Exploring Teachers’ Happiness : A Scoping Review

Happiness is an umbrella term that encompasses a range of positive emotions and feelings, such as joy, contentment, satisfaction, and fulfilment. In education, teacher happiness is largely associated with job satisfaction, which helps in creating a positive classroom environment. Despite the fundamental role teachers play, there exists a persistent and concerning issue surrounding the overall happiness and well-being of teachers. A substantial knowledge gap exists in understanding factors contributing to teacher happiness and their impact. This not only affects the mental health and job satisfaction of teachers, but also has broader implications for student learning outcomes and the overall efficiency of the education system. Thus, the main purpose of this scoping review served to explore current available literature on teacher happiness, which aims to assist in creating a supportive environment that fosters teacher happiness and, consequently, enhances the quality of education. For this view, the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) standards were applied, with the utilization of these four databases: ERIC, Google Scholar, ProQuest, and SCOPUS. 14 studies were found to be suitable and were selected accordingly. The findings conclude that teacher happiness led to increased performance and productivity, student engagement, higher retention rate, and better overall mental health.