We Choose to Care: Wellbeing in Language Teacher Education

Larissa Borges, Federal University of Pará, Belém, Brazil

I am passionate about language teacher education. This is a career that I care about, and that I am proud of, especially because it embodies a purpose that deeply resonates with me. It enables positive change in multiple scales: in myself, in my students – teachers to be, in their future students, at schools, in society, and so on.

I work as a teacher educator in the Amazon, in Brazil. I teach TEFL students at the Federal University of Pará (UFPA), the largest higher education institution in Northern Brazil, which serves a broad and diverse academic community of over 50,000 students.

I have the personal goal of contributing to the changes I hope to see in education in Brazil. I acknowledge this change may be slow and complex as the flaps of the wings in the butterfly effect, but they are also capable of triggering far-reaching unpredictable outcomes.

Foundations of the CARE Research Group

Teachers in Brazil face a range of structural and systemic challenges that significantly compromise their wellbeing and long-term engagement in the profession. Factors such as inadequate working conditions, limited pedagogical resources, overwhelming administrative demands, low salaries, and constant pressure for performance outcomes contribute to a stressful professional environment (Luz & Kaefer, 2022; Cálido, Lemos, & Rebolo, 2021). This is also the case of language teachers, who often feel overwhelmed by heavy workloads and suffer from professional devaluation.

In this scenario, with the purpose of expanding research on meaningful topics that could benefit language teachers, in 2019, the research group CARE (Collaboration, Autonomy, Reflection and Empathy in Language Teaching) was established as a space for collaborative reflection and new actions, aiming to foster innovative approaches within the field of language teacher education.

The main goal of the group is to stimulate and investigate experiences of transformation among language teachers. In our meetings, we discuss themes that are relevant to our research such as autonomy, empathy, motivation, emotions and wellbeing. Then, we engage in dialogue about how theory can be integrated into our teaching practices, inspiring change.

The CARE group is composed of ten members, in-service English teachers, and English major students. To foster an atmosphere of care, the group has developed a network in which participating teachers, at different stages of their professional development, share their experiences and offer support to one another.

Wellbeing involves the dynamic sense of meaning and life satisfaction, which emerges from the experiences and social relationships we engage in across different settings (Mercer, 2021). Therefore, the group’s meetings have become an occasion for mutual support, and the practice of empathy and reciprocity. This environment has fostered positive changes among its members, who constantly share and adopt wellbeing strategies that are now becoming part of their daily practices as teachers.

Cultivating Care: Main Initiatives and Contributions

Motivated by the positive transformations we have experienced within the group since its early days, we are committed to developing projects and initiatives designed to assist and inspire language teachers at different stages of their professional journey.

A milestone for the CARE group was the 'Dare to Care' minicourse, focused on wellbeing, offered to pre-service and in-service language teachers, grounded in the five core pillars of wellbeing from the PERMA model (Seligman, 2011): positive emotions, engagement, relationships, meaning, and accomplishment; and in character strengths (Peterson & Seligman, 2004). The 20-hour program was collaboratively delivered by the members of the CARE group, aiming to recreate the same welcoming environment of empathy, active listening, and mutual support that we experience in our research group. To that end, we carefully planned each session, the dynamics and materials putting ourselves in the participants’ shoes so that they would feel welcomed and respected. The participating teachers reported that they felt at ease to share their experiences without judgment, realized they had many challenges in common, and gradually began to support one another with encouragement and amazing suggestions (Borges, 2024). One of them mentioned, “nobody was the same after the course”, which validates the group's purpose of fostering positive change.

Another key achievement was the virtual workshop we delivered to public school English teachers from several Brazilian states, as part of a continuing education program sponsored by the U.S. Embassy. Participants feedback revealed an urgent need for safe and supportive spaces that welcome emotional expression and foster a care network among language teachers.

Furthermore, a turning point for our research group was the implementation of an elective course entitled 'Wellbeing in Language Teacher Education' that I am presently teaching in the TEFL program at UFPA for the first time. This course addresses affective dimensions of teacher education, combining theoretical inquiry with hands-on activities designed to promote self-awareness and enhance the wellbeing of language pre-service teachers. We believe that fostering reflection on self-care and wellbeing during initial teacher education can better equip future educators to navigate the inevitable challenges of their professional journeys.

Nurturing Wellbeing: Closing Thoughts

In seeking to promote wellbeing, we become more self-aware human beings and more fulfilled teachers. In doing so, we can positively influence our own wellbeing and nurture the social wellbeing that emerges from the quality of our interpersonal relationships in the educational setting, ultimately fostering students’ engagement and learning.

The transformation experienced by the group members, as well as by the teachers and students we have engaged with, may generate ripple effects in language education in the Amazon. As a future goal, we hope to expand the discussion on wellbeing to broader levels, encouraging feasible changes at institutional levels.

As the group coordinator, I feel enthusiastic and hopeful about the positive impact that research and practice on wellbeing have had on language teacher education throughout this evolving journey. Like a virtuous cycle, witnessing the flourishing of wellbeing on pre-service and in-service teachers and students reinforces my own sense of meaning, purpose, and fulfillment as a language teacher educator – and nurtures my personal wellbeing within this profession.

References

Borges, L. D. R. (2024). “Ninguém saiu o mesmo”: Relatos sobre o bem-estar de professores de línguas em formação inicial e continuada na oficina “Dare to care”. Gláuks - Revista de Letras e Artes, 31–54. https://doi.org/10.47677/gluks.v23i3.417

Cálido, C. M., Lemos, M. L. P. P., & Rebolo, F. (2021). A saúde dos professores da educação básica no Brasil: Uma revisão de literatura. Revista do Programa de Pós-Graduação em Humanidades, Culturas e Artes – UNIGRANRIO, 1(23). https://publicacoes.unigranrio.edu.br/magistro/article/view/7028

Luz, D. A. M. da, & Kaefer, C. O. (2022). A saúde mental dos professores da rede pública que atuam no ensino médio: Uma contribuição do fazer da psicologia. Cadernos Brasileiros de Saúde Mental, 14(41), 19–37.https://periodicos.ufsc.br/index.php/cbsm/article/view/71246

Mercer, S. (2021). An agenda for well-being in ELT: An ecological perspective. ELT Journal, 75(1), 14–21. https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/ccaa062

Peterson, C., & Seligman, M. E. P. (2004). Character strengths and virtues: A handbook and classification. Oxford University Press.

Seligman, M. (2011). Florescer: Uma nova compreensão da felicidade e do bem-estar. Objetiva.

The author is Associate Professor at the Federal University of Pará, Brazil. She is the head of the research group CARE and of the Language Teaching Laboratory (LAEL), both focused on language teacher education. She is a former Fulbright scholar in the program Foreign Language Teaching Assistant (FLTA) in the U.S.