Personal responsibility and emotions about teaching among teachers: the mediating role of academic optimism

The purpose of this study was to investigate the mediating role of academic optimism in relationship between primary school teacher's emotions about teaching and their personal responsibility. 287 teachers were selected from primary school teachers in Tehran 18th educational district using cluster sampling method. The participants completed the academic optimism scale(Beard, Hoy & Woolfolk Hoy, 2010), the Achievement Emotions Questionnaire for Teachers (AEQ- Frenzel, Pekrun & Goetz, 2010) and personal responsibility scale (Lauermann and Karabenick,2013). The proposed model fit was examined through path analysis. Emotions about teaching among teachers explained 14% of the variance in academic optimism. Academic optimism and emotions about teaching among teachers accounted for 39% of the variance in personal responsibility. The results indicated that enjoy, positively and significantly predicted personal responsibility directly and indirectly through academic optimism. Anger, negatively and significantly predicted personal responsibility through academic optimism, but the mediating role of academic optimism in the relationship between anxiety and personal responsibility was not confirmed. Thus, the results imply the importance and the role of academic optimism and anger control in improving personal responsibility that should be considered by educational experts and authorities.