Teacher Wellbeing and The Impact of Working with Students Presenting with Significant Conduct Problems and Callous-Unemotional Traits

Abstract Book of the 7th International Conference on Research in Psychology

Year: 2026

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Teacher Wellbeing and The Impact of Working with Students Presenting with Significant Conduct Problems and Callous-Unemotional Traits

Dr. Laura Oxley

ABSTRACT:

Student conduct problems have been found to be a key contributor to poor wellbeing in the teaching profession. Students who present with Callous-Unemotional (CU) traits, such as low empathy and lack of guilt, typically demonstrate significant conduct problems and do not tend to respond well to the usual classroom management techniques. This study investigated how teacher wellbeing is impacted by working with students who present with conduct problems and CU traits. The study also considered the strategies teachers use to manage the conduct of such students. Finally, it explored whether teachers’ perceptions of their students’ behaviour and their own burnout symptoms fluctuate over one academic year. A longitudinal survey design was used to gather data from 33 participants in England at three time points during the 2024-25 academic year. 16 schoolteachers in England also participated in semi-structured interviews, having completed a screening measure which indicated that they were likely to be teaching a student with CU traits. Reflexive thematic analysis was used to examine the data in-depth. The findings suggest that working with students with high CU traits, while having some rewarding aspects, generally has a negative influence on teacher wellbeing, with the impact seemingly particularly strong for early career teachers. However, teachers also reported drawing on a range of strategies to support and maintain their own positive wellbeing when working with these students, thus mitigating the negative impact to some extent.

Keywords: Qualitative; Behaviour; Mental Health; Burnout; Education