Teachers’ voices on well-being: An in-depth look at PERMA with (happy) Icelandic teachers

Abstract

This article focuses on the well-being of Icelandic compulsory school teachers. Teachers’ well-being is not only important for teachers themselves but also affects their students’ well-being and academic success. Low recruitment to the profession and high turnover as teachers resign or retire, have been causes for concern in Iceland as well as in other countries in recent years. Research on professional competence has shown the necessity for teachers to possess the skills needed to meet the demands of the profession and stand firm in their professionalism, in addition to possessing strategies for coping with stress. Without these, their professional identity may suffer which can in turn have a negative effect on job satisfaction. This increases the likelihood of teachers retiring or changing careers. One aspect of maintaining a stronger professional identity is to look at teachers’ well-being, as several studies have found that teachers who experience well-being are more satisfied and effective at work and less likely to leave the profession. In addition, their students appear to experience a greater sense of well-being and to achieve more.

The aim of the study was to examine in depth, different elements of the well-being of Icelandic compulsory school teachers who consider themselves to be happy. This was done by applying Seligman’s PERMA Well-Being Theory to see how well it captures the elements of teachers’ well-being. PERMA defines five important elements to experience well-being: positive emotions, engagement, relationships, meaning, and accomplishment. The PERMA-Profiler was used to develop an interview guide together with more general questions about well-being. Eight in-depth interviews were conducted with working compulsory school teachers who feel happy in their work and their personal lives. The data was thematically analyzed, both deductively, where answers were matched with the PERMA elements, and inductively, where a search for other themes was conducted.

All the PERMA elements came through in the data as well as two elements outside PERMA: self-knowledge and vitality. Positive emotions came through the strongest and is the element that interacts with all the other elements. The teachers experience pride, joy, and gratitude as well as emotions that arise from other PERMA aspects. Engagement appeared in the interest the teachers have for their work, fast-paced lessons and in diverse hobbies they have where they experience flow. The teachers have satisfying social networks that include family members and friends and good relationships with colleagues, supervisors, and students. They emphasize the importance of a positive and rewarding work environment to offset the demands of the job and to lighten their loads. Having a sense of purpose is strongly expressed by the teachers and originates in self-acceptance, self-transcendence, rewarding relationships, and intimacy. The most common thread was how proud the teachers are of their choice of profession because they feel they can make a difference. The teachers experience a sense of accomplishment when they see their students make progress and succeed, and they are aware of their role in this. They are willing to put in a great amount of effort to help their students achieve success; they are persistent and do not give up easily. As mentioned, two themes emerged outside PERMA, self-knowledge, and vitality, which were both quite prominent. With good self-knowledge, teachers know their own feelings, reactions, strengths, and weaknesses quite well and are aware of the importance of setting boundaries and managing stress. They know how they want things to be done and what is best for themselves and their students. Teachers who stand firm in their professionalism and know what they stand for, experience stronger self-efficacy, which affects their job satisfaction. Vitality refers to the energy needed to be a successful teacher. Effective teaching requires a significant amount of energy, and the teachers feel it in their work. They are aware of the need to maintain their energy levels, and to do so, they use various methods such as meditation, exercise, spending time outside in nature, maintaining positive relationships, and having fun.

The conclusion is that PERMA does not fully capture all the elements the teachers in this study consider important for their well-being. It does however, provide a useful framework for highlighting the individual and social aspects that comprise teachers‘ wellbeing. Increased understanding on well-being is import for teachers’ to gain knowledge on how they can improve their own well-being. The results can also help principals and policy makers to create working conditions that nurture the well-being of teachers and hopefully counteract the current exodus from the teaching profession.