Teachers and school leaders gave reports of their experiences in their responses in the contextual questionnaires. These gave insights into the working environments of these professionals and their attitudes. The main areas that were covered were job satisfaction and well-being.

Findings for the job satisfaction of teachers and school leaders were similar. High proportions of students in the region had teachers and school leaders who were frequently satisfied and proud of their jobs (about 95%). Teachers and school leaders reported one outlier in job satisfaction: content with salary. Only about 75% of students, however, had teachers and school leaders who were frequently content with their salary.

This needs to be understood in more detail to ensure that the education workforce has the salaries needed to continue providing good education and retain good workers.

High proportions of students in the region have teachers and school leaders who are regularly experiencing challenges to their well-being – stress (about 80%) and feelings of being overwhelmed by their job (about 70%). High proportions of students also have teachers and school leaders who report sometimes not having enough time for meeting their basic well-being needs because of their job (about 50%). More than this, significant proportions of students have teachers and school leaders who believe their job is having negative effects on both their physical and mental health (nearly 40%).

These are critical issues for education stakeholders to understand and may require immediate action.