Well-Being of School Teachers in Their Work Environment

Teachers’ well-being has received much attention over the past decades, in the light of the major increase in sick leave as well as job quitting among teachers across different cultures and countries. It is, in fact, well-known in the literature that teaching is a demanding, challenging profession, exposed to stress, burn out and more in general, high attrition rate. The majority of studies have in fact targeted negative indicators of teacher functioning, but, more recently, following the mainstream of positive psychology, more attention has been devoted to the teachers’ well-being. Subjective well-being is not just the mere absence of illness at work; it refers to healthy and successful functioning of teachers at work.

In fact, while physical, psychological and mental health refer more to the lack of impairment, well-being refers more to the ability of teachers to develop a positive though dynamic equilibrium between teachers’ resources (environmental, social, individual, physical, mental, psychological) and their challenges/demands (environmental, social, individual, physical, mental, psychological). Well-being has emerged to be linked to a positive relationship with students, colleagues and families, to higher academic results of the pupils. Well-being is a multifaceted concept, comprising cognitive and affective as well as physical and mental components; it encompasses dispositional, personal, organizational and environmental factors.

Addressing protective factors of the protective factors may help develop resilience and more effective ways of addressing the impact of negative factors of the teaching workplace. Therefore, the goal of this Research Topic is to encourage new understandings of teachers’ well-being from interdisciplinary psychological perspectives. We welcome empirical and theoretical articles, perspectives and review papers that engage with any of the following (or related) areas of interest, though we also welcome areas that are not included below:

- Positive indicators of teachers’ well-being
- Building skills for teachers’ well-being
- Assessing teachers’ well-being
- Cognitive, affective and context factors promoting teachers’ well-being
- Positive Interventions to promote resilience among teachers
- Resilience among teachers
- Teachers’ well-being and pupils’ well-being
- Consequence of teachers’ well-being on education
- Schooling context and teachers’ well-being
- Comparative study on teachers’ well-being
- Happiness at school
- Emotion regulation and well-being at school
- Personal resources, attitudes, dispositional traits and teachers’ well-being
- The role of cognitive and motivational process
- Emotional and cognitive factors of teachers’ well-being
- Organizational culture and teachers’ well-being

Although we are open to considering all types of scientific submissions, we are particularly interested in those that have a strong empirical basis.  A multidisciplinary approach as well as cross-country, cross-cultural studies are welcome. Empirical papers that utilize key models and/or longitudinal designs are preferred. However, review papers that make a distinct contribution to knowledge will be considered.