Abstract
Teacher well-being is a prominent issue in policy and public debates. Those teachers working in private schools deserve concern given concerns about their working environment. Focus of this study: to learn about the level and main characteristics of teacher well-being in private schools and to explore the impact of working environment on their well-being. Methodology: The data were collected via an online questionnaire among 1161 language teachers at 58 China’s private colleges in 22 provinces, and were quantitatively analyzed with SPSS 23.0. Findings: These teachers have an intermediate level of overall well-being. Performance evaluation, student academic foundation, and pressure of research work are the main negative impacting factors; while social support from leaders and colleagues, work autonomy, training and development opportunities, and appraisal feedback guide are key resources enhancing their well-being. Discussions: The impacting factors of working environment on teacher well-being in private schools are unique due to the special scenarios. Implications: The results of this study may apply to similar private schools, suggesting pertinent stakeholders to take targeted measures, to guarantee enough economic input into running school, and to put democratic and professional leadership into practice for promoting teacher well-being in the private education sector.
Highlights
Teacher well-being is a prominent issue in policy and public debates
This study aims to contribute to the literature via exploring the impacting factors of teacher well-being in private schools in China with the multi-dimensional concept of teacher well-being, and to provide evidence-based directions for practice
The central research question is “what is the unique working environment in terms of job demands and job resources impacting the well-being of teachers in private schools”, which will be addressed via an online questionnaire survey and quantitative statistical analyses
Summary
Teacher well-being is a prominent issue in policy and public debates. Those teachers working in private schools deserve concern given concerns about their working environment. To explore the impact of working environment on teacher well-being in private schools, this study makes a survey about the level and main characteristics of their well-being, and the perceived working environment in two aspects of job demands and job resources in private schools, and makes quantitative analyses. Based on abovementioned existing literature about the significant job demands and job resources impacting teacher well-being, we hypothesize that: (H1) heavier teaching and research workload and time pressure, more students and lower level of base knowledge in a class, and more stressful performance evaluation decrease teacher well-being; (H2) more work autonomy, satisfying development opportunities and helpful appraisal feedback guide, and stronger social support from leaders and colleagues enhance teacher well-being. As for the conceptual framework of teacher well-being, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) defines it in four dimensions of cognitive well-being, subjective well-being, physical/ mental well-being, and social well-being[31], so we will consider teacher well-being both in overall well-being and in the four dimensions as well in order to make an in-depth exploration of teacher well-being in private schools and its impacting factors in terms of working environment
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