Teachers’ wellbeing at work: a Finnish survey study on teachers’ work experiences

This study explores the working life experiences of teachers, adopting a salutogenic perspective emphasising positive health, wellbeing and health promotion principles. An electronic survey was sent out to members of a trade union for teachers in spring 2020. More than 1,300 teachers responded to the survey, including the Work Experience Measurement Scale (WEMS) instrument, which contains six dimensions of work experience: supportive work conditions, internal work experiences, autonomy, time experience, leadership and process of change. Correlation and regression analyses were conducted to examine the relationships between the variables Age, Workplace, Gender and the six dimensions of WEMS, plus the WEMS total. About half of the teachers reported good or excellent work experience; whereas, nearly a quarter reported poor work experience male teachers rated their time experience higher than their female colleagues; whereas, female teachers’ internal work experiences were better in comparison with their male counterparts. Teachers working at comprehensive school grades 7–9 had significantly lower ratings in the WEMS total than teachers in other workplace groups. Older age predicted lower ratings in the aspect of Process of Change. Teachers, altogether, evaluate their work experiences as reasonably good. Time experience is the most challenging dimension in teachers’ working life.