Konin Language Studies / Language teacher wellbeing and psychological capital

Language teaching is a challenging profession with educators facing various sources of stress, ultimately leading to high rates of attrition (Mason, 2017). In this study, we draw on two theoretical models to examine the wellbeing of language teachers. PERMA includes physical, intellectual, psychological, and social components of wellbeing (Seligman, 2011), while PsyCap is referred to as a set of positive psychological resources which can help sustain wellbeing (Luthans et al., 2007). This study has three main aims: (a) to investigate the relationships between PERMA and PsyCap, (b) to identify teacher profiles based on their PERMA scores, and (c) to determine how these profiles varied in terms of teachers’ PsyCap. Participants were 472 in-service teachers from five continents who completed an online questionnaire including PERMA and PsyCap measures. The survey was analyzed by means of correlation analyses, cluster analysis, and analyses of variance. Findings revealed strong correlations between elements of PERMA and PsyCap. They also revealed the defining role of positive emotions and health in differentiating the wellbeing profiles of the teachers, and differences in optimism across the four profiles. The study offers practical implications for language teachers, teacher trainers, and policy-makers in terms of supporting language teacher wellbeing. Fonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung P 31261-G29 Version of record