Engagement and well-being university teacher. Towards the delimitation of evaluative indicators

Abstract

Building a professional teacher identity is affected by the framework of the social changes of our time. These are associated with complex mechanisms of deinstitutionalization and reorganization which produce considerable emotional burnout. We have carried out an investigation of teaching well-being linked to the phenomenon called engagement. This is presented as a way to combat teachers’ malaise and foster well-being. There is a paucity of studies on the delimiting of substantive descriptors for the evaluation of engagement in university teaching. We have therefore done an exploratory qualitative study in theUniversityofSeville. In doing this, we have used the biographic-narrative method and the interview technique in order to progress in this educational line. The results of the study appear to reflect that there are certain factors which influence well-being: institutional stability, labor conditions, social recognition and the improvement of the teachers’ training. Likewise, a series of evaluation indicators connected with the personal level are outlined: an active willingness toward enhancement, a capacity to set up optimal relations, perseverance, an enthusiastic link with the profession and an emotional balance expressed in reconciling different areas of life.