LOOKING AFTER TEACHER WELLBEING: DOES TEACHER EMPOWERMENT MATTER?

Abstract

It is well acknowledged that teachers’ wellbeing has an impact on teachers’ work and play a deciding role in the achievements and improvement of both students and schools. A positive internal environment will ensure that teachers are happy and enjoy their work. This study focuses on the relationship between teacher empowerment (TE) and teacher wellbeing at the workplace (TWB). It examines the various subscales of TE to determine the subscales that best predict TWB. The study tool consists of the adapted instrument, the School Participant Empowerment Scale (SPES) that measures teachers’ perceived empowerment and a modified version of the Workplace Wellbeing Index that measures TWB. This study was a cross-sectional survey involving 371 schoolteachers selected via multi-stage sampling in one of the states in Malaysia. Results showed no significant difference in TWB based on the demographic factors (gender and age). Results also indicated significant positive correlations between TE and TWB (r=.64, p<0.01) and TE explained as high as 60% of the variance in TWB (r2=.60, F=91.187). Separate analysis of the TE dimensions witnessed only the Decision-Making dimension positively and significantly predicted TWB (β=0.65, p<0.05).