From the Teacher Support Network, www.teachersupport.info.
In 2008, Teacher Support Research1 conducted a review of existing research on teacher wellbeing. The aim of the review was to provide us (and other stakeholders) with a detailed understanding of current knowledge on teacher wellbeing and to identify gaps in this knowledge where further research is required.
This document summarises our review findings and recommendations and outlines the knowledge gaps which we intend to help fill.
Our review evaluated available evidence about teacher wellbeing, looking at:
Existing studies have focused on the causes of poor wellbeing, using an array of measures such as job dissatisfaction, stress and emotional demands. Strong evidence about factors that enhance wellbeing is harder to find.
Numerous teacher surveys suggest that the main demands on the profession are pupil misbehaviour and workload, and there is significant evidence that heavy workload and pupil misbehaviour result in stress and reduced job satisfaction. There is also some evidence that emotional demands, emotional labour and parental behaviour may be important. Significant evidence from non-UK studies has shown that emotional demands (such as isolation, problematic interactions with students or colleagues and lack of meaningfulness of work) can impact on teachers’ sense of accomplishment, efficacy and competence. Around 80 per cent of our interviewees also suggested that demands like these affect teacher wellbeing.
Fore teachers emotional labour involves showing, or exaggerating particular emotions when interacting with students. This faking, or suppressing, of emotions can be a source of stress and lead to emotional exhaustion. Parental behaviour is often named as a source of stress by teachers; however, there is little hard evidence to support or challenge this belief.
See the report here.