Teacher Wellbeing

Since the 1960s, the idea of wellbeing, in general, has gained momentum (^{McCallum et al., 2017}), motivating a still-growing body of research focused on what it is, how to achieve it, and how to maintain it over time (^{Brown & Ralph, 1992}; ^{Dewaele et al., 2023}; ^{Ebadijalal & Moradkhani, 2022}; ^{McCallum & Price, 2010}; ^{Ryan & Deci, 2001}; ^{Van Petegem et al., 2005}; ^{Weinstein, 1988}, ¹⁹⁸⁹). ^{The World Health Organization (1947)} defined wellbeing as a “state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity” (p. 1).

Within the research field, many classifications have been made. From them, and for the present study, two subcategories are especially relevant: subjective wellbeing and eudemonic wellbeing, which will be analyzed in the field of teacher wellbeing. On the one hand, ^{Diener and Ryan (2009)} defined subjective wellbeing as “judgments and feelings about life satisfaction, interest and engagement, affective reactions such as joy and sadness to life events, and satisfaction with work, relationships, health, recreation, meaning and purpose, and other important domains” (p. 391). On the other hand, eudemonic wellbeing, according to ^{Ryan and Deci (2001)}, would entail pursuing the development of our potential and feeling that, although unpleasant circumstances may surround us, we are making the most of them and thriving to the possible extent.

Finally, teacher wellbeing refers to the levels of satisfaction reported by those in this profession and the incredibly detrimental feelings of burnout that tend to arise among them (^{Gruber et al., 2020}). Numerous studies have dealt with the concept of teacher wellbeing, all of them highlighting the existence of burnout and its consequences (^{Aelterman et al., 2007}; ^{Austin et al., 2005}; ^{Butler & Kern, 2016}; ^{Gruber et al., 2020}; ^{Harmer, 2017}; ^{McCallum & Price, 2010}; ^{Mercer, 2018}, ²⁰²⁰; ^{Pérez Valverde, 2006}). Furthermore, much research explores the attitudes or strategies that may enhance the sense of wellbeing among teachers (^{Aelterman et al., 2007}; ^{Macías, 2018}; ^{McCallum et al., 2017}; ^{Mercer, 2020}), while others provide the factors that could be a detriment to it (^{Austin et al., 2005}; ^{Butler & Kern, 2016}; ^{Cardoso Pulido & Guijarro Ojeda, 2020}; ^{Dang, 2013}; ^{Gregersen et al., 2020}; ^{McCallum & Price, 2010}; ^{Pérez Valverde & Ruiz, 2014}). Overall, the increasing interest in the field proves its relevance in society and the pertinency of the present study.

The Distinctiveness of Teaching English as a Foreign Language

As a discipline, Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) has characteristics that suggest the need to consider it separately from others. ^{Borg (2006}, p. 5) summarizes it in five factors: (a) the nature of the subject matter itself, (b) the interaction patterns necessary to provide instruction, (c) the challenge for teachers of increasing their knowledge of the subject, (d) isolation due to the absence of colleagues teaching the same subject, and (e) the need for outside support for learning the subject. Hence, the already existing complexity and expectations put upon teachers seem to be amplified when the subject they teach is a foreign language.

Consequently, the present project aims to complete the field of language teacher wellbeing by addressing some gaps that require further study. Firstly, the study of foreign language teachers as a collective is still in its early stages, being especially relevant to the work of Mercer (^{Cardoso Pulido, 2018}; ^{Cardoso Pulido & Guijarro Ojeda, 2020}; ^{Gregersen et al., 2020}; ^{Guijarro Ojeda et al., 2021}; ^{Jin et al., 2021}; ^{Johansen & Pérez Valverde, 2017}; ^{Mercer, 2018}, ²⁰²⁰; ^{Mercer & Gregersen, 2020}; ^{Pérez Valverde, 2006}, ²⁰¹⁷; ^{Pérez Valverde et al., 2016}; ^{Pérez Valverde & Serrano Gallardo, 2019}; ^{Sulis et al., 2021}), although it is mainly focused on preservice teachers (^{Cardoso Pulido, 2018}; ^{Cardoso Pulido & Guijarro Ojeda, 2020}; ^{Pérez Valverde, 2006}, ²⁰¹⁷) or teacher trainers (^{Guijarro Ojeda et al., 2021}). Therefore, contributions exploring how in-service language teachers interpret and manage their wellbeing are still needed to consolidate our knowledge of this topic. The present project aims to address that gap in the context of TEFL inside the educational system in Andalusia by taking a group of EFL teachers with several years of experience as participants.

Factors Affecting Teacher Wellbeing

Regarding the factors that may affect teachers’ wellbeing, researchers coincide in the following as being crucial: the school environment (^{Aelterman et al., 2007}; ^{McCallum et al., 2017}; ^{Mercer, 2020}), legislation in the area (^{Brown & Ralph, 1992}; ^{McCallum et al., 2017}), resilience (^{McCallum et al., 2017}), self-efficacy (^{McCallum et al., 2017}), emotional competence (^{Jennings & Greenberg, 2009}; ^{McCallum et al., 2017}; ^{Mercer, 2020)}, individual personality (^{McCallum & Price, 2010}; ^{Mercer, 2020}), and boundaries between personal and professional life (^{Mercer, 2020}).

All those factors can play a role when teachers try to achieve and maintain a stable state. Thus, when such factors are positively managed and work correctly, teachers report high levels of wellbeing; conversely, if those factors are not adequately handled, this may negatively affect the teachers’ wellbeing. Then, whenever teachers face burnout and discontent, or their wellbeing is at stake, they need to know what steps to follow to return to balance. Identifying what is affecting their wellbeing is essential, but so is discovering what coping strategies could allow them to regain their sense of physical, social, and mental stability.

Coping Strategies

Several studies have explored what practices are already available for teachers to cope with stress (^{Aelterman et al., 2007}; ^{Austin et al., 2005}; ^{Brown & Ralph, 1992}; ^{Butler & Kern, 2016}; ^{Cardoso Pulido & Guijarro Ojeda, 2020}; ^{Harmer, 2017}; ^{McCallum & Price, 2010}; ^{McCallum et al., 2017}; ^{Mercer, 2020}). ^{Austin et al. (2005)} identify palliative strategies to reduce emotional discomfort to make it more bearable. Some include recommendations for teachers to manage their free time, such as physical exercise (^{Austin et al., 2005}) or hobbies (^{Austin et al., 2005}; ^{Harmer, 2017}). Other strategies are concerned with the work environment and with attitudes teachers could adopt to reduce their stress levels and feelings of burnout; habits like delegating responsibility (^{Austin et al., 2005}; ^{Brown & Ralph, 1992}), self-reflection to identify their limitations (^{Austin et al., 2005}; ^{Brown & Ralph, 1992}; ^{Harmer, 2017}), or cultivating their interest in a continuous professional development that helps them rekindle their interest in their profession (^{Mercer, 2018}; ^{Harmer, 2017}). Finally, there are other strategies that the school should promote at large. These include programs to train communicative skills and assertiveness (^{Austin et al., 2005}), building networks within the school and the educational community (^{Aelterman et al., 2007}; ^{Mercer, 2020}), or promoting positive psychology (^{Gable & Haidt, 2005}) within the institution to help teachers focus on “what’s strong” instead of “what’s wrong” as professionals (^{Aelterman et al., 2007}; ^{Butler & Kern, 2016}; ^{Cardoso Pulido & Guijarro Ojeda, 2020}; ^{Gregersen et al., 2020}; ^{McCallum & Price, 2010}; ^{Mercer, 2018}).

However, it is worth highlighting that much of the research on these strategies is focused on preservice teachers (^{Cardoso Pulido & Guijarro Ojeda, 2020}; ^{McCallum & Price, 2010};) or reports quantitative studies (^{Aelterman et al., 2007}; ^{Austin et al., 2005}). Thus, there is a need for more extensive research carried out with in-service teachers and for a qualitative methodology that could allow us to analyze the outcomes of each strategy over time.

Context and Participants

Eight secondary school teachers (seven women and one man) from seven Andalusian schools volunteered to participate in the study. They were contacted via people in common with the principal researcher, and the criterion for selection was that the participants had to work as EFL secondary education teachers in Andalusia. There were no criteria for the type of school (private, semi-private, or public), even though we will state later the general importance this can have on teachers’ work. There were no criteria for the specific year they were teaching or the number of years they had been teaching English. Six participants taught in semi-private institutions, and two in public ones. Semi-private schools in Spain receive public and governmental funding, whereas public schools’ incomes come entirely from the Spanish government. The age of the interviewees was relatively homogenous, ranging from 31 to 47 years. The participants’ teaching experience ranged between three and 20 years (see Table 1). Five were married, two were single, and one was in a relationship, although all reported having solid social and family support. All participants’ first language was Spanish.

The type of school (private, semi-private, or public) was significant as, in Spain, they tend to be organized and managed differently in terms of their approach to issues like spiritual life and relationships among the teachers. Generally, teachers in semi-private schools have more extended contracts and are surrounded by an institution with some religious leaning (typically catholic). In contrast, teachers in public schools earn higher salaries while belonging to more individualistic working environments.

Data collection instruments and research process

Data for the research were gathered through a sociodemographic data questionnaire and an in-depth, semi-structured interview per participant.

All the participants filled in the questionnaire about their professional experience, their civil status, the number of hours they taught English, and the amount of time devoted to extra work. After completing the questionnaire, participants took part in a semi-structured interview.¹ The semi-structured interviews were conducted over two months; their length is included in Table 1. They were held in Spanish to guarantee that participants felt comfortable expressing their opinions without linguistic limitations. Three interviews were held in person, and five took place online. The format of the interview resulted from the mix of those used in ^{Gruber et al. (2020)}, ^{Mercer (2020)}, and ^{Butler and Kern (2016)}. It was divided into four dimensions:

Only qualitative data were gathered since qualitative research enables exploring and understanding “the meaning individuals or groups ascribe to a social or human problem” (^{Almalki, 2016}, p. 291). Furthermore, we concluded that creating a semi-structured interview to gather the data from the participants would be the most appropriate method to proceed as it gives participants the freedom to add any relevant information while the researchers remain passive.

Data Analysis

The content analysis model was followed to analyze the data from the interviews, a method of great importance within social science research (^{Prasad, 2008}). In general terms, “content analysis may be seen as a method where the content of the message forms the basis for drawing inferences and conclusions about the content” (^{Prasad, 2008}, p. 2).

The first stage of the content analysis consisted of creating the categories into which the data would be classified. To create such categories, we followed Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory systems (^{Härkönen, 2007}; ^{Mercer, 2020}). It allows a more holistic and organized analysis of the source of distress and flourishing that participants identify in their professional and personal lives while making it easier to relate answers to one another to find social patterns that could be addressed. Each system contained the following information:

The second stage entailed the application of these categories to each piece of data, that is, to each transcript of the interviews. After that, each category was analyzed again to collect the most recurrent topics among the answers. They are included in the Results section and a comparison with previous research in the Discussion and Conclusion sections.

Validity and Reliability

To verify the validity and reliability of the present study, we worked with a research specialist on qualitative research and the topic of teacher wellbeing on coding and categorizing data, and we verified that we had obtained the same results.

Interviewing teachers from different regions of Andalusia (Seville, Jaén, and Granada) also contributes to the validity and reliability of the study since it helps draw conclusions that could be generalized to the whole region.

Ethics

All interviewees were contacted via e-mail. Through a consent form, they were informed about the study’s aims and the implications of their participation. All participants signed the form before the interview and gave explicit permission to record, transcribe, and utilize their data for the study. All their personal and institutional information was assured to remain anonymous.

Factors Perceived as Promoting Wellbeing

The first factor participants identified as necessary was their emotional competence (microsystem), which includes empathy, patience, and resilience. Those participants who claimed empathy and emotional commitment, good organization, and flexibility upheld them as supporting their professional wellbeing as secondary school EFL teachers. They agreed that emotional stability benefits not only them as teachers but also their students and professional lives at the school: “If you are emotionally steady, the class will be emotionally steady, and you’ll be more prepared to deal with any challenge”² (P7).

The participants mentioned taking part in courses devoted to the development of the skills mentioned above (P4 and P5), mindfulness activities organized by their schools (P2 and P7), or using prayer as a means to achieve that steadiness (P3, P4, P5, and P6).

Empathy and patience were the most consistently mentioned emotional qualities, and participants deemed them essential to thrive in teaching. However, they also agreed on the need to set a limit to avoid diving too deep into their students’ lives, to the point that it could negatively affect them: “You must set a limit not to get too involved, as it can contribute to your feelings of burnout” (P1).

Secondly, the participants mention the need to have and maintain a strong professional commitment (microsystem and exosystem). All participants reported a strong professional commitment through CPD and an awareness of how necessary it was to fight against feelings of burnout.

As a teacher, you must be aware of the constant need to recycle yourself. (P4)

New problems need new solutions; past ones are no longer valid. (P6)

All the participants were enrolled, had been enrolled, or were about to enroll in a course that would expand their teaching knowledge (either from a professional or personal perspective), keeping them motivated and engaged with their profession. Furthermore, those participants whose schools actively invest in their CPD as teachers or as people through courses or funding for courses (P1, P2, P4, P5, P8) assessed this as one of the aspects of their institution they valued the most and identified it as a contributor to their feelings of belonging and wellbeing.

The school environment (mesosystem) was also regarded as highly influential. Most participants (P1, P2, P3, P4, P5, and P8) reported a strong feeling of community within their schools due to good relationships with colleagues and school managers. As the primary motivation behind their sense of community and connection, they emphasized having good personal bonds and opportunities to share personal information regarding their feelings in informal or formal contexts during working hours. Most importantly, they all regarded this sort of relationship as essential for their later development as teachers within the classroom.

If we didn’t have this support from colleagues and the school, our job would be tough. We wouldn’t be able to do it since our daily work is already demanding; we need this sense of family inside the school, not feeling isolated. (P4)

Finally, some participants mentioned their capacity to set boundaries (microsystem) as necessary and advisable. Those participants who reported an ease to go from “school mode” to “home mode” also assessed that ability as the reason behind their feeling of balance and stability: “I used to take things personally, but not anymore. I don’t even wait until I am home, once in the car, I am a mum and not a teacher” (P4).

The participants emphasized that teachers must accept that success in their profession not only relies on them as teachers, but there are also other factors out of their control that must be acknowledged: “You must learn that learning involves both you and your students, and you can’t be constantly thinking or blaming yourself at home for something that may not be going well at school” (P6).

Interestingly, P1 stated that setting boundaries was something she had taken up recently and identified it as one of the reasons that she no longer feels the urge to quit her job. However, initially, it provoked her feelings of guilt and unprofessionalism.

Factors Perceived as Diminishing Wellbeing

Most participants mentioned a lack of boundaries (microsystem) as detrimental to their wellbeing. Five participants reported having difficulties or being unable to separate their “school mode” from their “home mode” and perceived this as damaging their wellbeing both inside and outside the school: “You are more tired and irritable. You are even unable to perform with your students” (P2).

Interestingly, although all of the participants linked this fact to feelings of burnout, two of them assumed this was part of their personality and faced this obstacle with a different outlook:

I never disconnect, but because I am a very creative person. I pick up my girl, and when helping her with her homework, I may see something I want to try myself as a teacher. (P7)

Mirroring what was mentioned above, the school environment (mesosystem) also could harm wellbeing. The two participants who reported feeling isolated inside their institution (P6 and P7) identified this as one of their sources of professional distress: “It has really affected me, up to the point that I no longer want to get involved in any project at the school” (P6).

However, individual personality proved again to play a role in how much this could negatively affect wellbeing since P6 approached it from a more pessimistic point of view. At the same time, P7 saw it as a source of learning: “It teaches you how to set limits; you learn to differentiate between what should worry you and what shouldn’t.”

Finally, all participants agreed on the negative impact of legislation and curricular aspects (macrosystem) on their wellbeing. All teachers worked in Andalusia, which meant that all had to follow the curriculum and guidelines established by the regional government (the 15th of January 2021 order by the Junta de Andalucía). They all agreed on the extreme ambition of the curriculum in terms of the amount of content given the weekly time they had to teach. All of them mentioned at some point during the interview not having enough time to cover everything, mainly when they also must devote time to develop what has been labeled as “competencies”: “It affects negatively as you often find yourself wasting time on things that won’t directly affect your classroom, instead of devoting that time to preparing useful materials. It is frustrating and time-consuming” (P3).

The participants also mentioned the methodological guidelines included in the order, which defends active methodologies and innovative approaches to teaching and learning that are incompatible with the evaluation demands and the books teachers are made to use: “The methodological proposal is contradictory since books don’t include active methodologies as the law requires, nor does it offer activities to attend diversity. Books focus on grammar, not skills” (P2).

Most Prevalent Stress-Coping Strategies

Three strategies prevailed among participants: hobbies, CPD, and boundaries. On the one hand, five participants named hobbies like running, playing a musical instrument, or hiking as their way to disconnect from work. Although they all expressed satisfaction with practicing them, it is worth mentioning that only P7 affirmed doing hers consistently. “I do feel better doing it, but normally, two months after the beginning of the school, I lack time, and I give it up” (P3).

On the other hand, as previously mentioned, all teachers were engaged in CPD and perceived this as a means to maintain their professional motivation. By learning something new, they recovered their perspective and overcame feelings of burnout. Nevertheless, it is worth mentioning that those teachers who did not feel they could share this growth with their faculty reported frustration because they felt they were not contributing to the school but to their classes.

Finally, the need to set clear boundaries between their personal and professional lives was a staple among the answers for those who already did it and those who knew they had to improve. Some of the participants defined boundaries as differentiating their “school mode” from their “home mode,” leaving behind preoccupations that could interfere with their wellbeing in either of those spheres: “I enter the school, and I fully become a teacher; my business remains outside, and nobody needs to know about it” (P1).

Others defined setting boundaries as establishing a moment when they stopped working to devote themselves to people or activities unrelated to their profession. Interestingly, P2 reported feeling guilty when first doing this but acknowledged that it had had an incredibly positive impact on her overall wellbeing.