Reframing Teacher Wellbeing: Policy, Leadership, and Localized Insight Through Asia as Method

This paper critically examines how education policy and leadership practices in Hong Kong conceptualize and influence teacher wellbeing, using an Asia as Method approach and interpretive policy analysis. The study investigates the systemic conditions, such as workload intensification, performance accountability, and socio-cultural expectations, that contribute to high levels of stress, burnout, and dissatisfaction among teachers and school leaders. These wellbeing challenges are understood to be influenced by policy frameworks that often prioritize student outcomes while neglecting the wellbeing of educators. Through analysis of key policy texts and leadership discourses, the paper argues that teacher wellbeing remains insufficiently addressed in Hong Kong’s education system. It calls for a comprehensive and contextually grounded policy response that integrates conceptions of wellbeing and related policy influences, leadership practice and development, and resource investment. Asia as Method enables a critical decentering of Western paradigms, offering a localized lens to understand wellbeing as a relational and systemic construct. The study contributes a nuanced framework for reframing teacher wellbeing and its relationship with education policy and leadership, emphasizing the need for culturally responsive strategies to foster sustainable and supportive environments for teachers.