School buildings: Effects of ergonomic and architectural factors of school spaces on teachers’ well-being

• Acoustic conditions have the strongest indirect impact on teacher well-being. • Classroom configuration shows a direct positive effect on teachers’ self-efficacy. • Visual ergonomic factor shows significant direct effect on self-efficacy, well-being. • Self-efficacy predicts work engagement, which in turn predicts workplace well-being. • Flexible classroom layouts raise teachers’ sense of competence and engagement. Teachers spend most of their working lives inside school buildings, yet research on the built environment has largely centred on students, leaving teachers’ occupational well-being relatively underexplored from a spatial perspective. This study aims to examine how ergonomic and architectural characteristics of primary classrooms are associated with key psychosocial dimensions of teachers’ occupational well-being. NAn online survey was conducted with 230 French-speaking primary teachers and assessed four environmental factors—architectural configuration, acoustic quality, visual conditions, and thermal/atmospheric comfort—together with self-efficacy, work engagement, and workplace well-being. Data were analysed using partial least-squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). The results show that classroom configuration, acoustic quality and visual conditions are positively associated with teachers’ self-efficacy. Self-efficacy, in turn, is positively related to both work engagement and workplace well-being, with work engagement showing the strongest association with well-being. Indirect effects highlight acoustic conditions and spatial configuration as the most influential environmental factors linked to overall well-being. Overall, the model explains a substantial proportion of variance in the three psychosocial outcomes, supporting the relevance of classroom design for teachers’ professional experience. These findings underscore the importance of prioritising acoustic quality and spatial flexibility in school design and renovation, and they provide actionable insights for architects, policymakers, and school leaders seeking to create work environments that may support teachers’ professional well-being and sustainable professional engagement.