Are the teachers alright? An interpretative phenomenological analysis of UK primary school teachers encountering wellbeing difficulties

The wellbeing of teachers in the UK is of growing concern to unions and educators. The present study sought to explore the lived experience of UK primary school teachers in state school settings by utilising a qualitative, phenomenological methodology. A social justice perspective is taken which frames teacher distress as professional marginalisation which poses risk to teacher and child alike. The findings reveal that teachers experience pressure, low mood and anxiety as a result of intense, escalating hours of work. In addition, punitive leadership and governance have reduced their sense of effectiveness and career fulfilment in the classroom, antagonising their efforts to be inspiring educators. Novel findings reveal that, beyond conceptualisations of burnout, teachers can experience depths of distress characterised by alienated self-experience. For teachers leaving the profession, this experience appears to be characterised by disenchantment with the UK profession. An existential-phenomenological explanation is provided. Recommendations and future research avenues are explored