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The Effect of Self-Efficacy and Role Understanding on Teachers’ Emotional
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The Effect of Self-Efficacy and Role Understanding
on Teachers’ Emotional Exhaustion and Work
Engagement in Inclusive Education in Macao (SAR)
Angus C.H. Kuok , Vitor Teixeira , Chris Forlin , Elisa Monteiro & Ana Correia
To cite this article: Angus C.H. Kuok , Vitor Teixeira , Chris Forlin , Elisa Monteiro & Ana Correia
(2020): The Effect of Self-Efficacy and Role Understanding on Teachers’ Emotional Exhaustion
and Work Engagement in Inclusive Education in Macao (SAR), International Journal of Disability,
Development and Education, DOI: 10.1080/1034912X.2020.1808949
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INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF DISABILITY, DEVELOPMENT AND EDUCATION
https://doi.org/10.1080/1034912X.2020.1808949
The Effect of Self-Efficacy and Role Understanding on
Teachers’ Emotional Exhaustion and Work Engagement in
Inclusive Education in Macao (SAR)
Angus C.H. Kuok
and Ana Correia
a
, Vitor Teixeiraa, Chris Forlin
b
, Elisa Monteiroc
c
a
Department of Psychology, University of Saint Joseph, , Macao; bInternational Inclusive Education
Consultant and Adjunct Professor, Department of Education, Notre Dame University, Perth, Australia;
c
Department of Education, University of Saint Joseph, Macao
ABSTRACT
KEYWORDS
This study examined responses from 508 full-time teachers working
in inclusive schools in Macao (SAR). The intention was to under­
stand the teachers’ perceptions about their roles and how they
responded to inclusive practices in their school. Teachers’ perceived
levels of emotional exhaustion and cognitive work engagement
were assessed in relation to several professional competencies (selfefficacy with using inclusive instruction, collaborating with parents
and paraprofessionals, and managing disruptive behaviours), as
well as the organisational variable of role understanding.
Regression analysis showed that teachers’ self-efficacy with using
inclusive instruction was found to be the most powerful negative
predictor of emotional exhaustion; while self-efficacy for managing
disruptive behaviours was a positive predictor of teachers’ cogni­
tive work engagement. Teachers’ level of understanding of their
role and that of their schools was a negative predictor of emotional
exhaustion and a positive predictor of cognitive work engagement.
Moreover, it further confirmed that the concept of co-existence
between work engagement and burnout can be applied to inclu­
sive teachers. Results were interpreted in relation to management
in inclusive schools in Macao and were followed by a discussion on
the implications of enhancing inclusive education.
Cognitive work engagement;
inclusive education;
teachers’ emotional
exhaustion; role
understanding; self-efficacy
in inclusive practice
Introduction
The philosophy of inclusive education is an approach whereby all students with differ­
ences in ability, culture, gender, language, class, and ethnicity are nurtured and educated
within the regular classroom (Kozleski, Artiles, Fletcher, & Engelbrecht, 2009). Initially,
inclusive education was a way to integrate students with special needs in mainstream
classrooms, including those with physical, mental and psychological disabilities (Forlin,
2013). Nowadays, inclusive education is a broader concept that encompasses a wider
group of children and youth who may be excluded from school and society (UNESCO,
2009); it is also used in reference to the policy of merging well-resourced segregated
CONTACT Angus Kuok
anguskuok@gmail.com
© 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
2
A. KUOK ET AL.
special education and general education into one system. That is, inclusive education
focuses on providing a non-segregating classroom environment for potentially excluded
children to enable them to study and learn with other children in regular classes (Forlin,
Sharma, Loreman, & Sprunt, 2015).
Similar to other countries, Macao (SAR) is gradually moving towards including students
with SEN in regular schools. A recent report on inclusive education in Macao (SAR),
however, concluded that a portion of teachers do not agree with the core values of
inclusive education (Hong Kong Institute of Education, 2012). This lack of agreement has
been found to generate a sense of cognitive dissonance (Festinger, 1957), reflecting an
inconsistency between teachers’ attitudes and their behaviours. This raises a question as
to whether teachers are able to educate students with SEN when they themselves do not
agree with core inclusive values. It is crucial to know about teachers’ perception and
behaviour at work in the context of their personal feelings and the way they think about
their work. This research, therefore, focuses on the effect of self-efficacy and role under­
standing on teachers’ emotional exhaustion and work engagement in inclusive education
for teachers in Macao (SAR).
The Macao (SAR) Context
Since 1999, when Macao (SAR) was handed back to the Chinese, it has become an
autonomous Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China (MacaoSAR). With a history of Portuguese control and a large influx of mainland Chinese in the
mid-20th century, Macao is now a multi-cultural region consisting mainly of Portuguese
and Chinese influences. Macao covers a relatively small area of just 30.5 square kilometres
and is perceived to be the most densely populated region in the world. Its economy relies
upon gambling and tourism.
The education system developed largely from private organisations, with more than
96% of students being educated in the 2016–17 school year in the 64 private schools, with
some schools being part funded by the government. There are only 10 local government
schools. Recent government policy has encouraged the inclusion of students with mild
special education needs in regular schools. Nevertheless, there still exists an array of
private special schools that cater for students with moderate to high support needs. While
90% of government schools are involved with inclusion, approximately 50% of the private
schools identify themselves as being inclusive schools.
Inclusive Education in Macao
As of the 2015/2016 academic year, there were 37 schools taking on the new challenge of
enrolling students with special educational needs (SEN) in the regular classroom. Eight of
these schools were from the public sector and 29 from the private sector (Macao
Education & Youth Affairs Bureau, 2016). Out of the 643 students in special education
classes, 269 were integrated in regular schools and 374 studied in segregated special
schools. The majority of students with SEN were either integrated in public schools or in
private church schools.
A core reform of the educational system in Macao (SAR) entailed the inclusion of all
children in mainstream schools, regardless of ability or disability. Following the trend of
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF DISABILITY, DEVELOPMENT AND EDUCATION
3
other countries in the Asia-Pacific region, the Macao (SAR) government was committed to
equating schooling with equality of opportunity and the promotion of social justice
(Macao Government Printing Bureau, 2016). The enactment of such a significant educa­
tional reform involves many parties, including those who will play a central role i.e. the
teachers.
In Macao (SAR), teachers led the reform to change the schooling system, from
a segregated dual system to a more inclusive, humanistic and democratic one. This new
reality has significantly increased opportunities for contact between teachers in regular
classes and students with SEN. To effectively implement this reform, training for teachers
has become a critical issue.
The Education and Youth Affairs Bureau is the only institution that currently provides
relevant training (from 30 to 180 hours) to practicing teachers who need to include
students with SEN in regular classes (Macao Special Education Study Association, 2015).
This training has, however, only been available in the Chinese language. Due to the
limited quota allocated to teachers for training and the single language offering by the
government, not all teachers in private schools are able to attend these classes. There are
many teachers who do not speak Chinese and would require the training to be in English
or Portuguese.
With limited access to training and a strong move towards expecting more private
schools to include students with SEN, teachers’ self-efficacy and levels of emotional
exhaustion have been challenged. In addition to curricula and pedagogical issues that
required teachers to adapt their work to include more diverse students, there were also
issues of high retention rates.
Macao has one of the highest-grade retention rates among the Organisation for
Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries (Ikeda & Garcia, 2014). High
rates of grade retention impacted further on a teacher’s workload by increasing the age
differences of children in their classes.
With increased age differences and the higher expectation for including students with
SEN, inclusive teachers may experience more emotional exhaustion than teachers in noninclusive schools; who have already been found to experience high levels of burnout
(Kuok & Lam, 2018). To provide appropriate support to students with SEN, nonetheless,
inclusive teachers need to improve their effectiveness in teaching for both students with
SEN and general students under the same environment, i.e. improve their cognitive work
engagement (see Kuok & Taormina, 2017).
Teachers’ Emotional Exhaustion
Burnout is described as ‘ . . . a syndrome of emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation and
reduced personal accomplishment that can occur among individuals who work with
people in some capacity’ (Maslach, Jackson, & Leiter, 1996, p. 4). Emotional exhaustion
refers to a depletion of emotional resources and is viewed as the central element of
burnout (Maslach & Jackson, 1981). That includes feeling fatigued and frustrated from
intensive emotional work demands, which exhaust the capacity to be responsive to
colleagues. Depersonalisation describes a process in which employees develop uncaring
attitudes towards their work-related demands, particularly customers, clients, and co-
4
A. KUOK ET AL.
workers. Reduced personal accomplishment means that employees perceive a decline in
their performance.
Teaching demands high-intensity interpersonal contact with people, especially stu­
dents, since these are the people they work the most with. The large number of students
that teachers are in contact with daily, makes them more prone to experiencing disap­
pointment with stressful conditions at work, which can trigger their emotional burdens,
i.e. emotional exhaustion (Zhang & Sapp, 2008). This is particularly pertinent when it
comes to catering for students with special education needs for which they have not been
trained. Depersonalisation may not be applied in this occupation, since, unlike other
front-line workers, the role of teachers in inclusive schools is less routine and they have to
deal more sensitively with students with SEN.
Previous studies suggest that teachers in both Western (Talmor, Reiter, & Feigin, 2005)
and Chinese societies (Lo, 2014) who work in inclusive education experience burnout. As
Ho (2015) reported, stress and burnout are prevalent among school teachers in
Hong Kong, although some are more resilient than others when experiencing the same
levels of job stress. For example, Zhang and Sapp (2008) suggested that teachers who
were burnt-out were less sympathetic towards students. They also found that for these
teachers their tolerance level for frustration in the classroom was lowered.
Teachers’ Cognitive Work Engagement
Kahn (1990), first conceptualised work engagement as ‘ . . . people employ and express
themselves physically, cognitively, and emotionally during role performances’ (p. 694) and
work disengagement as ‘ . . . uncoupling of selves from work roles; in disengagement,
people withdraw and defend themselves physically, cognitively, and emotionally during
role performances’ (p. 694). Later, Kahn’s work inspired Rothbard (2001), who developed
a similar idea by defining engagement as a two-dimensional construct that includes
‘attention’ (i.e. the cognition and the time spent thinking about one’s role at work), and
‘absorption’ (i.e. the intensity of focus on a role at work). These two dimensions were
mainly focused on the cognitive aspect of Kahn’s (1990) conceptualisation of work
engagement. In addition, Saks (2006) was inspired by Kahn (1990) and Rothbard’s
(2001) study of engagement. He adopted the conceptualisation of work engagement as
role related. That is, an employee is psychologically present in a particular organisation
role. For Saks (2006), ‘ . . . the two most dominant roles for most organisational members
are their work role and their role as a member of an organisation’ (p. 604). He suggested
that work engagement could be distinguished from organisational engagement.
A second approach, work engagement, was viewed as the opposite of burnout, placing
burnout on the negative end and work engagement on the positive end of a bipolar
dimension (Maslach, Schaufeli, & Leiter, 2001). In addition, Schaufeli, Salanova, GonzálezRomá, and Bakker (2002) created a new measure of work engagement, i.e. the Utrecht
Work Engagement Scale (UWES), but the idea of burnout and work engagement as
opposite concepts remained in their paper, i.e. ‘ . . . we concur that, conceptually speaking,
engagement is the positive antithesis of burnout’ (p. 75). Thus, according to their concept,
a person is not allowed to experience burnout and work engagement at the same time.
Kuok and Taormina (2017) proposed even further that burnout and work engagement can
co-exist and viewed work engagement as a unique concept with three facets. The overall
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF DISABILITY, DEVELOPMENT AND EDUCATION
5
conceptual definition of work engagement was defined as ‘the intentional involvement
with or attachment to tasks, objectives, or organisational activities cognitively, emotion­
ally, and physically, i.e. by having positive thoughts about improving one’s effectiveness,
feeling positive emotions about executing the tasks, and voluntarily utilising one’s energy
and effort to achieve those tasks’ (Kuok & Taormina, 2017, p. 266). Moreover, Cognitive
Work Engagement is defined as ‘the intentional and actively focused awareness of one’s
tasks, objectives, or organisational activities that is characterised by willingly calling one’s
attention to and having positive thoughts about one’s work, with the purpose of improv­
ing one’s effectiveness at those tasks, objectives, or activities’ (Kuok & Taormina, 2017,
p. 266).
In the context of inclusive schooling, teachers have many responsibilities that can be
overwhelming, and this can cause emotional exhaustion. By cognitively perceiving that
they are enlightening a new generation of students and assisting them to perform well
under their guidance, these teachers may, nevertheless, still have strong engagement. In
this context, cognitive work engagement is defined as the intentional and actively
focused awareness of one’s tasks, objectives, or organisational activities, that are char­
acterised by willingly calling attention to and having positive thoughts about work, with
the purpose of improving one’s effectiveness at those tasks, objectives or activities. That
is, people need to work logically and with awareness to be more effective at their jobs.
This concept suggests that employees have ‘cognitive resources’ at work, including
spending time thinking about work and concentrating on their jobs. Applying this notion
to teachers, it would be expected that those who are cognitively work-engaged would
have more positive thoughts about, and pay more attention to, their work and students.
Possible Antecedents for Teachers’ Emotional Exhaustion and Work Engagement
Bandura (1977) first mentioned that self-efficacy in his social cognitive theory, as
a motivational construct that refers to the amount of effort and time someone will
spend on the relevant tasks to bring about possible learning outcomes. That is, selfefficacy beliefs influence thought patterns and emotions, which in turn enable or inhibit
actions. Educational scholars extended this concept of self-efficacy and applied it in both
general and inclusive educational settings, i.e. teachers’ self-efficacy, which is the belief in
their ability to have a positive effect on student learning (see Sharma, Loreman, & Forlin,
2012; Tschannen-Moran & Johnson, 2011). In addition, particularly in inclusive education,
teachers’ self-efficacy has been widely studied (Malinen, Savolainen, & Xu, 2012;
Savolainen, Engelbrecht, Nel, & Malinen, 2012; Wang, Zan, Liu, Liu, & Sharma, 2012). Selfefficacy has been found to be a good positive predictor of work engagement (Kuok &
Taormina, 2017) and negatively related to burnout (Skaalvik & Skaalvik, 2010). Moreover,
inclusive teachers with high levels of self-efficacy have been found to hold more positive
attitudes towards the application of behaviour-management strategies and the use of
more effective teaching methods for students with SEN (Sharma et al., 2012). The follow­
ing hypothesis (H1-4) are, thus, provided to guide this research:
H (1) the higher self-efficacy with using inclusive instruction the teachers have, the (a)
lower emotional exhaustion and (b) higher cognitive work engagement they experience.
6
A. KUOK ET AL.
H (2) the higher self-efficacy in collaboration the teachers have, the (a) lower emotional
exhaustion and (b) higher cognitive work engagement they experience.
H (3) the higher self-efficacy for managing disruptive behaviours the teachers have, the (a)
lower emotional exhaustion and (b) higher cognitive work engagement they experience.
Another variable related to emotional exhaustion and work engagement that was
identified as an antecedent to stress and burnout is organisational socialisation. This refers
to ‘ . . . the process by which a person secures relevant job skills, acquires a functional level
of organisational understanding, attains supportive social interactions with co-workers,
and generally accepts the established ways of a particular organisation’ (Taormina, 1997,
p. 29). Further, organisational socialisation has been found be linked to various behaviours
of frontline workers, such as improved job satisfaction and organisational commitment,
and reduced levels of emotional exhaustion (Kuok, 2017; Kuok & Taormina, 2015;
Taormina & Kuok, 2009).
In organisational socialisation, understanding refers to ‘ . . . the extent to which employ­
ees believe they can comprehend their job roles, know the goals and values of the
company, and apply knowledge about the job’ (p. 34). Taormina and Bauer (2000), stated
that the extent to which management shares their company’s goals and values with their
employees may impact the employees’ understanding of the working environment.
Workers’ good understanding of their job roles, how to perform tasks, and how the
organisation functions, should give higher levels of self-assurance and confidence
(Taormina & Law, 2000). In the same sense, this also guides employees to reduce mistakes
and yield more effective employees. Thus, they work more willingly and have a sense of
improvement at work. This should result in them being less likely to experience emotional
exhaustion and more likely to be engaged at work. This argument leads to Hypothesis 4
that the more understanding the teachers have for their job and school, the (a) lower
emotional exhaustion and (b) higher cognitive work engagement they experience.
To date, there has been little research done on Macao (SAR) teachers’ feelings about their
work or on their perception of emotional exhaustion and work engagement (Cheuk & Wong,
1995; Luk, Chan, Cheong, & Ko, 2010), and none related to inclusive education. This study
aims to fill this research gap by (1) finding out teachers’ level of emotional exhaustion; (2)
determining the level of work engagement; and (3) investigating the antecedents of emo­
tional exhaustion and work engagement for teachers in inclusive schools in Macao (SAR).
Method
Participants
This study used a quantitative approach with a questionnaire given to a sample of
teachers in seven private schools in Macao (SAR). These schools were randomly selected
among the private schools that self-identified as providing inclusive education. Such an
approach ensures the representativeness of the sample (Burns & Bush, 2005).
A total of 508 (111 males, 21.9%, 383 females, 75.4%, 14 not specified, 2.7%) fulltime teachers in inclusive private schools in Macao participated in this study. With
respect to age, 53 participants (10.4%) were 25 years old or less; 194 (38.2%) were
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF DISABILITY, DEVELOPMENT AND EDUCATION
7
26–35 years old; 136 (26.8%) were 36–45 years old; and 121 (23.8%) were 46 years or
older. Four (0.8%) did not specify their age. Regarding teaching levels, 91 respondents
were teaching kindergarten; 198 were teaching in a primary school; 249 were teach­
ing at secondary level; and three were teaching in special education. Some teachers
taught more than one level. With respect to level of training in educating children
with SEN, approximately 50% of the teachers had received at least some training, with
a small number indicating they had extensive training. By contrast, almost 40%
indicated they had no training in this area. The amount of prior experience indicated
by participants in teaching students with disabilities varied. Of the cohort, 116 (22.8%)
indicated that they had no prior experience; 200 (39.4%) had some experience; and
184 (36.2%) had high levels of experience; with eight (1.6%) not specifying their level
of experience. Out of the group, 359 participants (70.7%) were teaching in regular
classrooms with a further 146 (28.7%) stating that they were teaching in inclusive
classrooms; with three respondents (0.6%) not answering. Regarding the medium of
instruction (MOI), 346 of participants (68.1%) were teaching in a Chinese MOI and 149
(29.3%) in English; with 13 respondents (2.6%) not clarifying their MOI.
Measures
The data were obtained using a questionnaire combining measures from four existing scales
(emotional exhaustion, cognitive work engagement, role understanding, and teacher selfefficacy for inclusive practice) with established validities and reliabilities. As all scales were
originally developed in English, and the study took place in Macao (SAR) where Chinese is
the mother tongue for most citizens, the scales were translated by bilingual experts who
were proficient at both English and Chinese. All the scales in this study were wellestablished measures with good reliabilities and validities. In addition, the Chinese version
of some scales, namely, work engagement, emotional exhaustion and understanding, had
been used in previous studies in Chinese societies (see Kuok & Taormina, 2017; Taormina &
Kuok, 2009). The Chinese version of self-efficacy of inclusive education was validated
through a back-to-back translation process to ensure the integrity of the measurement.
Emotional Exhaustion
This variable was measured using a 9-item subscale from one of the components in the
Maslach Burnout Inventory (Maslach & Jackson, 1981). A sample item is ‘I feel like I’m at
the end of my rope.’ The participants were asked about the extent to which they agreed
that the statements described them with responses ranging from 1 (Strongly Disagree) to
5 (Strongly Agree). The original reliability was .90 for emotional exhaustion, the reliability
of the present study was .91.
Cognitive Work Engagement
This variable was measured using a 6-item subscale from one of the facets in Work
Engagement Inventory (Kuok & Taormina, 2017). A sample item is ‘I give a lot of mental
attention to my work.’ The participants were asked about the extent to which they agreed
that the statements described them ranged from 1 (Strongly Disagree) to 5 (Strongly
Agree). The original reliability was .88 for cognitive work engagement, the reliability of the
present study was .78.
8
A. KUOK ET AL.
Role Understanding
This variable was measured using a 5-item subscale from one of the domains in
Taormina’s (2004) Organisational Socialisation Inventory (OSI). A sample item is ‘I have
a full understanding of my duties in this school.’ The participants were asked about the
extent to which they agreed that the statements described them with responses ranging
from 1 (Strongly Disagree) to 5 (Strongly Agree). The original reliability was .78 for role
understanding, the reliability of the present study was .87.
Teacher Self-efficacy for Inclusive Practice
This variable was measured using the 18 items in the Teacher Efficacy for Inclusive
Practice scale (TEIP, Sharma et al., 2012). There are three self-efficacy factors in the
TEIP scale, namely: the use of inclusive instructions, which refers to teachers’ cap­
abilities in modifying instruction and assessment according to students’ individual
characteristics. A sample item is ‘I am confident in designing learning tasks so that
the individual needs of students with disabilities are accommodated’; collaboration,
which refers to working with parents and colleagues in a way that promotes learning
for all students. A sample item is ‘I can make parents feel comfortable coming to
school’; and dealing with disruptive behaviours, which refers to preventing and
controlling disruptive behaviour in students. A sample item is ‘I am able to calm
a student who is disruptive or noisy.’ The participants were asked about the extent
to which they agreed that the statements described them with responses ranging
from 1 (Strongly Disagree) to 6 (Strongly Agree). The original reliabilities were from
.64 to .97 for the use of inclusive instructions, .80 to .86 for collaboration, and .79 to
.88 for dealing with disruptive behaviours. The reliabilities of the present study were
.84, .79 and .83 respectively.
Procedure
The questionnaire was administered to 754 teachers in seven private schools in Macao who
identified themselves as accepting students with SEN. Of those, 508 questionnaires were
returned giving a total response rate of 67.4%. Questionnaires were personally delivered to
the administration of each school who then passed them on to all the teachers. Teachers
placed the anonymous responses in an envelope provided to the school. The researchers
collected the anonymous questionnaires from the administration of each school.
Ethical Consideration
Various ethical issues were addressed in this study. These were informed consent, will­
ingness to participate, confidentiality, anonymity and non-traceability, and opportunities
for participants to ask questions about any part of the research project. The research was
approved by the ethics committee from the authors’ university and a letter was sent to
the education department to seek their support in gaining access to and acceptance in
the schools. The questionnaire included a cover letter that indicated the aims of the
research and an explanation of the ethical factors indicated above.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF DISABILITY, DEVELOPMENT AND EDUCATION
9
Results
Test for Multicollinearity
This was assessed by a ‘tolerance’ (1- R2) test for each independent variable. According to
Hair, Anderson, Tatham, and Black (1998, pp. 191–193), a tolerance value of less than 0.10
is problematic. This test uses all the independent variables (for the planned regressions)
and regresses each one on all the other independent variables (excluding the demo­
graphics because they are naturally correlated). The tolerance values for the independent
variables ranged from .77 to .84, all above the .10 cut-off; indicating that multicollinearity
was not a concern.
Test for Common Method Bias
Common Method Bias is a statistical phenomenon in which statistical relationships
could be based on the method of measurement rather than on the measure of the
construct. This was assessed by factor analysing all the variables and using the ‘max­
imum-likelihood’ approach with a forced, one-factor solution. If the ratio of the resultant
Chi-square value divided by the degrees of freedom is less than 2.00:1, it indicates
common-method bias, i.e. a single factor (see Harman, 1960). For this study, the ratio
was 8.70:1, which was well above the cut-off value, indicating that common-method
bias was not a concern.
Emotional Exhaustion, Work Engagement and Relationships
When asked about their level of emotional exhaustion, teachers indicated an overall
average response. Even though they appeared to be more exhausted and emotionally
drained from work, they did not consider that they were frustrated, overly stressed by
working with others, or ready to give up work.
Although the overall score of teachers’ emotional exhaustion was 2.83, the consistent
pattern of large standard deviations among the items suggested that there was a lot of
variation of response among the teachers. Scores were thus recoded into four quartiles
and categorised as three groups (low, average, high). Of the total number of participants
nearly
38% were experiencing low levels of emotional exhaustion (the 1st & 2nd quartile, with
a score of less than 2.5 in a 5-point Likert scale) and 42% had average levels (the 3rd
quartile, with scores between 2.5 to 3.5). Most concerning, though, was that 20% of
teachers indicated high levels of emotional exhaustion (the 4rd quartile, with scores of
more than 3.5). Further exploration of the data was consequently undertaken to identify
which of these teachers were experiencing these high levels, by investigating any demo­
graphic differences among them. These results are shown in Table 1.
When teachers were asked for their perceptions about the degree of engagement they
have with work, the overall indication was that they veered towards positive work
engagement. This suggested that teachers in inclusive private schools in Macao (SAR)
tended to be cognitively engaged, especially when focusing and giving mental attention
to their work.
10
A. KUOK ET AL.
Table 1. Number and percentage of participants within each group of emotional exhaustion.
Low
Emotional Exhaustion
TOTAL N
Gender
Male (N = 111)
Female (N = 383)
Age
25 or below (N = 53)
26–35 (N = 194)
36–45 (N = 136)
46 or above (N = 121)
Confidence
Very Low (N = 22)
Low (N = 100)
Average (N = 299)
High (N = 83)
Knowledge
None (N = 64)
Poor (N = 113)
Average (N = 288)
Good (N = 40)
Mode
Regular (N = 359)
Inclusive (N = 146)
MOI
Chinese (N = 346)
English (N = 149)
Average
High
N
185
%
37.4
N
209
%
42.3
N
100
%
20.3
46
139
41.4
36.3
42
167
37.8
43.6
23
77
20.7
20.1
19
64
55
48
35.8
33.0
40.4
39.7
18
95
47
53
34
49.0
34.6
43.8
16
35
34
20
30.2
18.0
25.0
16.5
7
36
100
42
31.8
36.0
33.4
50.6
9
45
130
29
40.9
45.0
43.5
34.9
6
19
69
12
27.3
19.0
23.1
14.5
21
34
113
18
32.8
30.1
39.2
45.0
29
52
118
15
45.3
46.0
41.0
37.5
14
27
57
7
21.9
23.9
19.8
17.5
126
59
35.1
40.4
152
63
42.3
43.2
81
24
22.6
16.4
109
74
31.5
49.7
153
57
44.2
38.3
84
18
24.3
12.1
Sign = significant (p <.05); Confidence = in teaching students with SEN; Knowledge = laws and policy related to students
with disability; MOI = Main medium of instruction; Mode = regular or inclusive class.
Comparisons of Emotional Exhaustion and Work Engagement on Demographics
A series of ANOVAs were undertaken for the demographics of gender, age, confidence,
knowledge, inclusive or regular class mode, and MOI on the emotional exhaustion and
cognitive work engagement scales.
Regarding emotional exhaustion, some differences among teachers were found.
Teachers with higher levels of confidence were less likely to experience emotional
exhaustion. The largest effect size was found between teachers working in an English
MOI and those working in a Chinese MOI; with the former reporting being less emotion­
ally exhausted than the latter (see Table 2).
With respect to cognitive work engagement, differences were found among the
teachers who held higher levels of confidence and indicated stronger cognitive engage­
ment with their work. In addition, teachers working in an English MOI had higher work
engagement than those working in Chinese MOI (Table 3).
Inter-Correlations
Means, standard deviations and inter-correlations were computed for all variables to test
the relationships between self-efficacy, role understanding, emotional exhaustion and
cognitive work engagement.
Emotional Exhaustion was found to have significant negative correlations with all
independent variables, namely, teachers’ self-efficacy for inclusive practice, teachers’ selfefficacy in collaboration, teachers’ self-efficacy for managing disruptive behaviours, and
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF DISABILITY, DEVELOPMENT AND EDUCATION
11
Table 2. One-way between subjects ANOVA for teachers’ levels of perceived emotional exhaustion.
Variable
Age
Gender
Level of
Training
Knowledge
Confidence
MOI
Mode
Significance
Not Sign
Not Sign
Not Sign
Results
F(3, 500) = 0.890, p =.446
F(1, 492) = 1.207, p =.272
F(2, 492) = 1.744, p =.176
Not Sign
Sign Difference
between High and the
rest below
Sign Difference
between Chinese and
English
Not Sign
F(3, 501) = 2.087, p =.101
F(3, 500) = 5.379, p =.001, Teachers with Higher confidence, experience less
=.031
Emotional Exhaustion
F(1, 493) = 22.702,
p =.000,
=.044
Findings
Teachers in Chinese medium, experience more
Emotional Exhaustion
F(1, 503) = 2.981, p =.085
Sign = significant (p <.05); ƞ = effect size; Confidence = in teaching students with SEN; Knowledge = laws and policy
related to students with disability; MOI = Main medium of instruction; Mode = regular or inclusive class.
Table 3. One-way between subjects ANOVA for teachers’ work engagement.
Variable
Age
Gender
Level of
Training
Confidence
Knowledge
MOI
Mode
Significance
Not Sign
Not Sign
Not Sign
Sign Difference
between High and the
rest below
Not Sign
Sign Difference
between Chinese and
English
Not Sign
Results
F(3, 500) = 1.552, p =.200
F(1, 492) = 0.107, p =.742
F(2, 492) = 2.166, p =.116
F(3, 500) = 3.451,
p =.017,
=.020
Results
Teachers with Higher confidence, experience
more work engagement
F(3, 501) = 1.795, p =.147
F(1, 493) = 6.326,
Teachers in English medium, experience more
p =.012,
=.013
work engagement
F(1, 503) =.578, p =.448
Sign = significant (p <.05); ƞ = effect size; Confidence = in teaching students with SEN; Knowledge = laws and policy
related to students with disability; MOI = Main medium of instruction; Mode = regular or inclusive class.
Table 4. Mean, standard deviation, and intercorrelations among the variables. (N = 508).
Variable
1. Emotional Exhaustion
2. Cognitive Work Engagement
3. Efficacy to use inclusive instruction
4. Efficacy in collaboration
5. Efficacy to deal with disruptive behaviours
6. Understanding
Mean
2.83
3.84
4.47
4.20
4.50
3.90
SD
0.79
0.54
0.63
0.69
0.61
0.57
1
(.91)
.09
−.33****
−.26****
−.31****
−.22****
2
3
4
5
6
(.78)
.22****
.24****
.32****
.35****
(.84)
.78****
.76****
.33****
(.79)
.68****
.37****
(.83)
.37****
(.87)
Emotional Exhaustion, Cognitive Work Engagement and Understanding values from 1 to 5. Teacher efficacy values from 1
to 6. * = p<.05, ** = p <.01, *** = p <.005, **** = p <.001. Reliabilities are in parentheses () along the diagonal.
role understanding. Cognitive work engagement was found to have significant positive
correlations to all independent variables. These results and the strength of their relation­
ships are shown in detail in Table 4.
Besides the practical findings, there was a theoretical finding for the concept between
work engagement and burnout. A statistical ‘independence’ between emotional exhaus­
tion and cognitive work engagement was assessed by Pearson correlations. As shown in
Table 4, the correlations are nonsignificant. This supports the concept of coexistence
between work engagement and emotional exhaustion (burnout). To graphically illustrate
their independence, i.e. to reveal that workers can have high and/or low scores on both
12
A. KUOK ET AL.
Figure 1. Actual relationship between cognitive work engagement with emotional exhaustion,
showing them as non-linear independent constructs.
dimensions at the same time, the results were displayed as scatter plots between emo­
tional exhaustion and cognitive work engagement (see Figure 1).
Regressions
To assess the strengths of the relationships among the variables, a series of hierarchical,
linear regressions were conducted. Emotional exhaustion and cognitive work engage­
ment were used as criterion measures, with the predictors being teachers’ self-efficacy (to
use inclusive instruction, in collaboration, and to deal with disruptive behaviours), and
organisational socialisation (role understanding).
Regarding emotional exhaustion, the variables self-efficacy with using inclusive
instruction and understanding proved to be good negative predictors (Table 5). For the
variable of inclusive instruction, the ∆R2 was .11 with a significance level p≤ .001.
The second negative predictor, role understanding, had an ∆R2 of .02 with a significant
level p≤ .05. The total R2 indicated that these two variables formed powerful predictors of
emotional exhaustion in teachers (F= 33.32, p ≤ .001).
With respect to cognitive work engagement, the variables self-efficacy for managing
disruptive behaviours and role understanding proved to be good positive predictors
(Table 5). For the variable role understanding the ∆R2 was .12 with a significance level
p≤ .001. The second predictor, dealing with disruptive behaviours, had a ∆R2 of .04 with
a significant level p≤ .001. The total R2 indicated that these two variables formed powerful
predictors for cognitive work engagement for teachers (F= 46.49, p ≤ .001).
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF DISABILITY, DEVELOPMENT AND EDUCATION
13
Table 5. Results of stepwise model for antecedents in explaining emotional exhaustion and cognitive
work engagement.
Emotional Exhaustion
Criteria/Variables
Self Efficacy to use inclusive instruction
Self Efficacy in collaboration
Self Efficacy to deal with disruptive behaviours
Organisation Socialisation – Understanding
Total R2
Final F
df
Beta
−.374 ****
−.017
−.096
−.172 *
∆ R2
.11
.02
.13
33.32****
2,455
Cognitive Work Engagement
Beta
.089
.010
.191 ****
.267 ****
∆ R2
.04
.12
.16
46.49****
2,473
*P <.05, **P <.01, ***P <.005, ****P <.001
Discussion and Recommendations
This study was designed to review teachers’ work engagement and emotional exhaustion
in private schools in Macao that had self-nominated as being inclusive schools. The
empirical evidence has shown that work engagement and emotional exhaustion can
coexist at the same time, even though they are not found to be significantly correlated;
suggesting that the theory of viewing work engagement as the antipode of burnout may
not be accurate (see Kuok & Taormina, 2017), although this requires further investigation.
This finding suggests that teaching is an occupation in which teachers can experience
work engagement and emotional exhaustion at the same time but not one without the
other. For example, a teacher working in an inclusive school can be engaged at work by
employing better ways to improve their teaching to cater for the needs of students with
disability; while they can simultaneously experience burnout due to the workload. Thus, it
is not only needed to either decrease the teachers’ burnout or increase the teachers’ work
engagement. To make it sustainable for teachers, it is necessary to do both.
These results highlight broader implications for policy and school leadership regarding
ensuring that teachers have supportive workplaces, access to professional learning, and
workload reviews to ensure that they do not reach burnout levels when being engaged
with inclusive education. A supportive whole school environment is essential if teachers
are to become inclusive practitioners and can accommodate the needs of increasingly
diverse student populations within regular classes (Forlin, 2018). While private schools
have not been required to include students with special needs in their schools to date, the
proposed changes to the Macao (SAR) law will see this becoming a greater expectation in
the future (Monteiro, Kuok, Correia, Forlin, & Teixeira, 2018; Teixeira, Correia, Forlin, Kuok,
& Monteiro, 2018).
Organisational Socialisation
This research also extends the understanding aspect of organisational socialisation theory
in the context of education (Taormina, 1997), regarding the importance of knowing one’s
work role in order to socialise in the company, in this case, among teachers. With these
teachers, it was evident that understanding their work role was a strong predictor of
cognitive work engagement and emotional exhaustion. Teachers who had a better under­
standing of inclusive education at their schools, were more likely to pay greater attention
14
A. KUOK ET AL.
to ways of improving their effectiveness as inclusive educators, as well as being less likely
to become emotionally drained during the process.
Organisational socialisation and self-efficacy were also found to be the predictors of
emotional exhaustion and work engagement. In particular, teachers’ self-efficacy for
managing students with disruptive behaviours was the strongest positive predictor of
cognitive work engagement; thus indicating that the more teachers believed in their
ability to control students’ behaviours, the more ideas they had for improving their
teaching. Teachers’ self-efficacy with using inclusive instruction was, though, a negative
predictor of emotional exhaustion. The higher the teachers’ beliefs in being able to meet
the needs of all students within an inclusive classroom, the less emotionally exhausted
they predicted themselves to be. This is an important finding for Macao (SAR) where
teacher stress levels tend to be high when performing normal duties without the addi­
tional expectations associated with inclusive practices (Kuok & Lam, 2018).
In addition, this study found that approximately 20% of these teachers were prone to
experiencing emotional exhaustion. Whilst the result revealed that teachers were cogni­
tively work engaged, it further confirmed that work engagement and emotional exhaus­
tion can coexist. That is, teaching is an occupation that can hold both characteristics
simultaneously. These incongruent feelings are a type of cognitive dissonance (Festinger,
1957) which causes psychological discomfort. Thus, it is critical for management in
inclusive schools to understand how to solve this dilemma. It is undoubtedly necessary
to minimise the psychological distress among teachers worldwide (see Amini Faskhodi &
Siyyari, 2018; Arvidsson et al., 2019; Kuok & Lam, 2018; Luk et al., 2010; Soini et al., 2019).
While the current study identified this as an issue the question remains as to how it can be
dealt with effectively in the context of Macau.
Professional Learning for Teachers
The main predictors of teachers’ emotional exhaustion were teachers’ self-efficacy with
using inclusive instruction and their role understanding. This suggests that there will be
a need to improve teachers’ beliefs in using inclusive instruction in their classrooms and
comprehending their job roles, to ensure that they become less exhausted emotionally.
The importance of appropriate professional learning for teachers to work in inclusive
schools has been widely acknowledged (for example, Copfer & Specht, 2014). Likewise,
there has been extant research that has identified a strong link between teacher efficacy
and acceptance of inclusive education (Ahsan, Sharma, & Deppeler, 2012: Chao, Forlin, &
Ho, 2016; Forlin & Chambers, 2011; Loreman, Sharma, & Forlin, 2013; Malinen et al., 2013).
Professional learning, therefore, must be aimed at upskilling teachers in whole-class
instruction to include all learners. Professional learning programs must also aim to
strengthen teachers’ beliefs in their ability to meet the needs of all students within an
inclusive classroom. Herman, Hickmon-Rosa, and Reinke (2018) suggested that equipping
teachers with coping skills and providing more environmental supports, may result in the
improvement of their well-being and the functioning of students in their class. When
providing professional learning for teachers, it will be essential to consider carefully the
context in which they are working in order to ensure that this will enable them to provide
relevant support for all students in the same environment.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF DISABILITY, DEVELOPMENT AND EDUCATION
15
For inclusive education to be successful in Macao (SAR), teachers already working in
inclusive schools must receive appropriate preparation. This must be not only at the
introductory level of knowing the nature of inclusive education, but also an understand­
ing of the complexity of challenges different students may face. As inclusive education is
still in its infancy in Macao (SAR), it is vital for teachers to be able to receive guidance from
experienced experts. Well-designed and effective professional learning programmes in
the practice of inclusive instruction may strengthen their psychological readiness to
design their own teaching approach and select appropriate strategies to cater for
diversity.
This idea is further justified by the findings in this study, where teachers with higher
levels of confidence in their interactions with inclusive students experienced less burnout
and were more engaged at work. Since confidence increased when teachers indicated
that they had more practice in inclusive instruction, they may also be less likely to become
exhausted emotionally, although this needs further investigation. As local government
training is only currently available in Chinese, a review of professional learning opportu­
nities to be provided in both Chinese MOI and English or Portuguese would seem critical.
Inclusive Policy
This research found that teachers’ understanding about their job and their schools was
limited and differed from those of their peers who worked at the same school. As the
teachers in these schools were unsure of their role designation, another recommendation
is that it will be important for school leaders to review their school goals and policy
regarding inclusion.
This could be addressed by collaborating closely with practitioners (not limited to
resource teachers, but also other teachers who have interactions with students with SEN),
as their everyday experience and classroom practice is most pertinent to informing more
effective inclusive practices (see Jahnukainen, 2015; Mullick, Deppeler, & Sharma, 2012).
Shared distributed practices in school leadership are becoming increasingly common,
thus allowing for a better understanding across the whole school of how to support all
students (Deppeler, 2010; Lindqvist & Nilholm, 2013).
Internationally it has been proposed that inclusive education requires the use of
democratic processes involving school-wide collaboration in order to understand diverse
perspectives to enable the development of innovative solutions (Loreman, Deppeler, &
Harvey, 2010). Similarly, a team approach to providing support for students with special
needs has been found to sustain better accountability for the education for all students
and to ensure that teachers are better supported both academically, socially, and emo­
tionally (Forlin, 2013; Jahnukainen, 2015). Evidence form the current research indicated
that these areas are lacking in the sample schools and, therefore, need to be addressed.
The establishment of a team of specialists for inclusive education within each school in
Macao could improve opportunities for teachers to receive individual support and allow
them to better understand their role, communicate expectations, and overcome challenges
arising from inclusive education. This could assist in enhancing teachers’ understandings of
their role which was found to be limited and varied and their expectations of inclusive
schools; potentially resulting in teachers experiencing less emotional exhaustion.
16
A. KUOK ET AL.
Limitation and Future Studies
One of the limitations of this study was that it only focused on teachers in private selfidentified inclusive schools in Macao (SAR), as these form the major number of schools in
the region. Future studies could recruit teachers in public inclusive schools and provide
a comparison of teachers’ burnout level between private and public schools, which would
be meaningful towards understanding the current situation of inclusive education in
Macao.
Furthermore, future studies could make use of the full scale of both the burnout
inventory (Maslach & Jackson, 1981) and the work engagement inventory (Kuok &
Taormina, 2017) to provide a more in-depth understanding of their relationship.
Disclosure Statement
The authors declare no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/
or publication of this article.
Funding
This work was supported by Macao Foundation [grant number MF/2015/27] .
ORCID
Angus C.H. Kuok
http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1085-6606
Chris Forlin
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6438-9591
Ana Correia
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5840-4161
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