State of research and open questions. Im Psychologischen Forschungskolloquium werden laufende Forschungsarbeiten vorgestellt.

In view of the responsibility that teachers bear for the development of their students (Tymms et al. 2018), the question arises as to what teachers need to effectively fulfill these tasks. Theoretical models empha-size the role of teachers’ occupational well-being alongside characteristics such as professional competence, knowledge and attitudes (Jennings und Greenberg 2009; Kunter et al. 2013). However, despite the relatively high level of job satisfaction, teachers belong to a professional group with an increased risk of work-related stress experiences as well as physiological and psychological exhaustion (Iriarte Redín & Erro-Garcés, 2020; Robert-Bosch Stiftung, 2024). This is especially compelling in light of the increasing teacher shortage worldwide (UNESCO Institute for Statistics, 2016) and frequent incapacity to work due to mental and physical illness (Seibt et al., 2009). Although a substantial number of studies exists that investigate the correlates of teachers’ occupational well-being, it is challenging to derive a coherent picture from the heterogeneous studies and findings. To discuss the current state of research as well as open questions on the role of teachers' occupational well-being, findings from three meta-analyses and a multi-study paper will be presented in this talk. In total, the meta-analyses summarized effect sizes from 204 studies. We did not only estimate the overall association between teachers’ occupational well-being (i.e., burnout, job satisfaction and depression) and a wide variety of performance indicators across different primary studies, but also systematically investigated explanatory factors for the heterogeneity in the findings. Interestingly, the associations were not only evident in studies based on teacher self-report, but also in performance ratings of students or external observes. Following the meta-analyses, we approached the direction of effects in two longitudinal field studies (N = 45 teachers from Germany and their students [N = 806]; N = 126 teachers from Hong Kong and their students [N = 935]). In conclusion, I look forward to discuss with you how these findings can improve our understanding of the importance of teachers' professional wellbeing and inform future research.