Research on the well-being of teachers was conducted at the request of the Department of Education in Flanders, Belgium. The goals were: (1) to construct an instrument for the Education Inspectorate; and (2) to conduct a survey in order to identify school-related conditions relevant for teachers' professional well-being. Based on literature and panel discussions with teachers and principals, a questionnaire was constructed, tested and subdivided in subscales following a factor analysis. The questionnaire was administered to a representative sample of elementary (covering both nursery and primary schools, children aged 3-12) and secondary school teachers. A multilevel analysis reveals how differences in scores can be explained at school level.
The Flemish government considers well-being of pupils as an important output indicator for the quality of education. The education inspectorate needed an instrument to measure this well-being in a school context, an instrument that should also be a basis for actions plans aimed at enhancing pupils' well-being. The development of this instrument is described in this article. A total of 342 pupils were interviewed. The material from these interviews was used for construction of-mainly Likert-type-items for a questionnaire. A pilot version of the questionnaire was examined by experts and tested with a random sample of 306 pupils. The experimental version was tried out on a random sample of 2054 pupils. This resulted in a questionnaire with four consistent scales and thirteen subscales. Significant differences between schools were found. Atmosphere at school, contacts with teachers, involvement in class and at school, school regulations and infrastructure were among the best predictors.
ABSTRACT. Student motivation as well as student perception of interpersonal teacher behaviour are linked to the sense of wellbeing at student level. However, while most of the variance in the measurement of student wellbeing was situated at student level, eleven percent of variance was found at classroom level. In this article we focus on this variance at classroom level and the moderating role that student perception of interpersonal teacher behaviour has. From an interpersonal perspective on teaching, the relationship between teacher wellbeing, perceptions of interpersonal teacher behaviour, and student wellbeing is examined. Grade 9 students of technical and vocational training schools are participating in this study. In the analyses a distinction is made between teaching academic subjects and teaching vocational subjects. There appears to be a direct link between the wellbeing of the teachers of academic subjects and the wellbeing of their students. Students who perceive their academic teacher as leading, helpful and friendly score higher on wellbeing, while wellbeing decreases when an academic teacher is perceived as strict and admonishing.The relationship between the teacher of vocational subjects who typifies himself as strict and admonishing, and the wellbeing of his students, is moderated by student perceptions of teacher interpersonal behaviour. A direct relationship between the wellbeing of the vocational teacher and the wellbeing of students is not found. Only when the vocational teacher's wellbeing is high and student perceptions of uncertain or dissatisfied interpersonal teacher behaviour is low, does student wellbeing increase. We conclude that for vocational subjects, student perceptions of interpersonal teacher behaviour are crucial moderators. Finally, students who are highly motivated to learn practical subjects, have a higher score on student wellbeing. By contrast, the fact that education is inherently obligatory has a negative influence on student wellbeing.
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