As teachers and educational institutions all over the world grapple with the common challenges and stressors unleashed by the pandemic-driven need to overhaul traditional teaching methods in favour of state-of-the-art technological solutions and alternative –and more engaging-- pedagogical approaches, teacher wellbeing has never been more crucial. Research has shown that when teachers experience positive wellbeing, they become more creative and their students obtain better results (Caprara et al. 2006). Similarly, when learners experience positive wellbeing, their motivation increases and they are more successful in their studies (Seligman et al. 2009). Thus, fomenting both teacher and learner wellbeing should be a priority for educational research and practice across the curriculum. Unfortunately, policymakers and other stakeholders tend to focus on the latter at the expense of the former, despite the defining part that teachers play in determining the ultimate learning experience of their students. In this presentation I will address the key role that departmental leadership can and should have in conceptualizing and working towards the collective wellbeing of all members of the language teaching ecology at a HEI in Israel.
References
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MacIntyre, P. D., Ross, J., Talbot, K., Mercer, S., Gregersen, T., & Banga, C. A. 2019. ‘Stressors, personality and wellbeing among language teachers’. System 82: 26-38.
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