11 Ways to Improve Teacher Well-Being

Teaching is hard (often draining) work, and educators’ instincts about what will bring relief are frequently wrong—just as they are for most people. 

That’s because our minds deceive us, says cognitive scientist and Yale professor Laurie Santos, one of the world’s leading researchers on well-being and happiness. “One of the most annoying features of the mind is the fact that we all have these intuitions about the kinds of things we should be doing to feel better. But the research shows that many of those intuitions are just incorrect.”

In this episode of School of Practice, Dr. Santos joins host Kristin Leong to debunk some of the most popular and persistent myths about happiness—more money *mostly* doesn’t buy more happiness, for example, and a values mismatch at work may be more consequential for burnout than you think—and shares a set of evidence-based tools teachers can begin to apply right away to reclaim a sense of balance. 

Related resources:

• Learn more about this episode
• The Research on Protecting Teacher Well-Being 
• Coursera: The Science of Well-Being
• The Happiness Lab with Dr. Laurie Santos
• Yale’s Happiness Professor Says Anxiety Is Destroying Her Students
• What a New Survey Says About Teachers’ Plans to Leave Their Jobs 
• The Burnout Challenge
• No, You Don’t Always Have to Confront Your Feelings Right Away
• Ross Gay on Finding Everyday Delights
• Research: Exploring the Ripple Effect of ‘Always On’ Digital Work Culture in Secondary Education Settings (2021)
• Research: Time Confetti and the Broken Promise of Leisure (2020)
• Research: Buying Time Promotes Happiness (2017)
• Research: Self-Compassion: The Proven Power of Being Kind to Yourself (2015)
• Research: High Income Improves Evaluation of Life but Not Emotional Well-Being (2010)
• Research: Toward a Durable Happiness (2008)
• Research: Achieving Sustainable Gains in Happiness: Change Your Actions, not Your Circumstances (2006)
• Research: Counting Blessings versus Burdens: An Experimental Investigation of Gratitude and Subjective Well-Being in Daily Life (2003)