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    Language Teacher Wellbeing across the Career Span
    Language Teacher Wellbeing across the Career Span
    Language Teacher Wellbeing across the Career Span
    Ebook469 pages6 hours

    Language Teacher Wellbeing across the Career Span

    By Giulia Sulis, Sarah Mercer, Sonja Babic and Astrid Mairitsch

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    This book explores language teacher wellbeing across the career span from an ecological perspective. It reports on empirical findings from an extensive investigation into language teacher wellbeing in various social, cultural and linguistic contexts. It is unique in casting light on the professional trajectory of language teachers and opening up discussions on the characteristics, psychological needs and strengths of language teachers at different points in their careers. It examines wellbeing in terms of the dynamic interplay between the challenges individuals encounter in their personal and professional lives, and the psychological, social and contextual resources that they draw on to buffer the impact of these challenges. The findings of the study will help readers to understand how language teachers can protect and nurture their wellbeing, not only to remain in the profession, but also to thrive in the long-term. The book will be a valuable resource for anyone interested in the lives, wellbeing and psychology of language teachers in diverse contexts and career phases.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMultilingual Matters
    Release dateApr 12, 2023
    ISBN9781800412828
    Language Teacher Wellbeing across the Career Span
    Author

    Giulia Sulis

    Giulia Sulis is a researcher at the University of Graz, Austria. Her research interests lie in all aspects surrounding the psychology of language learning and teaching, in particular language learning motivation, language learning engagement, Willingness to Communicate and language teacher wellbeing.

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      Language Teacher Wellbeing across the Career Span - Giulia Sulis

      Language Teacher Wellbeing across the Career Span

      PSYCHOLOGY OF LANGUAGE LEARNING AND TEACHING

      Series Editors: Sarah Mercer, Universität Graz, Austria and Stephen Ryan, Waseda University, Japan

      This international, interdisciplinary book series explores the exciting, emerging field of Psychology of Language Learning and Teaching. It is a series that aims to bring together works which address a diverse range of psychological constructs from a multitude of empirical and theoretical perspectives, but always with a clear focus on their applications within the domain of language learning and teaching. The field is one that integrates various areas of research that have been traditionally discussed as distinct entities, such as motivation, identity, beliefs, strategies and self-regulation, and it also explores other less familiar concepts for a language education audience, such as emotions, the self and positive psychology approaches. In theoretical terms, the new field represents a dynamic interface between psychology and foreign language education and books in the series draw on work from diverse branches of psychology, while remaining determinedly focused on their pedagogic value. In methodological terms, sociocultural and complexity perspectives have drawn attention to the relationships between individuals and their social worlds, leading to a field now marked by methodological pluralism. In view of this, books encompassing quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods studies are all welcomed.

      All books in this series are externally peer-reviewed.

      Full details of all the books in this series and of all our other publications can be found on http://www.multilingual-matters.com, or by writing to Multilingual Matters, St Nicholas House, 31–34 High Street, Bristol, BS1 2AW, UK.

      PSYCHOLOGY OF LANGUAGE LEARNING AND TEACHING: 21

      Language Teacher Wellbeing across the Career Span

      Giulia Sulis, Sarah Mercer, Sonja Babic and Astrid Mairitsch

      MULTILINGUAL MATTERS

      Bristol • Jackson

      DOI https://doi.org/10.21832/SULIS2804

      Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

      A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.

      Names: Sulis, Giulia, author. | Mercer, Sarah, author. | Babic, Sonja, author. | Mairitsch, Astrid, author.

      Title: Language Teacher Wellbeing across the Career Span/Giulia Sulis, Sarah Mercer, Sonja Babic and Astrid Mairitsch.

      Description: Bristol ; Jackson : Multilingual Matters, [2023] | Series: Psychology of Language Learning and Teaching: 21 | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Summary: This book explores language teacher wellbeing across the lifespan, casting light on the professional trajectory of language teachers. It reveals the personal and professional challenges and resources of teachers at different phases of their careers, and how they can preserve and nurture their wellbeing and thrive in the long-term—Provided by publisher.

      Identifiers: LCCN 2022055522 (print) | LCCN 2022055523 (ebook) | ISBN 9781800412798 (paperback) | ISBN 9781800412804 (hardback) | ISBN 9781800412828 (epub) | ISBN 9781800412811 (pdf)

      Subjects: LCSH: Language and languages—Study and teaching—Psychological aspects. | Language teachers—Mental health. | Well-being.

      Classification: LCC P53.7 .S85 2023 (print) | LCC P53.7 (ebook) | DDC 418.0071—dc23/eng/20230315 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022055522

      LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022055523

      British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

      A catalogue entry for this book is available from the British Library.

      ISBN-13: 978-1-80041-280-4 (hbk)

      ISBN-13: 978-1-80041-279-8 (pbk)

      Multilingual Matters

      UK: St Nicholas House, 31–34 High Street, Bristol, BS1 2AW, UK.

      USA: Ingram, Jackson, TN, USA.

      Website: www.multilingual-matters.com

      Twitter: Multi_Ling_Mat

      Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/multilingualmatters

      Blog: www.channelviewpublications.wordpress.com

      Copyright © 2023 Giulia Sulis, Sarah Mercer, Sonja Babic and Astrid Mairitsch.

      All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the publisher.

      The policy of Multilingual Matters/Channel View Publications is to use papers that are natural, renewable and recyclable products, made from wood grown in sustainable forests. In the manufacturing process of our books, and to further support our policy, preference is given to printers that have FSC and PEFC Chain of Custody certification. The FSC and/or PEFC logos will appear on those books where full certification has been granted to the printer concerned.

      Typeset by SAN Publishing Services.

      Contents

      Tables and Figures

      Acknowledgements

      1Introduction

      1.1The Study Presented in this Book

      1.2Organisation of the Book

      2Language Teacher Wellbeing

      2.1What is Wellbeing?

      2.2The Definition of Wellbeing in this Study

      2.3Why Wellbeing Matters?

      2.4Why Teacher Wellbeing?

      2.5What Factors Affect Teacher Wellbeing?

      2.6Why Wellbeing of Teachers Across the Career Trajectory?

      2.7Teacher Wellbeing in Language Education

      3Pre-Service Language Teachers

      3.1Managing Student Life and School Life

      3.2Building Knowledge and Experiencing the Realities of Classroom Life

      3.3Scaffolding Social Support

      3.4Summary

      4Early-Career Language Teachers

      4.1Learning on the Job

      4.2Developing Realism

      4.3Learning to Balance Personal and Professional Lives

      4.4Seeking Support Within School

      5Mid-Career Language Teachers

      5.1Maturing with Experience

      5.2Taking on Additional Responsibilities

      5.3Shifting Centres of Attention

      6Late-Career Language Teachers

      6.1Managing the Transition to Retirement

      6.2Awareness of One’s Age

      6.3Taking Stock

      6.4Summary

      7Teacher Wellbeing Across the Career Span

      7.1Challenges and Resources: Cross-Comparison Across Career Phases

      7.2Lessons Learnt on Challenges and Resources

      7.3A Holistic Perspective on Language Teacher Wellbeing

      8Implications and Future Directions

      8.1Implications

      8.2Future Directions

      Appendix 1

      Appendix 2

      Appendix 3

      Appendix 4

      References

      Index

      Tables and Figures

      Tables

      Table 1.1Participants – Phase 1

      Table 1.2Participants – Phase 2

      Table 3.1Pre-service teachers’ biodata and demographic information (pre-pandemic)

      Table 3.2Pre-service teachers’ biodata and demographic information (during the pandemic)

      Table 4.1Early-career teachers’ biodata and demographic information (pre-pandemic)

      Table 4.2Early-career teachers’ biodata and demographic information (during the pandemic)

      Table 5.1Mid-career teachers’ biodata and demographic information (pre-pandemic)

      Table 5.2Mid-career teachers’ biodata and demographic information (during the pandemic)

      Table 6.1Late-career teachers’ biodata and demographic information (pre-pandemic)

      Table 6.2Late-career teachers’ biodata and demographic information (during the pandemic)

      Table 7.1Summary of findings

      Figures

      Figure 7.1Our conceptualisation of wellbeing

      Acknowledgements

      We would like to express our sincere gratitude to our colleagues Jun Jin, Sun Shin, Jim King, Kata Csizér, and Ursula Lanvers for their invaluable contribution to the original FWF-funded project and their help in collecting and analysing some of the data presented in this book. We would also like to thank our colleagues at the ELT Research and Methodology department for their continuous support. Finally, a special acknowledgement goes to all the teachers who participated in the study; without their time and commitment, this book would not have been possible.

      This work was supported by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) [project number: P 31261-G29].

      1Introduction

      Teachers are essential to the quality of education (Hattie, 2008). Yet, educators across a variety of educational settings are currently experiencing significant levels of occupational stress, burnout, and decreased job satisfaction leading to increasing rates of attrition (Chang, 2009; Vesely et al., 2014). The sources of teachers’ occupational stress are diverse and include factors such as workload, discipline problems, time pressure, conflicts with parents, emotional dissonance, lack of support, job insecurities, and low salaries (Antoniou et al., 2013; Krause et al., 2011). The period of the pandemic amplified the challenges and drew attention to the difficulties teachers face in their professional lives, not only in a time of crisis but ongoing (MacIntyre et al., 2020; Zacher & Rudolph, 2020).

      While some of the demands and strains remain similar for teachers across all subjects, for language teachers, there are potentially unique additional stressors. For instance, language teachers often experience intense levels of emotional labour as learners negotiate the close relationships between language, identity, and face (Gkonou & Miller, 2019). The methodologies typically employed to teach languages are also known to be particularly energy-intense compared to other subjects (Borg, 2006). Furthermore, language educators are typically required to deliver lessons in a language that is not their L1, which can lead to a reduced sense of efficacy and language anxiety (Horwitz, 1996). Additional pressure is caused by the ever-growing dominance of English as a lingua franca, which is associated with a sharp decrease in the teaching of other modern languages, thus compromising the professional standing and prospects of those teaching languages other than English (Mason, 2017).

      Further challenges may include poor induction and mentoring programmes for beginning language teachers (Mason & Poyatos Matas, 2016), large numbers of students with varied levels of proficiency in language teaching (Mason, 2010), and limited budget and resources for language departments (Ewart, 2009). Additionally, the introduction of Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) programmes in various settings across the globe and especially in Europe has placed additional demands on language teachers’ professional competence, often leading to the redefinition of their roles and posing challenges to their self-efficacy beliefs (e.g. Cammarata, 2010; Cammarata & Tedik, 2012). Those working in the private sector also face additional strains, such as poor working conditions and job precarity (Mercer, 2020b; Wieczorek, 2016). These challenges have led to low motivation, poor job satisfaction, reduced confidence, as well as increasing rates of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion, which may threaten language teachers’ ability to cope with the demands of their role (King & Ng, 2018; MacIntyre et al., 2019; Wieczorek, 2016). In light of these challenges, it is not surprising that increasing numbers of language teachers are leaving their jobs, many within the first five years in the profession (Worth & De Lazzari, 2017).

      To understand the challenging professional working conditions surrounding the teaching profession, a notable body of research has focused on the factors leading to teacher stress and burnout (e.g. Skaalvik & Skaalvik, 2015). Whilst these aspects remain important to understand, they present only part of the picture. From a holistic perspective, there is a commensurate need to examine what contributes to language teachers not only surviving in the profession but also flourishing in their professional roles (Mercer et al., 2016). In other words, what are the positive factors in teachers’ professional lives that contribute to their job satisfaction, wellbeing, and willingness to remain in the profession? The underlying premise of this book is that it is not enough to understand what causes stress and burnout; we also need to understand how and when people thrive in their professional and personal lives, what strengths they can draw on to manage the demands of their profession, and what opportunities and resources they have and can utilise in their surroundings to sustain their wellbeing. While the topic of teacher wellbeing is gaining momentum and relevance in the field of educational psychology, research focusing on language teachers has only recently come more notably into focus (see Hiver & Dörnyei, 2017; MacIntyre et al., 2019, 2020; Mercer & Gregersen, 2020; Moskowitz & Dewaele, 2019; Ončevska Ager & Mercer, 2019). In this book, we contribute to this limited body of research by casting light not only on the strains language teachers experience in their professional roles but also on the psychological strengths and resources they draw on in their lives to manage and nurture their wellbeing.

      This book reports on a study that not only deals with this critical topic within language teacher psychology but that also takes three original perspectives that add to the body of literature within second language acquisition (SLA) and general education. Firstly, language teacher wellbeing is viewed through the lens of challenges and resources. From this perspective, wellbeing is examined in terms of the interplay between the challenges language teachers encounter in their personal and professional lives, and the psychological, social and contextual resources that they draw on to buffer the impact of these challenges and give them strength and support in their professional roles (Hobfoll, 2001, 2002). Developing these resources ‘can impact one’s ability to not only rebound from adversity but also bounce forward towards growth and development’ (Falecki & Mann, 2020: 179). When these resources are depleted, however, individuals can experience stress and burnout (Bakker & Demerouti, 2018). As such, examining language teacher wellbeing in terms of the ongoing interaction between challenges and resources can offer critical insights into the ways language teachers not only manage adversities and setbacks in their personal and professional contexts but also in fact thrive and keep growing in their roles. These insights are critical to understand what kind of support can be offered to language teachers to enhance their wellbeing and help them flourish in their professional roles. It is a balanced view that enables us to understand not only the causes of stress but also the reasons for high wellbeing.

      The second innovative perspective adopted in this book is to examine teachers at different phases of their professional development. It is known that, as teachers age and gain experience, the challenges and stressors they face may vary, as well as the resources they draw on to sustain their wellbeing (Day, 2017). According to Goodson (2008: 34), teachers have different ‘centres of gravity’ at different points in their lives and careers. This means that, during some periods of their lives and careers, work tends to predominate, while other phases may be characterised by a stronger focus on family and the self. Since language teacher wellbeing in each life and career phase appears shaped by different demands and tensions, it is critical to examine the unique challenges and resources language educators experience throughout different phases of their career trajectories. To date, most research on teacher wellbeing has focused largely on pre-service and early-career stages (e.g. Bowles & Arnup, 2016; Clandinin et al., 2015; Hobson & Maxwell, 2017; Hong, 2010; Hong et al., 2018; Pearce & Morrison, 2011). Research on teacher wellbeing at mid- and late-career phases remains particularly scarce (for notable exceptions, see mid-career: Gallagher, 2017; Lazarides et al., 2020; and late-career: Gutman & Oplatka, 2020; Lowe et al., 2019). Literature on the wellbeing of language teachers in these two career phases is even scarcer (for one notable exception, see Martin, 2017). As such, to create a comprehensive picture of language teacher wellbeing covering teachers with varying degrees of experience, this book explores the interplay of challenges and resources of language teachers at different phases of their career, from pre-service to late-career.

      Thirdly, language teacher wellbeing is examined in this book from an ecological perspective (Mercer, 2021). From this perspective, wellbeing is seen as dynamically emerging from ‘the interaction of multiple intrapersonal, and contextual factors and is constantly shifting and changing as it adapts to changes in the broader ecology’ (Jin et al., 2021: 27). Such a perspective enables us to cast light on how teacher psychology is embedded within broader social, cultural and political contexts which shape individuals’ experiences of wellbeing (Bronfenbrenner, 1994; Jin et al., 2021; Mercer, 2021; Price & McCallum, 2015). This view also enables an understanding of the specific, tailored support needed by language teachers at different phases in their career across diverse settings, as well as the sociocontextual conditions enabling language teachers to thrive in the personal and professional domains. It is a perspective that recognises that teacher wellbeing is not solely an individual trait or characteristic but rather it is shaped through the interaction of the personal together with the social and contextual (Falecki & Mann, 2020). It implies a shared responsibility for wellbeing stemming from what teachers themselves can do but within the bounds of the supports and constraints of their environments. It means that policymakers and institutional leaders need to understand what about their actions and working conditions are damaging or sustaining teacher wellbeing. Our aim is to shed light on not only the individual characteristics but also the contextual factors which contribute to wellbeing.

      To the best of our knowledge, there is no research that examines language teacher wellbeing across the career span. Thus, the third original perspective in this monograph is to explore the personal and professional challenges and resources of teachers at different phases of their career trajectories. Based on the framework of teacher career phases proposed by Day and Gu (2010), this book has organised data according to three major career phases: early-career teachers (0–7 years of teaching experience), mid-career teachers (8–23 years) and late-career teachers (24–31+ years). In addition, we included the career phase of pre-service teachers, who are studying to become teachers. The path towards becoming an in-service teacher is a vital part of a teacher’s career, and examining this particular stage can offer valuable information about teachers’ future motivation, commitment to the profession, and wellbeing starting points. Although the distinctions between the phases are blurry and people may have characteristics of one phase but in actual years of experience belong to another, research in repeated contexts has shown that there tend to be some patterns to the characteristics shared by teachers following a certain number of years of experience (Day & Gu, 2010).

      By analysing the data from teachers across each career phase and taking an ecological perspective encompassing aspects of both their personal and professional lives, we have tried to construct a comprehensive picture of how language teachers experience their wellbeing within their respective ecologies across the career span. This offers a unique cross-sectional insight into language teachers’ lives as they move through the profession. It helps us to appreciate how language teachers can preserve and nurture their wellbeing across each career phase as well as what social contexts contribute to those processes, so that teachers not only remain in the profession but also thrive in it in the long term.

      1.1The Study Presented in this Book

      This book is based on two sets of interview data collected during a three-year project funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF). Individual articles have already been published drawing on this data, each focusing on specific career phases (e.g. Babic et al., 2022a; Mairitsch et al., 2021; Shin et al., 2021; Sulis et al., 2022); however, in this monograph, we take a holistic look at the data and conduct a cross-sectional analysis of all career phases, in order to gain insight into language teacher wellbeing across the whole career trajectory, from pre-service to late-career. The first set of interview data was collected between January and June 2019 and investigates language teacher wellbeing across the career trajectory in two different social, cultural, and linguistic contexts: Austria and the UK. The second set of interviews was collected between May and September 2020 and sought to explore the wellbeing of language teachers across the globe at different career phases during the first wave of the pandemic crisis. The emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020 contributed to dramatic changes in language teacher wellbeing, and thus, during this phase of our project, we took the opportunity to gain insights into the ways in which language teachers responded to the challenges brought by the pandemic across diverse career phases, geographical, and instructional contexts. This provided us with the opportunity to gain a better understanding into language teacher wellbeing in times of crisis and to consider the implications of experiences during the pandemic for teacher resilience and coping strategies beyond the period of crisis.

      1.1.1Austria and the UK

      The two contexts investigated in the first dataset, UK and Austria, were chosen to compare how Modern Languages (MLs) are taught in a predominantly Anglophone country and a setting where English is taught as a foreign language (EFL), of which Austria is relatively typical. These different conditions reflect different priorities, attitudes, and status in relation to language teaching and learning. Within EFL settings, the increasing recognition of English as a pluricentric lingua franca (Seidlhofer, 2011) suggests that the status of English language teachers may differ from that of teachers of other languages. In Austria, English is one of the core subjects in the national curriculum; therefore, its status within the educational system is relatively high (BMBWF, 2022a). Furthermore, in EFL settings, such as Austria, the proliferation of Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) or English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) programmes has led to the redefinition of English teachers’ roles, who are now required to acquire competences and responsibilities that go beyond those of teachers of other languages (Cammarata, 2010; Cammarata & Tedik, 2012). While in EFL settings, such as Austria, English typically enjoys a high status, this is not the case for MLs in Anglophone countries such as the UK, which often reflect a lower prestige. In fact, over the past 20 years, there has been a drop of over 50% of students taking General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) language courses in the UK (Jeffreys, 2019). Furthermore, British students show some of the lowest motivation rates for learning MLs across Europe (Eurostat, 2012).

      Another distinction between the two settings, which can help us better understand the context of pre-service and early-career teachers in Austria and the UK, is related to the teacher education programmes in these two countries. These differ substantially in terms of length of the studies (Mairitsch et al., 2021). All our participants based in the UK undertook the Post Graduate Certificate of Education (PGCE), a teacher training programme that lasts one year. In Austria, to become a secondary school teacher, students have to complete a six-year teacher education programme. Similarly, the length of practica in school also varies between the two settings; typically, British education students have longer internships in school compared to Austrian pre-service teachers. In the UK, PGCE pre-service language teachers undertake two school placements as part of their teacher training course and teach a minimum of 150 hours. In contrast, during their practica, pre-service language teachers in Austria teach a minimum of 28 hours (Mairitsch et al., 2021). There are additional contextual differences between the two settings, such as teaching inspection systems, standardised school-leaving exams, and the kind of pastoral support offered by schools in the two countries, which will be further explored in Chapters 5 and 6. By comparing teachers who are embedded in different contexts, our book aims at offering rich, context-sensitive understanding of the ways different linguistic, political, and educational ecologies may impact the wellbeing of language teachers in these two settings and across the career trajectory.

      1.1.2The pandemic crisis

      The global pandemic took hold in February/March 2020 in Europe (Schleicher, 2020). During these months, many in-service and pre-service teachers had to face the sudden transition to online learning and teaching with little notice and formal training (Gregersen et al., 2021). This transition has posed substantial threats to the wellbeing of language teachers around the globe, in addition to the challenges posed by lockdowns and social isolation (MacIntyre et al., 2020). During this time, teaching required increased mental and physical effort, as educators had to adapt their lessons to be taught online and spent substantial time in front of their screens (Nartiningrum & Nugroho, 2021). Other key challenges for teachers during this time were related to the lack of appropriate materials and equipment, and a decrease in students’ attention and motivation, which often undermined the pre-existent student–teacher dynamics (Khatoony & Nezhadmehr, 2020).

      While the pandemic crisis represents one exceptional form of challenge, teachers may experience other challenges in their personal and professional lives that may threaten their wellbeing, including, for example, educational reforms, moving schools, or issues in dealing with the school administration. By investigating teacher wellbeing during the pandemic, the study was able to cast light not only on the challenges at this time but also on the resources they drew on to gain strength during these unprecedented times and the coping strategies used to enact their resilience. As such, the insights from this period may offer valuable lessons for teacher wellbeing generally moving forward for the future beyond the pandemic crisis.

      1.1.3The participants

      This book presents insights from two datasets collected at different points in time and with different populations of participants. The first dataset featured in this book includes data from 28 ML secondary school teachers working in the UK and 30 EFL secondary school teachers working in Austria. The breakdown of participants for each career phase is presented in Table 1.1. More details about the participants within each career phase will be provided in Chapters 3–6. Participants were recruited through the authors’ departmental mailing lists, social media channels, as well as personal and professional contacts of the researchers. The dataset comprised approximately 500,000 words.

      The participants in our second dataset were six pre-service and 21 in-service secondary school language teachers from 14 countries spread across five continents. Table 1.2 shows the distribution of these teachers across the four career phases. Participants were recruited among those who took part in a questionnaire survey administered at an earlier stage of the study and who agreed to take part in a follow-up interview. The data collection period was during the early stages of the pandemic crisis. The corpus for this dataset comprised approximately 255,000 words.

      1.1.4The interviews

      The first set of data presented in this book was collected between January and June 2019 by means of one-off, semi-structured individual interviews conducted either online or in person. The semi-structured interview design allowed us to compare our participants in relation to specific aspects of their wellbeing, and it also enabled the in-depth exploration of individual participants’ life and career trajectories, as well as the interplay of personal, social and contextual factors shaping the wellbeing of each participant within their own ecologies. The interview protocol for this dataset aimed at retracing participants’ career trajectories from their own perspective and addressed the highs and lows of their career trajectories, their sources of joy and stress across time, their language teacher identities, future goals, perceptions of socio-environmental factors including personal and professional relationships, teacher status in their resident country, and perceptions of their physical wellbeing. The rationale for choosing these categories was informed by the current body of literature on teacher wellbeing, as these factors are considered to play a substantial role in the wellbeing of pre-service and in-service teachers (e.g. Buchanan et al., 2013; Hong, 2010; McCallum & Price, 2010; Pietsch & Williamson, 2010). Interviews lasted approximately one hour.

      The second set of interview data was collected during the first wave of the pandemic crisis, between May and September 2020. All interviews were conducted online, using Zoom or Skype, and lasted approximately one hour. An in-depth, semi-structured design was also chosen for this dataset in order to enable the comparison between participants while doing justice to their individual histories, psychologies, and trajectories. The interview protocol for this dataset included questions about the participants’ teaching biography, teaching life prior and during the pandemic, sociocontextual factors, teacher identity, sense of meaning in relation to teaching, and perceptions of their physical wellbeing before and throughout the pandemic as well as coping strategies being used. The interview protocols for pre-service and in-service teachers are presented in Appendices 1–4.

      Prior to collecting data and throughout the entire data collection process, ethics considerations were carefully implemented. Before contacting participants and conducting both sets of interviews, ethical approval was obtained from our partner’s institution, the University of Leicester, and from our institution, the University of Graz. A participant information sheet (PIS) and consent form were constructed following the British Association of Applied Linguistic (BAAL, 2021) guidelines and distributed to the teachers who were willing to take part in the study. The PIS included details about the study, participants’ involvement in the research, their rights and any foreseeable risks, as well as our assurance that the data would be stored securely and treated with confidentiality and anonymity. In light of the sensitive nature of the topic of wellbeing, participants were given the option not to answer any questions that they may perceive as uncomfortable. Upon transcription, any identifiable markers such as personal names and places were removed from the transcript, and original recordings were destroyed.

      Both datasets were analysed through an inductive approach informed by Grounded Theory (Charmaz, 2006). Such an approach enabled us to take an explorative and holistic view on the interactions between psychological, relational, and contextual factors contributing to shaping the wellbeing of our participants. Having gained familiarity with the data through repeatedly reading and memoing the interview transcripts, we conducted a first round of line-by-line, inductive coding which allowed us to identify emergent categories and sub-categories in the data. After this exploratory phase and the repeated refinement of codes, categories, and sub-categories, we conducted a second round of coding which deliberately focused on the personal, social, and contextual challenges and resources of participants across the four career phases and in their ecologies. These challenges and resources will be presented in the four empirical chapters of this book. Across the four findings chapters of this book, each dedicated to a specific career phase (Chapters 3–6), we will present insights from both datasets, highlighting the distinctions between the different ecologies, and between the pre- and during-pandemic contexts.

      1.2Organisation of the Book

      This manuscript encompasses eight chapters including Chapter 1: Introduction, outlined as follows.

      1.2.1Chapter 2: Language teacher wellbeing

      In this chapter, we discuss the nature of teacher wellbeing, its benefits for all stakeholders, and personal and contextual variables known to affect it. We also shed light on our conceptualisation of wellbeing as shaped by the interplay of challenges and resources from an ecological perspective. The chapter then focuses on the situation of language teachers specifically and provides a synthesis of the body of research available to date on language teacher wellbeing, showing the specific needs of this under-researched population, as well as the particular resources that they can draw on to sustain their wellbeing. Finally, the chapter outlines models used to understand teachers’ career spans and discusses the importance of investigating teacher wellbeing across different career phases, illustrating the specific issues facing teachers at different stages of their career spans.

      1.2.2Chapter 3: Pre-service language teachers

      This chapter is the first of the data-related chapters. It focuses on the context of pre-service teachers and reports on the wellbeing of seven pre-service EFL teachers in Austria, seven ML teachers in the UK, and six pre-service teachers from four different countries interviewed during the first wave of the pandemic crisis. This chapter will focus on how pre-service teachers built their repertoire of knowledge and skills, how they coped with their initial teaching experiences, and how they managed their dual identities as teachers and students. In this chapter, we will also explore how the different kinds of support and mentorship offered to pre-service teachers shape their wellbeing, highlighting contextual and systemic differences between the different teacher education programmes. The chapter will also examine how pre-service teachers coped with the challenges of online learning and teaching, and the lessons learnt for their professional future.

      1.2.3Chapter 4: Early-career language teachers

      In this chapter, we examine factors affecting the wellbeing of six early-career EFL teachers in Austria, eight early-career ML teachers in the UK, and eight early-career teachers interviewed during the first phase of the pandemic crisis. This chapter will focus on the resources and challenges experienced by early-career teachers in relation to their initial teaching experiences, the mentorship and guidance provided within their school setting, and the difficulties in managing the balance between their work and personal lives during this phase, which appeared aggravated during the pandemic crisis. Given the high attrition rates that have been reported in the literature for this group of educators, in our analysis, we also focus on the interplay between intrapersonal, societal and contextual factors in relation to wellbeing which contribute to shaping participants’ decision to remain or leave the profession across different settings.

      1.2.4Chapter 5: Mid-career language teachers

      In this chapter, we contribute to the sparse body of research available at present on mid-career language teachers by focusing on the wellbeing of nine mid-career EFL teachers in Austria, seven mid-career ML teachers in the UK, and nine mid-career teachers from diverse settings interviewed during the pandemic crisis. The chapter examines the resources and challenges faced by mid-career teachers in their ecology, paying particular attention to the processes of maturation characterising this phase and the diverse needs for professional development experienced by teachers during this phase. The chapter also offers an insight into the ways in which mid-career teachers juggle their multiple roles and responsibilities across their life and work domains, and the coping strategies they developed to manage these during the pandemic crisis.

      1.2.5Chapter 6: Late-career language teachers

      This chapter explores the wellbeing of eight late-career EFL teachers in Austria, six late-career ML teachers in the UK, and four late-career teachers interviewed during the first wave of the pandemic crisis. Firstly, the chapter will explore how teachers in this career phase approach their transition to retirement. The chapter will then explore the different challenges and resources in relation to these teachers’ perceptions of their age and longevity in the profession. It will then examine the process through which these teachers have taken stock and have found a balance between the different domains of their lives.

      1.2.6Chapter 7: Teacher wellbeing across the career span

      In this chapter, we offer a comparative analysis across the career phases, providing insights into the ways in which individual teachers carry out their professional roles within their ecologies and the effects of this on their ongoing, dynamic wellbeing. The chapter will discuss and compare the resources that teachers at different phases of their career and lives draw on to protect and enhance their wellbeing, the challenges they face across their career and life trajectories, and the transitions between these phases. We focus in particular on the ecological character of wellbeing and the specific insights from the diverse contexts as well as the other layers of each teacher’s ecological system. The chapter reveals a comprehensive, nuanced, and contextualised understanding of the complex, holistic lives that language teachers lead.

      1.2.7Chapter 8: Future directions

      In this final chapter, we suggest future directions for research and practical implications for language teachers, teacher educators, school leaders and policymakers. This final chapter communicates clear messages about systemic features that are needed to support

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