Towards Healthy, Flourishing Teachers and Pedagogical Well-Being. The Effects of School Changes and Demands on Teachers’ Health, Job satisfaction, Efficacy and Work ability

Abstract: Today, there is a strong body of evidence that confirms the importance of positive teacher-student relationships for learning and behavior. The quality, however, is likely to be influenceed by associationes between school climate and teachers’ health, their capacity to cope well with the many and varied demands that are the hallmarks of the profession. Thus, the overall objective of this study is to gain further knowledge and additional understanding of aspects of teacher working life that relate to the dimensions of health, ability to unwind and recoup, job satisfaction, efficacy and work ability. The study is based on empirical data from a web-based questionnaire. The sample population consists of publicly employed teachers (1st–9th grades) in five municipalities in southern Sweden. Individual responses were obtained from 1208 teachers. Linear and logistic regression models were used to study relationship between teacher well-being, job satisfaction, self-efficacy, work ability and work-related demands. The result clearly show that there are elements that challenge teachers’ health and mental well-being, as well as resources for positive work drive, job satisfaction, efficacy and teacher work ability. Distribution of studied stressors also confirms that teaching is a stressful profession. It was also found that teachers having trouble to unwind. Ability to unwind and recoup was also the most prominent predictor of teachers’ mental health, general mental health and role emotion. Resources for positive prediction of job satisfaction were found in low levels of work-home-interference, functinal leadership, value consonance, decresad time-pressure and opportunity to learning. In addition, Time-pressure, appreciation and value consonance were linked to teachers’ efficacy and work ability. The results are presented in a model for teacher health and pedagogical well-being. Implication of this study is that more attention should be paid to teachers’ ability to unwind, perceptions of school leadership, time pressure and work place cooperation. It is concluded that school improvement and reform efforts need to address the importance of building a positive, engaged workforce and work hard to address a variety of important factors to create a successful school with healthy and flourishing teaching.