PanSIG 2025

Part-timers’ wellbeing - An unnoticed aspect fostering teacher autonomy

18 May 2025, 14:15

25m

BLDG 8/1F-111 (Kanda University of International Studies (神田外語大学))

Research-oriented Oral Face-to-face presentation Teachers Helping Teachers B8-111 SAT: Teacher Development & Critical Thinking; SUN: ICLE & TBLT

Speaker

Bao Nguyen (Waseda University)

ABSTRACT

While research into teacher wellbeing has been gaining momentum in recent years, little is known about the well-being of part-time English teachers at university and its influence on teacher agency and autonomy. With regard to factors that affect well-being, besides burnout and attrition rates (Mercer, 2023), part-time English teachers at the tertiary level endure other additional stressors such as job security and extra responsibility (Tytherleigh et al., 2005). As such, this study examines the general well-being, both subjective and psychological perspectives, of part-time English teachers to provide a more nuanced understanding of teacher well-being in Japan. The ecosystems framework (Bronfenbrenner, 1979) for human development was employed, and the interviews of Japanese teachers of English were analyzed using the constructivist grounded theory approach (Charmaz, 2006). In this presentation, a summary of the framework and detailed analysis of teachers’ accounts will be provided together with findings regarding factors that affect the ecology of teacher wellbeing. As far as “agency and autonomy” are concerned, the presentation hopes to provide useful insights to language teachers, institutions, and department coordinators so that language teacher well-being at the tertiary level is understood more comprehensively, providing a solid foundation to foster teacher’s agency and autonomy.

KEYWORDS

language teacher well-being, part-timers, Japan, tertiary level