The Wellbeing of Language Teachers in the Private Sector: An Ecological Perspective

Autor/in	Mercer, Sarah
Titel	The Wellbeing of Language Teachers in the Private Sector: An Ecological Perspective
Quelle	In: Language Teaching Research, 27 (2023) 5, S.1054-1077 (24 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Zusatzinformation	ORCID (Mercer, Sarah)
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1362-1688
DOI	10.1177/1362168820973510
Schlagwörter	Language Teachers; Well Being; Teacher Attitudes; Work Environment; English (Second Language); Second Language Instruction; Foreign Countries; Proprietary Schools; Teaching Experience; Malta + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Language teacher; Sprachunterricht; Well-being; Wellness; Wohlbefinden; Lehrerverhalten; Arbeitsmilieu; English as second language; English; Second Language; Englisch als Zweitsprache; Fremdsprachenunterricht; Ausland
Abstract	The teaching profession has been characterized as having high levels of stress and record rates of burnout and attrition. Language teaching is no exception to this global trend. Indeed, it could be argued that it is subject to additional specific stressors such as high intercultural and linguistic demands as well as the frequent use of energy-intense methodologies. Generally, language teacher psychology has been relatively neglected in research; however, those working in the private sector have almost exclusively been ignored. In terms of wellbeing, this is especially problematic given concerns about their working conditions. Therefore, this study takes an ecological perspective to investigating the wellbeing of teachers of English language teaching (ELT) working in the private sector in Malta. Eight volunteer teachers took part in a series of two semi-structured interviews assisted by visual prompts and journal entries. The data were analysed using a grounded Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) approach and presented in line with the ecological perspective. The main findings revealed how the teachers' wellbeing is defined by the business model character of the private sector in particular in terms of working conditions and status of the ELT profession in Malta. For the teachers, this very often means precarity in terms of the job and future prospects. However, the study also revealed aspects of positivity. For example, teachers reported enjoying their teaching, positive relationships with colleagues and students, and a positive work climate, which varied across institutions. The findings suggest implications for good practice in the field and directions for further research. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2024/1/01