Conference presentation
Improving schools through fostering psychological safety, trust, collective self-efficacy and teacher engagement: A chain mediation model
Australian Association for Research in Education (AARE) 2025 Conference (NUspace, University of Newcastle, Newcastle, NSW, Australia,, 30/11/2025–04/12/2025)
04/12/2025
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Abstract
Teacher work engagement is a critical psychological factor that has been found to drive teaching effectiveness and student achievement, increase work productivity, and reduce burnout and associated health problems. Researchers and policymakers, therefore, have been searching for ways to enhance teacher engagement with a view to promoting educational effectiveness in general. Emerging research has indicated that teacher engagement thrives in work environments where they feel safe to express ideas, admit mistakes, ask for help, and raise concerns without fear of judgment and embarrassment. Psychological safety, therefore, has been theorised as a job resource that fosters teacher engagement in their professional and instructional practices. What remains missing in the existing literature is a comprehensive understanding of the multiple pathways by which psychological safety affects teacher work engagement. We investigated teacher trust in colleagues and teacher collective self-efficacy as variables that may mediate the link between psychological safety and teacher work engagement. We hypothesised and tested a chain mediation model in which teachers' perceived psychological safety affects teachers’ trust in colleagues, which in turn influences teacher collective self-efficacy and subsequently teacher work engagement.
We collected self-report data from 203 teachers working in various secondary schools in Australia and conducted structural equation modelling. The results suggested that psychological safety was positively associated with teacher work engagement. Moreover, psychological safety indirectly influenced teacher work engagement by creating a chain reaction through increased trust in colleague and enhanced collective self-efficacy. Interestingly, the proposed direct effects of psychological safety on teacher collective self-efficacy as well as trust in colleague on teacher work engagement were not significant, further highlighting the chain effect triggered by the development of a psychologically safe working environment for teachers. The findings offer important implications for school leaders and policymakers in fostering a positive school environment where teachers feel safe to take risks and embrace innovation and change. Within this environment, a vicious cycle of psychological safety, trust, and collective self-efficacy can be nurtured, which fuels sustained engagement and school improvement.
Details
- Title
- Improving schools through fostering psychological safety, trust, collective self-efficacy and teacher engagement: A chain mediation model
- Creators
- Lana McCarthy (Author) - Southern Cross UniversityHoi Vo (Author) - Southern Cross UniversityDavid R Turner (Author) - Southern Cross University
- Conference
- Australian Association for Research in Education (AARE) 2025 Conference (NUspace, University of Newcastle, Newcastle, NSW, Australia,, 30/11/2025–04/12/2025)
- Identifiers
- 991013322327302368
- Academic Unit
- Faculty of Education
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Conference presentation