Labour Relations Among Zimbabwean Teachers: Wellbeing and the Challenges of Professionalism

Abstract

This study investigates teachers' views on the quality of their wellbeing through analysis of teacher narratives in relation to salaries as reflected by teachers' community standing and access to daily essentials. Through snowballing, seventeen participants were identified from the current and the recently resigned. The teachers answered researcher-led open-ended questions. The researcher recorded individual narratives and used these in textual analysis to establish teachers' experiences and perceptions of their wellbeing. The results of this limited study confirm that the sampled Zimbabwean teachers are underpaid, unhappy with their salaries causing teachers to worry about their wellbeing in this economically struggling Sub-Saharan state.