Barriers to and Facilitators for Teachers' Wellbeing

Healthy educators need healthy schools: Supporting educator work-related well-being through multitiered systems of support

The COVID-19 pandemic has amplified preexisting challenges for educators as manifested in high rates of work-related stress and burnout, and educators leaving the profession in higher numbers than ever before. In this article, we highlight the urgency for work-related well-being supports for educators, with a particular focus on system changes. Individual self-care is necessary, yet insufficient. To this end, we recommend the use of a multitiered system of support framework to promote a supportive and balanced work environment for all educators, tailored to local needs. We provide a rationale for the use of a tiered model and give specific recommendations for implementation and sustainability of a continuum of supports for school-wide educator well-being. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Staff perspectives on poor mental health in secondary school students: an increasing problem handled with insufficient resources

Introduction

An increasing number of schools are recognizing the importance of addressing students' mental health based on the association with educational outcomes and long-term health. The school organization and the members of the school staff play important but, in several ways, challenging roles in this work. The purpose of this study was to explore views of staff from schools and school health services on mental ill health among students and their own role in detecting and managing it.

Methods

A qualitative study was conducted in a sparsely populated municipality in northern Sweden. In total, 40 participants from three secondary schools and the school health services participated either in focus groups or individual interviews. Participants were teachers, assistants, school nurses, school counselors and psychologists. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis.

Results

The analysis revealed the main theme Student mental ill health: an increasing problem handled with insufficient resources and two subthemes, i.e., Uncertainty in interpreting students' signs of mental ill health and the need to clarify roles and establish a supportive organization.

Conclusions

It was concluded that school staff were uncertain regarding how to interpret signs of mental ill health among students and required better knowledge and more resources to help students with mental ill health. A clearer organization and consensus regarding support for students with mental ill health were also necessary in light of the division of responsibilities between school staff and the school health services.

Prevalence of stress and its relevance on psychological well-being of the teaching profession: A scoping review

Background

Well-being among teachers contributes toward quality work and better student support. Teachers' well-being persists to be a concern in school settings; there is a lacuna in understanding the concept of well-being among them. This scoping review identifies the stress factors and map their association with the psychological well-being of teachers employed in schools. Additionally, to identify the methodology and the interventions used in reducing teachers' stress and their relevance on their psychological well-being.

Methods

First, Pubmed, Web of Science, and Scopus databases were searched for eligible studies with MeSH terms for stress factors, well-being, and teachers from 2010 to 2022. Identified studies were screened thoroughly and excluded or included based on prior established criteria. Data from the included studies were extracted and summarized according to the study protocol.

Results

Among the 60 studies that met our inclusion criteria, the majority were quantitative, with cross-sectional studies. Several studies focused on emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and diminished personal accomplishment aspect among teachers. Almost half of the included studies focused on organizational and social pressures such as administration workload, classroom management issues, lack of supervisor and team support, students' behaviour, and pressure from parents. The most used interventions to overcome stress were coping strategies and mindfulness training intervention tools.

Conclusions

The findings from the current scoping review will reveal the different stressors which impact psychological well-being. Focus on the most used interventions to overcome stress among schoolteachers. This will also provide recommendations to regulators and management to identify the factors causing stress among teachers and their relevance to their psychological well-being, overcome employee turnover and absenteeism issues. Also, different alternatives available to reduce the stress may benefit the stakeholders and policymakers to confirm a suitable intervention that will benefit the teaching profession.

The relationships between teachers' emotional health and stress coping

Introduction

Teaching is a profession that involves challenges to emotional health. Teachers experience high levels of work-related stress, which causes symptoms such as anxiety, depression and burnout. Teachers' mental health affects not only their own well-being, but also the quality of education and student achievement. Coping strategies can effectively improve teachers' emotional health. The aim of this study is to assess the relationship between teachers' emotional health and stress coping.

Methods

The sample consisted of 385 teachers from Lithuania, with an average age of 50.2 (±9.62) years and 24.9 (±11.8) years of school experience. The WHO-5, the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K6), the Spanish Burnout Inventory, Educational Version (SBI-Ed) and the Coping Strategies Scale were used in the study.

Results

The study results show that teachers' age, seniority, size of residence, and marital status do not affect their emotional health, but their financial situation and hobbies have a positive impact on enthusiasm. Effective coping strategies such as problem solving, exercise, and hobbies improve emotional well-being, whereas negative coping methods such as self-isolation and alcohol consumption lead to psychological distress and lower enthusiasm at work.