In the current socio-political framework in South Africa children have been afforded the highest priority within government, affirming their legal status of right holders. Not only has the rights and needs of children been entrenched in the development strategies of the government, but children themselves have been guaranteed socio-economic rights and protection from abuse, exploitation, and neglect. Subsequently, knowledge and information on the well-being of children have become important pursuits. More specifically, current trends in international literature point to the critical importance of subjective perceptions of well-being in developing measuring and monitoring initiatives. The aim of the study was to determine the subjective wellbeing of children in the Western Cape region of South Africa. A cross-sectional survey design was employed with the use of stratified random sampling to select a sample of 1004 twelve year old children attending primary schools within the Western Cape Metropole. Descriptive statistics were used to present the findings across the different domains of well-being.

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The current study examines the potential mediating role of professional identification of school teachers in the relationship between psychological distress and teaching satisfaction. Professional identification is the extent to which an individual identifies with a professional group, including the values, beliefs, and commitment the individual has in relation to the professional group. Professional identification has been linked to negative work outcomes, such as job performance and turnover intentions, as well as to adverse mental health outcomes. In the context of education, professional identification is the extent to which teachers identify with the teaching profession. Participants (N = 355) were school teachers in South Africa who completed the Center for Epidemiological Depression Scale, the Beck Hopelessness Scale, the Professional Identification Scale, and the Teaching Satisfaction Scale. Structural equation analysis showed that professional identification plays a fully mediational role in the relationship between psychological distress and teaching satisfaction. Interventions that strengthen teachers’ identification with the teaching profession should be considered a priority.