School Violence and Teacher Professional Engagement: A Cross-National Study

Youcai Yang; Lixia Qin; Ling Ning

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.628809

School Violence and Teacher Professional Engagement: A Cross-National Study

Front Psychol. 2021 Apr 15:12:628809. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.628809. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Youcai Yang^{1

2}, Lixia Qin³, Ling Ning⁴

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Adolescent Health Assessment and Exercise Intervention of Ministry of Education, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China.
² College of Physical Education and Health, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China.
³ University of Wisconsin System, Madison, WI, United States.
⁴ Office of Assessment and Planning, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, United States.

Abstract

School violence research has mainly focused on the impact on students. Very few studies, even fewer from a cross-cultural perspective, have examined the relationships between school violence and teacher professional engagement, and the role played by teacher self-efficacy and school climate related factors. The present study utilizes a SEM research methodology to analyze the 2013 TALIS data. The purpose is to understand and compare the relationships in four different cultural contexts; the U.S., England, South Korea, and Mexico. Results indicate, on average, that the significant and negative impacts of school violence on teacher professional engagement are partly mediated by teacher self-efficacy. The negativity of school violence is significantly alleviated by enhancing participation among school stakeholders and improving teacher-student relationships. The relationships among the factors apply across all four cultural systems, though, the effects of factors and variables vary to a degree. The paper also discusses other relevant issues and differences as well as their implications.

Keywords: cross-national comparison; school climate; school violence; structural equation modeling (SEM); teacher professional engagement; teacher self-efficacy.