Effective leadership practices and teacher wellbeing: A review of international evidence

The most commonly cited reasons for teachers leaving the profession are excessive workload and poor working conditions (Long and Danechi, 2022). Teachers in England and across a number of Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries are increasingly working under very stressful conditions; as the classroom environment becomes more complex, schools become more bureaucratic, with increasing accountability pressures (Schleicher, 2018; Skinner et al., 2019). These issues have adverse effects on teacher job satisfaction and their desire to stay in teaching (Fuchsman et al., 2023). An OECD analysis of teacher wellbeing indicates that, across almost all countries and phases of education, teachers who report a great deal of stress are more likely to leave the profession (Viac and Fraser, 2020).

In England, attention is focused on teachers’ workload, working conditions and mental health. Yet reducing teacher accountability and workload alone will not necessarily reduce turnover. Previous studies have highlighted the importance of school environment factors for teacher retention, with school leadership often being viewed as influential in determining the ethos and working conditions within a school (See et al., 2020). Few studies in the UK have evaluated the impact of effective school leadership practices on teachers’ outcomes. We therefore look towards international evidence, most of which is from the USA. This paper summarises findings from international literature on the impact of effective leadership practices on teachers’ job satisfaction, work environment and wellbeing. The paper is based on a wider study aiming to identify promising approaches in improving teachers’ job status, job satisfaction, work environment and mental wellbeing.