Abstract
Teachers, specifically those who work in under-resourced contexts, face many challenges within their workplace that negatively affect their experiences of well-being. Although research indicates that if teacher well-being improves, a more enabling climate for teaching and learning is created, little support is available for teachers in this regard. The aim of this study was to work collaboratively with teachers to help them find ways to improve their experiences of well-being. Following a participatory action learning and action research (PALAR) design, 6 teachers in a rural primary school met as an action learning set over a period of 6 weeks to reflect on their learning about how to improve their experiences of well-being. The findings indicate that frequent, informal social contact with colleagues, coupled with explicit action to focus on positive emotions, could improve teachers’ experiences of well-being. The PALAR design afforded the structure for this to happen. This study offers insight into how a collaborative action learning process could help to enhance teachers’ ability to improve and sustain their experiences of well-being. Keywords: action learning; flourishing; positive psychology; teacher well-being; wellness
Highlights
IntroductionAs early as 2007, the World Bank stated: “We have come to conclude that educational quality – in assessing policies related to developing countries – is THE key issue” (Hanushek & Wößmann, 2007:1 original emphasis)
Emerging economies place a high premium on primary education
It was a relatively simple task to organise a weekly action learning set meeting and set up the WhatsApp group, the teachers had not previously been able to mobilise themselves to do this until the participatory action learning and action research (PALAR) process was created
Summary
As early as 2007, the World Bank stated: “We have come to conclude that educational quality – in assessing policies related to developing countries – is THE key issue” (Hanushek & Wößmann, 2007:1 original emphasis). This is based on the premise that education is the foundation for the attainment of further knowledge and skills (Dreyer, 2017). Enhancing the positive attributes and strengths of teachers has twofold benefits It leads to a positive impact on teacher performance, commitment and satisfaction (Luthans, Norman, Avolio & Avey, 2008; Rothmann & Rothmann, 2010). It influences the learners’ satisfaction, which tends to improve academic results (Hansen, Buitendach & Kanengoni, 2015)
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