Social Emotional Health and Resilience of Teachers in the East European Countries

Abstract

Research on teachers’social emotional health and resilience is important for quality learning and well-being at school, especially during the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. Research on mental health and resilience of teachers from Latvia, Lithuania and Slovak Republic was conducted as part of the ERASMUS+ project “Supporting teachers to face the challenge of distance learning”. The primary goal of the first project phase to assess social emotional health, so-called covitality and resilience of teachers in elementary, secondary and high schools in post pandemic times and to focus on those areas which require significant support and development. 1200 teachers, 400 from each participating country, took part in the research. Results were based on data from research methods Social-emotional health survey-teachers (SEHS-T) and Resilience Scale. Teachers reported in all high level of social-emotional health overall indicator – covitality, as well as enough high level in four of its domains: belief in self, belief in others, emotional competence, engaged living. Level of teachers’ resilience has reached a moderate level in all three participating countries. There were found high significant positive correlations between teachers’ resilience and overall covitality, as well as between resilience and covitality. Positive teacher strengths that were identified are self-regulation, empathy, cognitive reappraisal. Identified weaknesses and limits will be used as a foundation for preparation of intervention activities for the teachers in the second project phase.