Well-being of pre-service teachers

While teacher well-being is crucial for teachers to thrive and for student success, the well-being
of pre-service teachers remains understudied. Pre-service teacher well-being might support
their learning during initial teacher education (ITE) and might be linked with their well-being
after career entry. This dissertation advances knowledge of pre-service teacher well-being
through three studies employing multidimensional, context-specific, and person-centered
approaches. Study 1 extends the multidimensional model of scholastic well-being (Hascher,
2004, 2023) to ITE and adapts the teacher well-being questionnaire (Hascher, 2020) to pre-service
teachers. Analysis of data from 1,749 pre-service teachers across Switzerland,
Germany, and Austria revealed strong psychometric properties for five out of six well-being
dimensions (positive attitudes towards ITE, enjoyment of ITE, positive academic self-concept
regarding ITE, worries about ITE, and physical complaints related to ITE). The dimension of
social problems in ITE was removed from all analyses due to insufficient reliability. In two
subsequent studies, well-being profiles were explored by applying latent profile analysis to a
sample of 989 Swiss pre-service teachers (Study 2) and a sample of 2,867 Austrian pre-service
teachers (Study 3). Five well-being profiles were identified in Study 2 and six in Study 3
(adaptive, maladaptive, and mixed profiles). The profiles across both samples broadly
corresponded, strengthening their construct validity. Several pre-service teacher characteristics
were related with well-being profiles. Moreover, in Study 3, pre-service teachers reporting
higher levels of ITE resources (practicum quality and practicum-university coherence) and
personal resources (teacher self-efficacy) were more likely to belong to adaptive well-being
profiles than maladaptive ones. In turn, the well-being profiles differed in terms of retention-related
outcomes (ITE quitting intentions and profession quitting intentions), demonstrating the
importance of promoting pre-service teacher well-being for teacher retention. The findings call
for the development of multidimensional intervention studies to boost positive well-being
dimensions and reduce negative ones, tailored to the specific needs of the distinct well-being
profiles. Directions for future research in this little-explored yet promising research field are
discussed.

2025

dissertation

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