Between Strain and Strength: A Longitudinal Examination of the Reciprocal Associations Among School Staff’s Self-Efficacy, Attitudes Towards Inclusion, and Emotional Exhaustion

Abstract

A school district offered online materials, counselling, and workshops to support staff in handling challenging situations across 19 inclusive schools. A formative evaluation accompanied the project. A two-wave survey about one year apart (NT1 = 835; NT2 = 800) examined stability and reciprocal links among emotional exhaustion, attitudes towards inclusion, and self-efficacy, and their associations with uptake of district offers. Mean change was negligible across constructs, though individual change varied. Latent correlations showed that exhaustion was negatively related to self-efficacy and inclusion attitudes. Cross-lagged effects were limited: higher exhaustion at T1 predicted a small decrease in self-efficacy at T2. Uptake was modest and only weakly associated with change in the constructs. Implications point to school-wide, data-based and differentiated professionalisation, alongside stronger transfer routines to increase impact.