The ecology of CLIL teachers in Austria – an ecological perspective on CLIL teachers’ wellbeing

ABSTRACT

In this article, we will report on an exploratory, qualitative study investigating the professional subjective wellbeing (SWB) of secondary school Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) teachers in Austria from an ecological perspective. The aim is to better understand how the SWB of these teachers is shaped by different levels of their ecology. The implementation and teaching of CLIL is a multifaceted, dynamic process that cannot be viewed in isolation from a multitude of interrelated factors which directly shape teacher SWB. For this reason, we analyze CLIL teachers’ wellbeing, based on Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory ([2009]. Ecology of Human Development. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.). The model was developed based on the analysis of data generated through a series of semi-structured interviews with 16 Austrian teachers, who report on their experiences and perspectives of teaching CLIL. The findings cast light on how CLIL teacher SWB is shaped by a variety of interlacing factors, such as national and institutional policy, societal feedback, student-teacher relationships, and personal conviction. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications of these findings for CLIL teachers, both personally and professionally, as well as education policy-makers.

KEYWORDS:

• CLIL
• wellbeing
• SWB
• ecology
• ecological systems
• language teaching

Disclosure statement

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

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by ÖNB – Österreichische Nationalbank [17136].

Notes on contributors

Nicole Hofstadler

Nicole Hofstadler works as a research assistant at the University of Graz, Austria, and is currently involved in a project on content and language integrated learning (CLIL). She also teaches English, History and CLIL at a secondary school in Graz as well as English language courses at the Pädagogische Hochschule Graz, a teacher training college for future primary and secondary educators. Her main interests include teacher education, CLIL and teacher SWB.

Sonja Babic

Sonja Babic is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Graz and is looking into positive psychological resources that support third-age language teachers’ and teacher educators’ professional well-being. She is working as a pre-doc research assistant on “The Psychological Capital of Foreign Language Teachers” project at the University of Graz and is also a TESOL teacher, teaching English as a foreign language for one and a half years. Her interests lie in psychology of language learning and teaching, teacher well-being, gerontology and psychogerontology.

Anita Lämmerer

Anita Lämmerer works as a research assistant at the Department of English Studies at the University of Graz, while also teaching English, History as well as History through English at a secondary school in Austria. She initiated and coordinates a school-university partnership programme and is pursuing her Ph.D. focusing on CLIL teacher education and aspects of teacher psychology. Her main research interests include teacher education, CLIL and the psychology of language learning and teaching.

Sarah Mercer

Sarah Mercer is the head of the ELT Research and Methodology unit at the University of Graz. She is interested in all aspects of language learning psychology, in particular self-related constructs, motivation, affect, agency, attributions, mindsets and belief systems. In her research, she prefers to employ qualitatively-oriented approaches. Currently, she is engaged in considering aspects of language learner psychology through a complexity lens and exploring a diverse range of methodological approaches for this purpose. Furthermore, she is currently working on projects in the areas of language teacher psychology, socio-emotional intelligences, and mindsets.

Pia Oberdorfer

Pia Oberdorfer has taught English and Biology as well as Biology through English in an Austrian grammar school since 2006. For several years, she has also done CLIL training courses for teachers. Currently, she is working on her Ph.D. in Applied Linguistics at the University of Graz, in which she focuses on CLIL teachers’ identities, beliefs and reported practices. Her research interests include various aspects of language learning and teaching, focusing in particular on issues of self and identity.