Difficulties among Teachers’ Emotional Regulation: Analysis for the Development of Student Well-Being in Chilean Schools

Abstract

Introduction. Emotional regulation, a process that involves detecting and evaluating physiological signals in response to stressful events, is a crucial aspect of preparing students for school and ensuring teachers’ effectiveness, stress management, and job satisfaction. Method. This research, which adopted a quantitative approach, used a non-experimental comparative and cross-sectional design with a non-probabilistic sample by convenience. The study involved the participation of n = 1321 teachers (n = 125 preschool education; n = 645 primary education; n = 417 secondary education; n = 134 higher education). Results. The results revealed significant differences in the total scores of emotional regulation difficulty between teachers at the higher education level and primary and secondary school teachers, with the latter group showing higher levels of difficulty. Discussion. The findings suggest that the impact of emotional regulation difficulties affects professional performance, highlighting the importance of interventions aimed at improving teachers’ self-efficacy, resilience, and emotion regulation to reduce emotional exhaustion. Conclusion. From a practical point of view, our findings underline the importance of integrating emotional regulation training into pre-service teacher education and continuous teacher professional development programs. This could improve relational dynamics between students and teachers, fostering an environment conducive to teaching and learning processes.