Workplace Well-Being and Flourishing in Iranian EFL Teachers: A Mixed-Methods Study Based on PERMA Model

Teacher workplace well-being has become an increasingly important concern in language education due to growing attention to burnout, occupational sustainability, and teacher flourishing in demanding instructional environments. This mixed-methods study examined workplace well-being among Iranian EFL teachers using the Workplace PERMA framework. In the quantitative phase, ۱۹۹ teachers from public high schools, private language institutes, or both sectors completed the PERMA Profiler. A two-way analysis of variance indicated a statistically significant main effect of gender on overall workplace well-being, while the main effect of working context and the interaction effect were not statistically significant. In the qualitative phase, semi-structured interviews with ۵۰ teachers were analyzed thematically to clarify how teachers construed the five PERMA pillars of positive emotion, engagement, relationships, meaning, and accomplishment in their workplace lives. Positive emotion was primarily anchored in evidence of learner progress and affirmation, engagement was constructed as absorption and sustained curiosity toward pedagogy, and relationships were framed as collegial and classroom support that fostered psychological safety. The findings suggest that workplace flourishing among Iranian EFL teachers is not reducible to sector membership alone but is organized through instructional, relational, and professional cues that map onto PERMA dimensions. The study contributes to flourishing-oriented perspectives in language teacher psychology by illustrating how workplace well-being is experienced and sustained across different EFL teaching ecologies and by highlighting the value of PERMA-informed approaches for understanding teacher flourishing in context.

کلیدواژه ها:

EFL teacher psychology ، language teacher well-being ، PERMA ، positive psychology ، workplace well-being