5% of emotional exhaustion, 25.5% of depersonalization, and 15.1% of personal accomplishment. Therefore, likely many other variables contributed to choral teachers’ experiences of burnout. Because our data were collected amid recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic when teachers were experiencing significant disruption to the traditional educational environment, it is reasonable to assume that unpredictability and helplessness were heightened, impacting perceptions of burnout. Researchers investigating music teaching during the recent coronavirus pandemic reported increased work hours and lack of agency in decision-making (Knapp, 2022; Kuebel & Haskett, 2022). Moreover, there is likely some sort of sampling bias in our participants. It is unclear how this bias shaped our findings because teachers experiencing the highest degrees of burnout may have opted to not participate in this study or been overrepresented among the participants because this topic is of concern to them. Future replications with different populations will help identify if this sample is typical.

Implications and Further Study

The results of this study have several implications for our profession. Considering the ongoing shortage of educators and the tendency for a significant number of early career teachers leaving the profession (Darling-Hammond & Schlan, 1996; Hanushek, 2007; Ingersoll & Smith, 2003; Sutcher et al., 2016), a more comprehensive understanding of factors that influence burnout seems essential for teacher preparation and retention. Given the finding that teachers with less experience report higher levels of burnout, there is a need for support systems that target beginning teachers specifically, whether through mentorship or empowerment by administrative leaders. Jorgensen (2010) repeatedly expressed concern that teachers were being left out of important decision-making concerning curriculum and school policies. These continued forms of teacher marginalization require real solutions that allow teachers to feel included and empowered.

The correlation between hours worked in secondary jobs outside of the school day and emotional exhaustion points to the need for salary reform so that full-time teachers do not need to seek additional employment. This need for additional employment and income may be experienced more in early career educators, who are on the lower end of the salary scale or who do not have a partner with whom to share living costs. There is no question teacher salaries are not competitive compared to fields where similar training is required (National Education Association, 2022).

We sampled choir teachers from a single state as a starting point for exploration of the link between perceived agency and burnout. Future studies with a larger, more diverse sample and in different contexts (general music, band, orchestra) and states may uncover different findings. We also encourage qualitative approaches to data collection to understand the experience of burnout more fully among teachers and ways in which teachers seek support and relief from burnout.

Burnout negatively affects job performance. It is easy to see that teachers who are burned out may have feelings of low morale or less satisfaction in their work (Maslach & Leiter, 1997). It is incumbent upon all stakeholders, including educational researchers, teacher preparation programs, school boards, and administrations, to continue to find ways to empower and support music teachers.

Supplemental Material

sj-docx-1-jrm-10.1177_00224294221126889 – Supplemental material for Burnout and Perceived Agency Among Texas Choir Teachers

Supplemental material, sj-docx-1-jrm-10.1177_00224294221126889 for Burnout and Perceived Agency Among Texas Choir Teachers by Jessica Nápoles, Jamey Kelley and Thomas J. Rinn in Journal of Research in Music Education

Footnotes

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

ORCID iD

Jessica Nápoles

Supplemental Material

Tables S1 through S11 are available in the online version of the article at

Author Biographies

Jessica Nápoles is professor of music education at the University of North Texas. Her research interests include music teacher education, teacher talk, perceptions of expressivity, and testing pedagogical claims empirically.

Jamey Kelley is assistant professor of music education at the University of North Texas. His research interests include singing accuracy, music teacher well-being, and gender issues in music education.

Thomas J. Rinn is a PhD student in music education at the University of North Texas. His research interests include music teacher education and student recruitment and retention.

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