An Interview with Sarah Mercer on Language Learner and Teacher Well-Being

Sam Morris, Kanda University of International Studies, Japan
Sarah Mercer, University of Graz, Austria

Morris, S. & Mercer, S. (2019). An interview with Sarah Mercer on language learner and teacher well-being. Relay Journal, 2(2), 459-463. https://doi.org/10.37237/relay/020219

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In our June 2019 LAB session on Teacher/Advisor Education for Learner Autonomy, our featured interview was conducted with Sarah Mercer, Professor of Foreign Language Teaching and Head of ELT at the University of Graz, Austria. Sarah has published a wealth of papers in the field of language and teacher psychology, and co-edited many books including, most recently, New Directions in Language Learning Psychology (2016), Positive Psychology in SLA (2016), and Language Teacher Psychology (2018). Sarah was awarded the 2018 Robert C. Gardner Award for Outstanding Research in Bilingualism in recognition of her work. We were delighted that she was able to share her knowledge on the topic of language learner and teacher well-being with us during the session.

Sam Morris: It’s wonderful to get to talk to you about this topic Sarah. I think recently there has been a surge of interest in well-being, particularly in language education. Could you briefly introduce the field and explain why you think well-being is becoming so important in SLA?

Sarah: I think that well-being is becoming an important issue globally in all kinds of contexts. The OECD, for example, has now started measuring learner well-being as part of its key criteria for assessing the success of an education system. Of course, when an organisation of that size starts to focus on well-being like this, it completely and utterly transforms the significance of the issue.

Well-being is perhaps not a new idea within the field of SLA. Some of the work done in the humanistic movement in the 70s and early 80s, for example, focused on similar issues, though perhaps it wasn’t the right time for such thinking. Back then, there wasn’t much empirical support for considerations of well-being in the classroom. Even though teachers have intuitively known for a long time that well-being issues are important, it is perhaps only now that the empirical evidence is catching up, and one of the key catalysts has been the increasing focus on positive psychology in SLA.

With regards to teacher well-being, I think that the learner-centred movement placed attention very firmly onto the learners, and as a result, teachers have been somewhat neglected. The role of teachers as a tool for learning has received a lot of attention, but interest in teachers as people with their own needs, wants and motivations has been largely ignored. Researching teachers is, unfortunately, very difficult because they are incredibly busy people, and they don’t have a lot of time to be researched, but it is hugely important to pay attention to how teachers feel, and whether they are flourishing in their professional roles and contexts.

Sam Morris: The title of this session is ‘learner and teacher well-being’. Could you explain something about the connection between teachers and learners with regards to psychological health?

Sarah Mercer: There is now a lot of research which shows that teacher and learner well-being are highly interconnected, so much so, that perhaps it is impossible to separate them. I tend to believe that well-being starts with the teacher, because the teacher creates the ethos and the culture in the classroom in everything that they do. Their passion, enthusiasm and patience all stem from their ability to cope, their sense of well-being and their professional satisfaction. Of course, a teacher’s passion, enthusiasm and patience have a huge impact on students, but the relationship is two-way; if learners are flourishing, enjoying learning and are engaged, that’s also motivating for the teacher. Teachers get a lot of positivity from their jobs, particularly from their interactions with the students, and if teachers are flourishing, there’s a much stronger chance that the learners will flourish as well.

Sam Morris: I think one potential danger is that responsibility for well-being can be unfairly placed on students and teachers alone. Could you describe some of the things that can be done, or are being done, by institutions and governments to support teachers and students?

Sarah Mercer: This is a really important point, and something which I care deeply about. One of the criticisms directed at people who try to encourage learning and teaching about well-being is that we are simply putting a plaster over a much bigger problem. Although I don’t deny that there are systemic issues, I believe it is utterly unfair to deny individuals the potential to help themselves while we try and sort out the global failings which inevitably take longer. I think these changes must happen together, both from the bottom up and top down. It is very dangerous if you put the responsibility on individuals and then don’t bother addressing the systemic problems, but, equally, I would strongly argue that you cannot just leave learners and teachers to sink or swim, while we wait for the system to catch up.

I think that it is important to address what individuals can do to help themselves, and to give them control. This is about autonomy and empowerment; we need to give people the resources, strategies and tools to start helping themselves, and when that happens, when teachers are empowered, when teachers have a sense of agency and when they have got a sense of well-being, they are also more likely to fight for their own rights.

For me, the most effective approach will be when you address bottom-up issues and top-down issues together. I think institutions need to give more than just lip service to well-being; they need to make it part of their culture and ethos. Consideration of well-being in institutions does not simply mean offering a yoga class on a Friday night. It’s about making sure that you really address when and why you hold meetings, when emails are sent out and when responses are expected. What kind of relationships are being built in the institution? How is feedback dealt with? How are people evaluated? Well-being comes from a whole culture and ethos that institutions build. I think that managers, school heads and principals have a huge role to play. I’ve been delighted when organisations have asked me to speak to heads of schools and directors of studies, because these are people who can really impact change and set the tone for the whole institution and everybody within it.

Sam Morris: If you were to meet a teacher who was feeling stressed out, where would you suggest is a good place to start thinking about their well-being?

Sarah Mercer: The term commonly used is ‘subjective well-being’, which is to say that it is a very individual experience. Everyone has different thresholds with regards to their well-being and therefore we can’t be prescriptive. One example is that of the work-life balance; we cannot give a magic ratio for what the work-life balance should look like because everyone has different needs and different priorities in life.

I think the first thing a person needs to do is to become aware that they have a problem. To take stock and consider what are the things causing them stress? How might they balance their time better? Who can they turn to for support? What resources can they draw on? Awareness is the first step that a teacher needs to take. Once you have awareness, then you can change attitudes and behaviours.

Another very important issue that I have noticed in my conversations with teachers is that, by nature, the profession of teaching is very other-oriented. Teachers sometimes feel very guilty about prioritising their own well-being over the needs of their students. An important first step I think we need to take therefore, is encouraging teachers to focus on their own well-being. This is not just good for teachers; it is good for everyone around them including their students. Research is quite clear that when teachers have greater well-being, they teach more creatively, have more patience, and have fewer disciplinary issues. Ultimately, students have got a better chance of learning if their teacher has a positive sense of well-being.

I am currently looking at the issue of teacher training and what it is lacking. Nursing and social work are two more other-oriented professions which suffer from high rates of burnout and attrition, yet in their pre-service training, they very typically have modules on self-care. In teacher education, these are almost completely absent, and so I think that the profession of teaching is a little behind and should do more to emphasise the importance of self-care and help teachers to understand that that is also a part of their professional competence.

Sam Morris: Finally, I wonder if you could recommend any resources for people who are interested in learning more about well-being.

I would recommend any work from the field of positive psychology, though Martin Seligman has been the most influential author for me and my team. Within this field, Martin Seligman’s PERMA model is a very good starting point, as his is related book entitled Flourish (2011).

For teachers who are interested in what they can do to manage their own self-care, there are also numerous books which can help. One of the most useful is The Elephant in the Staffroom by Chris Eyre (2017), which focuses on well-being in general schools and is very accessible. I would also recommend the book Teaching Happiness and Well-being in Schools by Ian Morris (2009), and the work of Marc Helgesen on positive psychology in English education in Japan.

Sam Morris: Thank you so much for your insightful comments on this issue, which have raised some important points of consideration for all stakeholders involved in language learning education.

Notes on the contributor

 Sam Morris is a lecturer in the English Language Institute at Kanda University of International Studies (Japan). He is currently completing his PhD at the University of Leicester (UK), researching the situated emotion regulation that language teachers in Japan employ during their work.

 References

 Eyre, C. (2017). The elephant in the staffroom. London, UK: Routledge.

Morris, I. (2009). Teaching happiness and wellbeing in schools. London, UK: Network Continuum.

Seligman, M. E. P. (2011). Flourish: A visionary new understanding of happiness and well-being. New York, NY: Free Press.