Teacher Well-being

Purpose: Organizational health within schools significantly influences teacher well-being, professional efficacy, and student outcomes. This study aimed to identify and explain the dimensions and components of organizational health among middle school teachers in Tehran, focusing on how individual, organizational, and environmental factors contribute to the overall health of educational institutions. Methodology: Adopting a qualitative research design, this study engaged 26 middle school teachers from Tehran through semi-structured interviews. The participants were selected purposively to ensure a diverse representation of experiences and viewpoints. Data collection continued until theoretical saturation was reached, and thematic analysis was employed to identify and analyze the emerging themes related to organizational health. Findings: The study revealed that individual factors such as motivation, professional development, and job satisfaction; organizational factors including leadership, communication, and organizational culture; and environmental factors like policy influence and community engagement are critical to the organizational health of schools. These factors together create a comprehensive framework affecting the overall effectiveness and well-being of educational settings. Conclusion: The findings underscore the importance of addressing both the internal and external components of organizational health in schools. A holistic approach that considers individual, organizational, and environmental factors is essential for fostering a positive educational environment, supporting teacher well-being, and enhancing student achievement. The study provides valuable insights for educational leaders, policymakers, and practitioners aiming to improve the organizational health of schools.

Teaching has recently received extensive attention as an emotionally charged profession, necessitating a deeper exploration of the psychological mechanisms underlying teachers’ practices. However, despite the evidence supporting the role of teachers’ emotion regulation (ER) in their autonomous control over both their practices and their ecological environment, the interplay between EFL teachers’ ER, agency, and autonomy is not yet fully clear. Grounded in positive psychology and ecological theories of agency, the present study tried to contribute to our understanding of this relationship. Accordingly, 232 EFL teachers in Iranian schools, targeted via snowball sampling, responded to an online survey, containing Emotion Regulation, Agency Related to Planning Teaching and Learning Activities, and Teaching Autonomy questionnaires. The results of Multiple Linear Regression and SEM confirmed a positive relationship between ER and agency ( r = .724) as well as ER and autonomy ( r = .713), while predicting 58% and 48% of changes in them, respectively, which demonstrates strong predictive power. The results support an integrated theoretical model, linking ER to teachers’ agentic and autonomous behaviors, and indicating that emotionally-regulated teachers are more likely to exercise control over their professional practices and environment. These findings offer implications for educational administrators and psychologists, as well as ELT practitioners who wish to improve educational practices by empowering teachers to foster sustained well-being and deal with burnout. Finally, the possibility of an updated construct of Agentic Autonomy is proposed to bridge ER with teachers’ ecological agency.