Enhancing Coping and Job Well-Being of International School Teachers

Abstract

As a consequence of globalization there has been a prolific growth in the field of international education. Teaching is a very stressful profession and the teachers who work in these international schools have an added stress of adjusting to the multi cultural environment. The purpose of this research was two pronged; contributing to the understanding of the international school teachers’ job well-being, and to apply knowledge through an action research project to facilitate teachers to strategically develop effective coping skills. During three months, twelve participant teachers working in an international school in Bangkok, Thailand, collaborated actively in four cycles of action research. They developed an understanding of how they can strategically enhance coping with work demands and subsequently enhance their job well-being.

The work sphere is an important part of human life. With escalating demands of changing life styles and a dynamic world, the workplace is changing too. Increasingly we hear about the negative impacts of work – the work “stress”. Researchers have extensively investigated the area of work stress and noted its impact on other domains of life as well. Review of literature, and my personal experience of working at an international school as a human resources manager, helped me to comprehend the phenomenon of ‘teacher stress’ and its wide ranging impacts. The intention of this research was to contribute to the knowledge about the international school teachers’ job well being, and also to the applied aspect of behavioural science by developing some action research based strategies for teachers to cope better with their work stress.

To fully appreciate the importance of the study, we must gain an insight in to the relevant research contexts of international education in Thailand, the job well-being of teachers, their need for coping and the choice of action research as the method for this study.