In the present contribution, two studies are introduced: (1) a longitudinal study on the effects of a training programme for teachers and other school staff, aimed at promoting their social-emotional competencies and diversity awareness (abbreviated as SEDA competencies henceforth), and (2) a policy study that examines the importance of teachers´ SEDA competencies in the Austrian pre- and in-service teacher education.

Nowadays, teachers across Europe are confronted with pressures and, at times, new challenges that require them to respond spontaneously, flexibly, and professionally. The increasing diversity in school classrooms is one example (Nishina et al., 2019).  European teachers are exposed to several risks and stressors that often cause early drop-outs of  the teaching profession and those who stay are exposed to an increased risk of experiencing burnout (Brouwers & Tomic, 2000). In Austria, teachers encounter challenges when entering the profession and various give up the teaching profession shortly thereafter due to a lack of support and excessive demands (Parlamentsdirektion der Republik Österreich, 2023).

The European Commission acknowledges the manifold challenges teachers face in their daily work and emphasises the importance of training programmes that consider a constantly changing and diverse setting, are conducive to the promotion of social-emotional competencies, foster collaboration among teachers, and particularly focus on the well-being of teachers to ensure support in their career planning, preventing burnout and premature departure from the profession (European Commission, 2021).

In the Erasmus+ project "HAND: Empowering Teachers" (03/2021 to 02/2024), an onsite training programme for teachers and other school staff was developed in response to the above-mentioned issues. The programme aimed to promote and enhance teachers´ SEDA competencies, employing a mindfulness-based approach. With this approach, the participants’ self-care and well-being were also intended to be positively influenced (Ellerbrock et al., 2016; Emerson et al., 2017; Zarate et al., 2019). Implemented as the "HAND:ET system" with accompanying online support, the programme was carried out in the schoolyear 2022/2023 in Austria, Croatia, Portugal, Slovenia, and Sweden. A longitudinal study was conducted to examine pre-and post-effects.

Since the historical, political and educational backgrounds differ between the participating countries, we wanted to dig deeper and frame the results considering the country specific characteristics to interpretate them embedded in a broader view to better understand the complex influencing factors that affect respective national outcomes and elucidate differences that become visible in international comparison. Therefore, within the framework of the HAND:ET project, policy research was conducted through document analyses to determine the extent to which the promotion of SEDA competencies is addressed in several countries of the European Union. Based on this document analysis and a review of all current Austrian curricula for pre-service teacher education and catalogues for in-service teacher education on the primary and lower secondary level, we report on (1) the support of SEDA competencies of Austrian teachers in pre- and in-service education as well as through other policy measures, (2) the assessment of teachers’ SEDA competencies, (3) other initiatives or projects addressing these, and (4) current political debates or reforms in this field.

We used a mixed-methods design in both studies. In Study 1, participants (N = 119) answered two online surveys, one before (t1) and one after (t2) the HAND:ET system was implemented. The intervention group (IG, n = 50) comprised teachers (n = 42), school leaders (n = 7), and one school counsellor. The control group (CG, n = 69) also consisted of teachers (n = 55), school leaders (n = 10), and school counsellors (n = 4). In addition to sociodemographic variables, the surveys included questions on participants' mindfulness, their well-being, their burnout risk, their self-management, their self-efficacy, their empathy, their attitudes toward and handling of diversity and multiculturalism, their perceived level of stress linked to their work, their interactions with students and colleagues, as well as their relational competence. Standardised questionnaires were used to assess each of these areas, some of which were adapted. Examples of the utilised questionnaires include the "Kentucky Inventory of Mindfulness Skills" (Baer et al., 2004), the "WHO-5 Well-Being Index" (Topp et al., 2015), and the "Teacher Cultural Beliefs Scale" (Hachfeld et al., 2011). Furthermore, we realised five focus groups with a total of 17 participants of the intervention group to learn more about challenges and benefits associated with the HAND:ET system. The interview guideline included questions on what the participants particularly liked about the training sessions, what they found challenging, and if they had any suggestions for improvement. Additionally, they reported on what they had learned through the HAND:ET training, whether they had applied techniques and exercises that were part of the training in their personal or professional contexts, and if they had observed any changes at their school as a result of the training. In Study 2, to answer the research questions regarding the significance of SEDA competencies of Austrian teachers in pre-service and in-service teacher education, we reviewed all current curricula for bachelor's and master's programmes leading to teaching qualifications for the ISCED 1 and ISCED 2 general education levels as well as all current catalogues on professional development offers of Austrian University Colleges for Teacher. In these documents, searches for (1) “sozial.“ (“social.”), (2) “emotional.”, (3) “divers.”, (4) “interkult.” (“intercult.”), and (5) “heterogen.” were carried out. The relevant text passages were then qualitatively analysed to determine if and to what extent they referred to teachers´ SEDA competencies. In total, 54 documents were analysed.

In terms of the effects of the HAND:ET system, we revealed positive effects on participants’ mindfulness skills, empathy, relational competence, cooperation amongst colleagues, and openness to diversity. The focus groups showed that the participants experienced the HAND:ET system as enriching for both their professional and private life. They particularly mentioned an increase of self-awareness and self-management as well as relationship skills. Challenges were experienced in terms of the extent of the training (six full days and five online sessions), which made participation in all sessions challenging, especially during stressful periods when the teachers already perceived their profession as highly demanding. Some participants initially struggled to engage with the mindfulness concept and found the frequent repetition of individual exercises to be exhausting. The results of the document analyses showed that SEDA competencies play a role in pre-service teacher education, but the emphasis is more on fostering these skills in future students and to develop teaching methodologies and classroom management techniques. In-service teacher education especially acknowledges the importance of teachers' mental and emotional well-being in their profession. However, most offers (this applies to other initiatives and projects as well) do not focus on the fundamental development or promotion of teachers’ SEDA competencies. Overall, a systematic framework and an overarching concept are lacking that recognise the importance of SEDA competencies and provide possibilities for how and for what purpose they can be specifically and explicitly promoted. Although teachers’ health in general has been assessed, Austrian data focusing on teachers´ SEDA competencies was lacking. Ongoing policy debates in the field are influenced by teacher shortage and focus on lateral entries.

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