Exploratory analysis of teachers’ character strengths and workplace well-being

Abstract

The difficulties of the teaching profession have been highlighted in several studies, but more research needs to focus on the use of positive psychology and the role of personal strengths. Our research explores the relationship between teachers’ character strengths and workplace well-being. We also aim to identify patterns of well-being. No study has been conducted on Hungarian teachers to investigate their character strengths and well-being at work, so our findings may provide a basis for future intervention studies to improve well-being. 264 (M=47.79; SD=9.42) teachers working in primary and secondary schools participated in the study. The online data collection included the Workplace Well-being Questionnaire (Kun et al., 2017), which measures well-being at work based on the PERMA well-being model, and the VIA-IS-M questionnaire (McGrath, 2019; Molnár & Fodor, 2021), which measures 24 character strengths. Results show that teachers’ signature character strengths were Honesty (M=4.54) and Love of Learning (M=4.52). Consistent with prior expectations, almost all character strengths were positively related to workplace well-being, with Hope (rs =0.36-0.73) and Vitality (rs= 0.26-0.6) standing out among the strengths. Four clusters were identified based on well-being subscales, with significant differences in character strengths across clusters. The study highlights the significant role of character strengths in teachers’ workplace well-being. Therefore, it may be essential to develop strategies that encourage and stimulate teachers to identify and apply their strengths.