What makes good and bad days for beginning teachers? A diary study on daily uplifts and hassles

- Beginning teachers reported significantly more daily uplifts than hassles.
- Hassles and uplifts were most often while teaching and interacting with colleagues.
- Surprisingly, few entries concerning hassles or uplifts dealt with preparation.
- Uplifts and hassles were able to predict daily emotional exhaustion.

Beginning teachers' first years in school have been described as demanding and stressful. In explaining beginning teachers' stress, previous research mainly focused on either trait-like personality characteristics or general work-related stressors. In contrast, the present study focused on the day-to-day experience. The aim of the current study was (a) to identify the task-related daily uplifts and hassles of beginning teachers, (b) to examine the association of daily uplifts and hassles with teachers' socio-demographic and personality characteristics, and (c) to investigate the effect of daily uplifts and hassles on teachers' emotional exhaustion. The sample consisted of 141 beginning teachers up to four years in the profession who completed an online diary for 14 consecutive days. Results showed that most daily uplifts and hassles were related to teaching in class and interacting with colleagues. Both hassles and uplifts showed only a few unsystematic correlations with teachers' characteristics. However, daily uplifts and hassles significantly explained beginning teachers' daily emotional exhaustion.