The impact of teacher’s sleep on student emotion and learning motivation

Abstract

The present study investigated the impact of teachers’ daily sleep quality and duration on students’ emotions and learning motivation. Four hundred and seventy-six students (46% male, M age = 14.5 years) and 17 teachers (70.6% male, M age of teaching 10.76 years) participated in this study. Teachers’ sleep quality and duration, teacher’s and student’s mood (happy, boredom, nervous, irritated, and energetic), and student’s learning motivation were measured in an experience sampling study carried out over two weeks. Teachers’ and students’ emotions in class, as well as students’ learning motivation, were measured after each class during the two-week study period; daily data from teachers and students were analysed with multilevel modelling approach. The results suggested no association between teachers’ sleep and students’ emotion and learning motivation; however, poor sleep quality was found to be associated with the intensity of teachers’ irritated mood. With regard to the relationship between teachers’ and students’ mood, an association was found between teachers’ and stu-dents’ reported nervous mood. Teachers’ and students’ boredom was negatively re-lated to students’ learning motivation, while students’ happy and energetic mood was found to be significantly related to their learning motivation. Implications in relation to future research exploring the impact of sleep on mood, and emotional crossover be-tween teachers and students, is discussed.