The Power of School Conditions: Individual, Relational, and Organizational Influences on Educator Wellbeing (original) (raw)

Assessing Employee Wellbeing in Schools Using a Multifaceted Approach: Associations with Physical Health, Life Satisfaction, and Professional Thriving

Psychology, 2014

Purpose: Drawing on recent advances in the field of positive psychology, we conducted a pilot evaluation of employee wellbeing using Seligman's (2011) multidimensional PERMA (positive emotion, engagement, relationships, meaning, and accomplishment) model of flourishing. We analyzed associations between multiple aspects of employee wellbeing and three outcomes: physical health, life satisfaction, and professional thriving. Method: Employees (N = 153) from a large private school in Australia completed a survey with items theoretically relevant to the PERMA theory. Factor analyses recovered the expected five PERMA components and a negative emotion factor. Regression analyses estimated cross-sectional associations between the wellbeing factors and self-reported physical health, life satisfaction, and professional thriving (job satisfaction and organizational commitment). Results: Differential associations support the multidimensional approach to defining and measuring wellbeing. For example, staff with higher engagement and better relationships reported greater job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Conclusions: Multidimensional wellbeing assessments can help school administrators understand and improve staff wellbeing, supporting policy and practice designs that ultimately will promote wellness for all stakeholders in the education system.

Teacher wellbeing - pupil wellbeing: Two sides of the same coin? (2012) Educational and Child Psychology 29 (4) 8-17

There is now a strong body of evidence (e.g. Hattie, 2009; that confirms the value of positive teacher-student relationships for learning and behaviour. The quality of relationships in a school, however, also impacts on teacher wellbeing and their ability to cope well with the many and varied stresses that are the hallmarks of the profession. Teacher attrition is a major concern in the Western worldhow teachers feel makes a difference to their ability to respond effectively to the challenges they face.

Well-Being In School Organizations: Aspects To Consider

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 Unported License, permitting all non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Teachers' well-being from the social psychological perspective

International Journal of Evaluation and Research in Education (IJERE), 2021

School is an important organizational unit in a country. School is also the foundation of every country's education system. A harmonious working environment and a healthy relationship are very vital to ensure the high quality of teachers' work. Issues in the workplace can lead to low performance, job dissatisfaction, loss of happiness, stress, and many other mental health issues. Teachers' well-being is greatly influenced by comfortable, healthy, and happy conditions. Hence, this study aims to examine well-being among teachers in National Secondary Schools (SMK) and Government Funded Religious Schools (SABK) based on the quality of teachers' working life such as psychological, social, political, and economic needs. This was quantitative research with a survey method using questionnaires as the instrument. The respondents of the study comprised 300 teachers in a district in Kelantan, Malaysia. The respondents were chosen based on a random sampling technique. The results of the study showed that the level of teachers' well-being is high. There were no differences regarding the level of teachers' well-being between SMK and SABK.

Swimming against the Tide: A Mixed-Methods Study of how the MARKERS Educator Wellbeing Program Changed Educators’ Relational Space

International journal of applied positive psychology, 2024

Effective educator wellbeing interventions should consider the individual, relational, and contextual influences on educator wellbeing. Given the gap between the effectiveness of positive psychology interventions (PPIs) and their real-world success, it is essential to understand and adapt to the school context when integrating psychological interventions into educational settings. The MARKERS (Multiple Action Responsive Kit for Educator, Relational, and School wellbeing) educator wellbeing program is multi-level, designed to consider the individual, relational, and contextual influences on wellbeing. Its multi-foci design also allowed for adaptations to specific contexts. This study examines the impact of the MARKERS program in one school in Aotearoa New Zealand. We use a mixed methods case study approach that draws on measures of educator wellbeing, social network measures of energising interactions, and focus group data. The use of stochastic actor-oriented models (SAOMs) allowed us to examine changes to the social network over time. Findings show that MARKERS program participants experienced a significant positive change in their relational space and experienced more energising interactions, but they were 'swimming against the tide' as other staff in the school had fewer energising interactions with their colleagues. Our study illustrates the importance of considering the relational and contextual influences on wellbeing when evaluating educator wellbeing interventions.

A Whole-School Approach to Promoting Staff Wellbeing

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

A caring school community can enhance whole-school wellbeing including the wellbeing of school staff, which directly impacts on student academic, social and emotional wellbeing. This study firstly examines the validity and reliability of a proposed wholeschool staff wellbeing evaluation tool which uses a set of whole-school wellbeing indicators to identify strengths and areas for improvement within the school environment which may be impacting on staff wellbeing. Secondly, the association between factors found within the whole-school staff wellbeing tool with staff self-reported mental health are examined, and finally, the influence of person characteristics and role of factors on perceived whole-school staff wellbeing are determined. Cross-sectional data were collected from 801 school staff from six non-government schools in Australia as part of the School Staff Wellbeing Project. Results confirmed and validated the hypothesised structure of the whole-school staff wellbeing evaluation tool with staff relationships (leadership, staff), staff engagement (active, supported), staff emotional wellbeing (supported through policies and opportunities) and school climate (culture and values) found to be significant predictors of mental health. Prioritising resources to building supportive staff relationships, school climate, and providing opportunities to promote staff emotional wellbeing, were found to have the greatest impact on staff mental health. Characteristics such as age, gender, education, role, and length of time working in schools predicted perceptions of the whole-school's general wellbeing. The whole-school staff wellbeing evaluation tool provides a useful screening and self-evaluation measure to identify whole-school staff wellbeing strengths and areas for improvement in staff wellbeing.

The relationship between teachers’ psychological well-being and their quality of school work life

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between quality of school work life (QSWL) and psychological well-being (PWB) of public school teachers. Cluster random sampling technique was used to collect data from 784 teachers in 120 schools across six providences in Turkey. Data were primarily collected with two validated scales: Psychological Well-being, and the Quality of School Work Life. The study revealed that teachers rated their level of Quality of School Work Life moderately, and rated their level of Psychological Well-being relatively higher. The findings of the study indicate that there were some differences in QSWL levels of teachers in connection with some demographic variables. Further, stepwise linear regression revealed that their Quality of School Work Life rating described teachers’ Psychological Well-being. The findings are compared with previous research, and finally, the limitations of the study are discussed with recommendations for future research.

Pupil wellbeing - Teacher wellbeing: Two sides of the same coin?

2012

institutions that deliver a package of knowledge and skills to a homogenous group of students. They are diverse communities with a wide range of physical capital (buildings, books and other resources), human capital (knowledge and skills) and social capital (relationships and connections between people). There is now a strong body of evidence (Blum & Libbey, 2004; Plagens, 2011) to support the notion that social capital – defined here as expectations and interactions that promote trust, respect, value, and collaboration – impacts significantly on the quality of the learning environment and specifically the wellbeing of both students and staff. A survey by Wellbeing Australia (December, 2011) found that of 466 respondents, 85.9 per cent, strongly agreed and a further 12.1 per cent agreed that a focus on student wellbeing enhanced an effective learning environment and 74.5 per cent strongly agreed and a further 21.9 per cent agreed that a focus on teacher wellbeing also promotes stude...

Th e Quality of School Life and Burnout as Predictors of Subjective Well-Being among Teachers

The main purpose of this study is to determine the rate of how teachers’ subjective wellbeing is predicted by their perceptions about the quality of school life and burnout levels. The participants of the study consisted of 161 teachers (93 females, 68 males) who were working in elementary schools in Adana central districts. Th e Positive-Negative Aff ect Scale (Watson, Clark, & Tellegen, 1988), Life Satisfaction Inventory (Diener, Emmons, Larsen, & Griff in, 1985), Quality of School Life Scale (Sarı, 2007), and Teacher Burnout Scale (Seidman, & Zager, 1986) were used as data collection tools. To analyze the gathered data, stepwise regression analysis was performed. Results of stepwise regression analysis showed that teachers’ subjective well-being levels were predicted significantly by the Quality of School Life Scale sub-factors, namely “status” and “curriculum” and burnout scale sub-factor, namely “coping work-related stress.” Teachers’ life satisfaction levels were predicted significantly by the variables of “status”, “coping work-related stress” and “school administrator” which is a sub factor of the Quality of School Life Scale. Also, teachers’ positive aff ect was predicted by the variables of “status”, “positive aff ects towards school” and “teachers,” and teachers’ negative aff ect was predicted by the variables of “coping work-related stress”, “status,” and “curriculum.” Other subscales of the Quality of School Life and Teacher Burnout Scales have no significant contribution in the estimation. Results also indicated that the contribution of predictors could be accounted as 39% for subjective well-being; 23% for life satisfaction; 23% for positive aff ect, and 37% for negative aff ect. In the direction of these general findings, it was suggested that, in-service education programs about interpersonal relations and coping strategies with stress should be applied for teachers and administrators. Besides that, the quality of life in schools should be increased. On the basis of limited similar studies in the literature, it was suggested that the number of both descriptive and predictive studies should be increased on the topic.