School Leaders’ Role in Supporting Teacher Well-Being

Teacher well-being is a crucial component of thriving and successful schools and impacts multiple domains of education. A multitude of research shows the teaching profession is not easy and teachers continue to face daily challenges in their work, leading to increased stress, low morale, lack of commitment, and departure from the teaching profession. Teacher well-being continues to suffer due to the many challenges teachers face. While knowledge exists on what factors affect teacher well-being, there is insufficient research about how to support and enhance teacher well-being. The purpose of this qualitative single holistic case study was to explore the practices school leaders implement to support and enhance teacher well-being. Nine school principals and assistant principals from a suburban Texas high school district participated in semistructured interviews, answering questions related to their positive leadership practices intended to support teacher well-being. The interviews were transcribed and coded using open, descriptive, and in vivo coding. The findings demonstrate that school leaders were intentional about supporting teacher well-being by helping teachers find positive meaning in their work through student growth and progress; building positive relationships with teachers and encouraging them to build relationships with each other; enabling a positive climate through recognition, gratitude, and positive activities; and helping mitigate challenges with compassion, including providing support for the management of student behavior and reducing the workload when possible. Based on the findings, recommendations include reevaluating district policies to reduce the number of unnecessary tasks, providing education to school leaders on positive leadership practices, and providing more training and support on student behavior management, including creating a behavior support specialist position.