A comparison of teacher well-being levels of teachers working in public and private schools

This study examined and compared the general well-being levels of teachers working in public and private schools in Kocaeli, Türkiye. A quantitative comparative survey design was employed with 293 teachers representing different teaching branches, age groups, professional seniority levels, educational backgrounds, and school levels. Teacher well-being was interpreted through observable indicators obtained from the Turkish version of the Teacher Well-Being Scale, which assesses workload well-being, organizational well-being, and student-interaction well-being. The Job Demands-Resources framework was used as an interpretive theoretical perspective rather than as an empirically tested model. Descriptive statistics indicated moderately high levels of teacher well-being. Independent-samples t-tests and one-way analyses of variance showed no statistically significant differences according to gender, age, school type, professional seniority, or school level. Small but statistically significant differences were identified across teaching branches in social relationships and perceived institutional support. Foreign language teachers reported higher social-relationship scores than science and classroom teachers, while mathematics and visual arts teachers reported higher institutional-support scores than classroom teachers. The absence of a statistically significant difference between public- and private-school teachers indicates that school ownership was not associated with teacher well-being in this sample. School-level conditions such as organizational support, professional relationships, workload management, and participation in decision-making remain relevant contextual factors for future investigation, but their effects were not tested in the present study. Future studies should directly measure job demands and job resources and employ longitudinal, mixed-method, or multilevel designs.