The psychological well-being of teachers in South Africa: A critical review

Abstract

The education sector in South Africa has undergone a significant transformation since the first democratic election in 1994. This resulted in educational reform and the inclusion of quality basic education as a constitutional right of all South Africans. However, education in South Africa remains in a state of transformation, and various challenges still prevent the realisation of quality education for all South Africans. Teachers, as central role players in the South African education sector, are under substantial occupational stress, and research has shown that if the occupational stress associated with the teaching profession is not mediated, it can adversely affect teachers’ psychological well-being – thereby affecting the provision of quality education. When considered from an integrative perspective, psychological well-being is a multidimensional construct that includes individuals’ thoughts, feelings, and behaviour as manifested in various life domains. Teacher psychological well-being has far-reaching implications and, therefore, necessitates a thorough understanding thereof. A critical review research study has been conducted in order to determine what has been found in the available scientific literature regarding teachers’ psychological well-being within specifically the South African context and to identify possible areas for future research. The data collected for this critical review research study were identified by following a systematic approach that ultimately resulted in the inclusion of six research studies that met the requirements of scientific rigour following the quality appraisal. Thematic analysis was used to identify recurrent themes in the extracted data. This resulted in the identification of five themes: teaching as a stressful occupation; intrapersonal factors that affect teachers’ psychological wellbeing; contextual factors that affect teachers’ psychological well-being; differences in levels of teacher psychological well-being; and the consequences of high or low levels of teacher psychological well-being. This critical review provides an appraisal, synthesis, and importantly, examination and presentation of the contribution of the scientific literature on teachers’ psychological well-being currently available within the South African context. The research study further sheds light on the topic and has led to the identification of possible future research directions. The research study reveals that the stressful nature of the teaching profession may affect teachers’ psychological well-being, which can then affect teachers’ mental and physical health and, ultimately, the provision of quality basic education in South Africa.