Teachers’ affective and physical well-being: emotional intelligence, emotional labour and implications for leadership

This study aims to examine the role of teachers’ emotional intelligence (EI) and emotional labour (EL) strategies in their affective and physical well-being.

The quantitative data were collected from 436 primary school teachers. Likert-type scales were used to measure the variables. Confirmatory factor analyses were performed for the construct validity of the scales, and path analysis was used to test the hypothesised model.

The final structural equation model suggests that teachers' EI levels and display of appropriate EL strategies significantly reduce their stress, anxiety, burnout and psychosomatic complaints (PSCs). The final model shows that the deep acting strategy, which includes more adaptive emotion regulation strategies, improves teachers’ affective and physical well-being, while the surface acting strategy has a detrimental effect on their well-being.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first in the literature to highlight the importance of school teachers’ EI and EL strategies in managing stress, anxiety, burnout (affective well-being),and alleviating PSCs (physical well-being) within a single structural equation model. The findings have implications for educational leaders in fostering teachers’ emotional competencies and resources.