ISJ Fall 2021: Assessing the impact of a pilot programme for inclusive wellbeing on international school teachers’ self-efficacy / Nessa Maguire and David Tee

The covid-19 pandemic has had a devastating impact on young people. As most students were required to stay home from school, early research indicates increases in mental illness in young people globally (Lee, 2020), with international school students being particularly vulnerable. Research has highlighted that students in International Baccalaureate (IB) schools have higher stress (Dickson et al., 2018), with third culture kids (TCK) at risk of stress-related mental health problems (Thomas et al., 2021).
The IB has recently published a report highlighting the importance of caring for student well-being for a successful transition post-covid-19 (Balica, 2020). In addition to this need, the evidence suggests that teacher well-being is also prioritised. Research points to student and teacher well-being as part of “one educational eco system” (Burke, 2020, p. 10). While rewarding, teaching is also a challenging and stressful job, with Grenville-Cleave and Boniwell (2012) indicating that teacher well-being is significantly lower than that of other professions. Working internationally brings its own unique challenges. This has been aggravated by the covid-19 pandemic, with workload, work-related stress and mental illness increasing in international school teachers (Kelly, 2020). […]