School leaders’ approaches to shaping and sustaining a healthy school workplace culture

Abstract

This article examines how school leaders in Icelandic preschools and compulsory schools shape and sustain a healthy workplace culture that supports teacher well-being, job satisfaction and professional security. Healthy workplace culture refers to the values, relationships, expectations and organisational practices that frame daily school life and contribute to the psychological safety and overall well-being of staff. Prior Icelandic research shows that teacher stress and burnout are increasing, often linked to workload, time pressure and challenging interpersonal demands. At the same time, international literature highlights that supportive leadership, trust, shared values and opportunities for participation are central to fostering teachers’ sense of belonging, autonomy and professional flourishing. Against this background, the present study focuses on the leadership practices that characterise schools with demonstrably positive results in workplace culture surveys.