Association of Teacher Well-Being With Student Motivation and Achievement: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Abstract

In this meta-analysis, we examine the association between teacher well-being and ill-being with student motivation and achievement. Based on 186 articles, 811 effect sizes, and data from 355,637 teachers, we investigate these relationships through the lens of the Job Demands–Resources Model, Transactional Stress Model, Self-Determination Theory, and the PERMA model. Using three-level meta-analytic models, we found small to moderate associations between student outcomes and teacher well-being (r = .18) and ill-being (r = –.13). These associations were similarly patterned across student motivation and student achievement, with no significant differences by outcome type. Associations were also comparable across domains of teacher functioning with no significant differences by domain. Moderator analyses indicated stronger associations in secondary school settings. Associations were also larger when teacher and student variables were reported by the same informant, although this difference reached conventional significance only for teacher ill-being and approached significance for teacher well-being. These findings suggest that teacher well-being and ill-being show reliable but modest associations with student motivation and achievement across a diverse body of research, though the evidence remains largely correlational. Given this correlational nature and the influence of measurement source, future longitudinal and intervention research is needed to clarify causal mechanisms and the direction of effects.