An Analysis of Teacher Well-Being amid Recruitment Reforms in Türkiye: A Case of Pre-Service English Teachers
Abstract
Effective teaching is an important aspect of educational planning and policy-making. As the agents of content delivery, teachers play a sound role in realizing curricular goals and objectives. However, maintenance of teachers’ well-being per se is an often-unnoticed component of effective teaching. Defined as an emotional state of overall harmony among multifaceted factors influencing teachers’ performance, teacher well-being contributes to the quality of instructional practices in the classroom. Given the recent developments in terms of teacher recruitment policies of the Turkish government, well-being of teacher candidates is likely to suffer from ambiguities about the test and conditions for selection, requirements of the induction period, and procedures following their selection. To shed light on possible impact(s) of these developments on teachers’ well-being, the present study investigated pre-service English language teachers’ perceptions of well-being amid the revolutionary changes in teacher recruitment in Türkiye. Based on both qualitative and quantitative data, this convergent mixed-methods study used descriptive statistics and content analysis. The study intriguingly found moderate levels of well-being among pre-service teachers. While initial enthusiasm about teaching and confidence in pre-service education were the major sources of well-being, several factors including financial issues, respect, school environment, ambiguity about recruitment, students’ attitudes, and workload negatively affected perceptions of teacher well-being
Keywords
References
- Acton, R., & Glasgow, P. (2015). Teacher wellbeing in neoliberal contexts: A review of the literature. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 40(40).
- Arda, Ç. (2023). Part-time English language instructors’ well-being: A case study in Türkiye. Unpublished Master’s Thesis, Middle East Technical University.
- Babic, S., Mercer, S., Mairitsch, A., Gruber, J., & Hempkin, K. (2022). Language teacher wellbeing in the workplace: Balancing needs. Theory and Practice of Second Language Acquisition, 8(1), 11-34.
- Bajorek, Z., Gulliford, J., & Taskila, T. (2014). Healthy teachers, higher marks? Establishing a link between teacher health and well-being, and student outcomes. Lancaster Work Foundation.
- Charmaz, K. (2006). Constructing grounded theory: A practical guide through qualitative analysis. Sage Publications.
- Chen, J., Cheng, H., Zhao, D., Zhou, F., & Chen, Y. (2022). A quantitative study on the impact of working environment on the well-being of teachers in China‘s private colleges. Scientific Reports, 12(3417), 1-9.
- Cohen, L., Manion, L., & Morrison K. (2007). Research methods in education (6th ed.). Routledge.
- Creswell, J. W. (2003). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (2nd ed.). Sage Publications.
Details
Primary Language
English
Subjects
Teacher and Student Wellbeing
Journal Section
Research Article
Authors
Publication Date
April 30, 2026
Submission Date
November 17, 2025
Acceptance Date
April 28, 2026
Published in Issue
Year 2026 Volume: 15 Number: 1