Teacher, Graduate Student, Human Being: Why Self-Care Matters for Filipino Teachers Taking Master’s Degrees

Article information

Cleofas, J. V., & Mijares, M. F. (2022). The role of professional self-care practices in lowering anxiety among Filipino teachers enrolled in graduate studies. Teacher Development, 26(2), 206–220. https://doi.org/10.1080/13664530.2022.2043422

What this study is about

Teachers who enroll in graduate school often carry two demanding identities at once: they are educators and students. They teach, prepare lessons, check outputs, meet institutional requirements, and care for learners—while also attending classes, writing papers, completing graduate requirements, and trying to advance professionally. 

This study asks a practical question: Can professional self-care help lower anxiety among teachers who are also graduate students?

The focus is on Filipino teachers enrolled in a Master of Arts in Curriculum Development, Design and Supervisionprogram in a Catholic university. This context matters because the Philippine education system had recently undergone major reform through the shift from K–10 to K–12. The addition of Senior High School and new outcomes-based requirements increased the demand for teacher retooling, graduate education, and professional development. 

In other words, graduate study was not just a personal ambition. For many teachers, it was part of adapting to a changing education system.

Why this matters

Teacher wellbeing is not a side issue. Anxiety can affect how teachers relate to students, manage classrooms, complete professional tasks, and persist in graduate school.

The study also sits within a larger policy context: the Philippine Mental Health Act recognizes mental health as a right and expects schools and universities to create mental health programs for students and faculty. This makes teacher anxiety and self-care not only a personal concern, but also an institutional responsibility. 

What the researchers did

The researchers conducted a quantitative, cross-sectional, descriptive correlational study involving 134 Filipino elementary and high school teachers enrolled in graduate studies. Respondents came from Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. 

They measured:

• Demographic profile: age, sex, years of service, and grade level taught.
• Professional self-care practices: using Dorociak’s Professional Self-Care Practices Scale.
• Anxiety: using Zung’s Self-Rating Anxiety Scale. 

The conceptual framework, shown in Figure 1 on page 7, presents demographic variables and professional self-care practices as factors related to anxiety. The framework also shows the five self-care dimensions examined in the study: life balance, professional balance, professional development, cognitive strategies, and daily balance. 

What they found

1) Most teacher-graduate students had low anxiety

The majority of respondents—88.1%—reported no to mild anxiety, while 11.9% had moderate to severe anxiety. 

This is important because the dual role of teacher and graduate student is often assumed to be highly distressing. The study suggests that many teachers in this sample were managing relatively well, although a smaller group still showed concerning anxiety levels.

2) Younger and less experienced teachers were more anxious

Teachers in their 20s had significantly higher anxiety scores than teachers in their 30s, 40s, and 50s. Teachers with only 1–3 years of service also had higher anxiety than those with 21 years or more of service. 

This makes sense: early-career teachers are still learning how to navigate teaching, workplace expectations, professional identity, relationships, and graduate school requirements. They may have fewer coping routines, less job security, and less confidence in managing multiple roles.

3) Some self-care practices differed by age, sex, and grade level

The study found that younger teachers reported higher daily balance self-care than teachers aged 50 and above. Male teachers also scored higher than female teachers on daily balance self-care. 

Daily balance self-care includes taking breaks, relaxing during the day, and managing one’s daily rhythm.

The study also found that Senior High School teachers scored higher in cognitive strategies self-care than elementary and junior high school teachers. Cognitive strategies self-care includes self-awareness, recognizing stress, and managing emotional responses. The authors suggest this may be partly because Senior High School teachers are more exposed to subjects that involve critical thinking, personality development, and social science concepts. 

4) All dimensions of professional self-care were linked to lower anxiety

This is the main finding: teachers who practiced professional self-care more frequently had lower anxiety.

All five self-care dimensions were significantly negatively correlated with anxiety:

• Life balance self-care had the strongest relationship with lower anxiety.
• Daily balance self-care and cognitive strategies self-care also showed meaningful negative relationships.
• Professional balance self-care and professional development self-care were also linked to lower anxiety. 

In plain language: teachers who protected life outside work, maintained supportive professional relationships, pursued professional growth, managed stress cognitively, and took daily breaks tended to report less anxiety.

The most important insight: life balance matters most

Among all self-care dimensions, life balance self-care had the strongest association with lower anxiety. This refers to maintaining a life outside professional work—spending time with people one enjoys, setting boundaries, and preserving work-life balance. 

This is a crucial point. Teacher wellbeing cannot be reduced to productivity hacks or “be more resilient” messaging. The strongest protective factor in this study is not simply doing more professional development, but protecting a life beyond work and school.

A hopeful point: graduate studies can also be self-care

The paper offers a useful nuance: graduate studies may be stressful, but they can also function as professional development self-care. Continuing education may strengthen professional identity, career confidence, and a sense of purpose. The study found that professional development self-care was also linked to lower anxiety. 

So the issue is not whether teachers should pursue graduate studies. The issue is whether schools and universities create conditions where graduate study becomes sustainable, supported, and mentally healthy.

Bottom line

This study shows that professional self-care is not optional for teachers in graduate school. It is a protective resource. Schools should not simply encourage teachers to “study more” or “cope better.” They should build environments where teachers can rest, set boundaries, access support, develop professionally, and remain well while growing in their careers. 

---

Policy/practice recommendations

1. Monitor anxiety among early-career teachers in graduate school
   Younger and less experienced teachers may need additional check-ins, mentoring, and mental health support. 
2. Protect work-life boundaries
   Because life balance self-care had the strongest link with lower anxiety, school leaders should revisit workload, scheduling, after-hours communication, and expectations placed on teachers pursuing graduate studies. 
3. Build self-care into teacher development programs
   Teacher development should include self-awareness, stress management, mindfulness, daily breaks, and professional boundary-setting—not only pedagogy and curriculum training.
4. Design graduate classes with wellbeing in mind
   Graduate programs for working teachers should include reasonable pacing, health breaks, flexible support, and recognition that students are also full-time professionals.
5. Support professional development as healthy growth
   Graduate studies can support wellbeing when teachers experience it as meaningful professional growth rather than another layer of pressure. Schools can provide mentoring, scholarships, reduced workload, and peer support.
6. Create gender- and age-responsive self-care programs
   The study suggests that older teachers and women may benefit from targeted support around daily balance self-care. 

---

Glossary of key terms

• Professional self-care — Purposeful practices that help professionals function well and maintain wellbeing while doing their work. In this study, it includes life balance, professional balance, professional development, cognitive strategies, and daily balance. 
• Life balance self-care — Maintaining a personal and social life outside work; protecting work-life balance and personal boundaries. 
• Professional balance self-care — Maintaining supportive and healthy relationships in the workplace. 
• Professional development self-care — Engaging in activities that strengthen professional identity and competence, including graduate studies and professional learning. 
• Cognitive strategies self-care — Recognizing stress, reflecting on one’s responses, and proactively managing emotional or professional challenges. 
• Daily balance self-care — Taking breaks, relaxing, and practicing small recovery routines during the workday. 
• Anxiety — A state involving worry, nervousness, uneasiness, and sometimes physical symptoms such as fatigue, restlessness, or bodily discomfort. 
• Zung Self-Rating Anxiety Scale — A 20-item tool used to measure psychological and physical symptoms of anxiety. 
• Cross-sectional study — A study that collects data at one point in time. It can show associations but cannot prove cause and effect.
• Teacher development — The ongoing process of improving teachers’ knowledge, skills, identity, wellbeing, and professional capacity.