From the Teacher Support Network, www.teachersupport.info.
The purpose of this review was to evaluate the evidence available about teacher wellbeing. It used documentary analysis of the relevant literature and interviews with 31 stakeholders or experts to explore concepts and arguments about teacher wellbeing, conditions under which it is promoted or undermined, effectiveness of different kinds of support and the influence of teacher wellbeing on student achievement. It also examined the ways in which teachers’ work-related “wellbeing” has been construed.
The basic framework for the analysis looked at evidence relating to nine elements that have been considered to be possible influences on, or effects of, wellbeing: demands on teachers, locus of control over their work, support for them, impact of change, clarity of role, demographic influences, comparisons with other groups, interventions and the relationship of teacher wellbeing with student achievement. The nature of teacher wellbeing
Much of the study of teacher wellbeing has focussed on negative aspects of stress, mental health and burnout. Strong evidence about factors that enhance wellbeing is harder to find. Most authors have eschewed succinct definitions of wellbeing and focussed instead on concepts such as job satisfaction, self efficacy, stress, emotional demands or burnout. Stakeholder interviewees’ views were concerned with similar groups of occupational features.
Get the entire report online here.