Research Mapping of Teacher Stress from a Cognitive Perspective: A Systematic Review and Bibliometric Analysis of Metacognition and Cognitive Flexibility

Abstract

This study adopted a systematic literature review and bibliometric analysis to explore the cognitive mechanism of teacher stress, with a particular focus on the theoretical significance and empirical role of metacognition and cognitive flexibility. Based on the PRISMA 2020 guidelines, the English empirical literature from the Web of Science database from 2004 to 2024 was retrieved, and 20 articles were finally included in the analysis. Bibliometric analysis shows that teacher stress and cognition research have been increasing yearly since 2012. Still, higher-order cognitive variables such as “metacognition” and “cognitive flexibility” have not yet formed a mainstream cluster. The systematic review found that cognitive reappraisal strategies, cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and cognitive flexibility have been preliminarily proven to significantly alleviate teacher stress and burnout, but the existing studies mostly stay at the stage of superficial cognitive strategy validation, and the direct measurement and pathway validation of deep cognitive mechanisms are still insufficient. This study emphasises the importance of systematically exploring metacognition and cognitive flexibility and suggests that future research should strengthen the empirical measurement of higher-order cognitive variables to promote teachers' mental health and professional development more scientifically and effectively.