Feeling supported and engaged during COVID-19: the role of family and colleagues in promoting teachers’ well-being

ABSTRACT

The present study aimed at analysing the impact of teachers’ perceived family and colleague support and work engagement on their well-being and life satisfaction during the first European wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. While implementing distance learning and complying with school closures, 1036 Italian teachers took part in an online survey. A structural equation path model showed that perceiving to be supported by family members directly influenced teachers’ well-being and life satisfaction. The perceived support of colleagues promoted life satisfaction directly and indirectly via increased teachers’ work engagement, whereas teachers’ well-being only indirectly. Our findings offer insights into how to better support teachers during times of crisis by creating a good and healthy work environment, which promotes teachers’ well-being.

KEYWORDS:

• COVID-19
• teachers
• social support
• work engagement
• Well-being
• life satisfaction

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the School Principals for their assistance in disseminating the online questionnaire to the teachers in their schools.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/13540602.2022.2144820

Additional information

Funding

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Notes on contributors

Annalisa Soncini

Annalisa Soncini is a postdoc fellow at the University of Ferrara. She obtained her Ph.D. in a joint doctoral program between the University of Bologna and the University of Lausanne. She works on teachers' well-being, beliefs and practices and classroom climate.

Francesca Floris

Francesca Floris is a psychologist and research assistant at the Department of Education Studies, University of Bologna. She works on topics related to school psychology and career guidance for students.

Maria Cristina Matteucci

Maria Cristina Matteucci is Associate Professor in Developmental and Educational Psychology at the Department of Education Sciences, University of Bologna, Italy. She works on learning and teaching processes and on school psychology. In 2020 she received the International Research Award from the Society for the Study of School Psychology (SSSP).