At the heart of this paper presentation is the impact and significance of therapeutic practices in teacher education. We define therapeutic practices as psychologically-informed policies and procedures targeting the emotional well-being of student-teachers (Zhang, 2017). Calls to self-reflect (e.g., in-program guidance counsellors), self-optimise (e.g., ‘tips to beat burnout’ workshops), or emotionally self-regulate (e.g., online mindful moment skills labs) are offered in the hope that student-teachers will better cope with the challenges of learning to teach and, subsequently, the harsh realities of teaching. However, we know little about the consequences of therapeutic practices for student-teachers’ professional identities and educational commitments. While offered in the name of care, such interventions can establish problematic levels of normativity in the teaching profession by stabilizing a false consensus about what constitutes appropriate or acceptable teacher dispositions, attitudes and behaviours—with regard to self-esteem, resilience, emotional management and motivation (Ecclestone, 2017). To date, research studies begin with the assumption that therapeutic practices are a tool to enhance teacher well-being (Squires et al., 2022; Hwang et al., 2017), and proceed with efforts to improve their implementation in teacher education (Birchinall et al., 2019; Mairitsch et al., 2021; Mansfield et al; 2016; McKay, 2019).

The objectives of the larger research study from which this paper stems are: 1) to examine the diverse manifestations—policies and pedagogies—of therapeutic practices in teacher education; 2) to analyse the consequences of therapeutic practices for student-teachers’ professional identities and educational commitments; and 3) to compare the impact and significance of therapeutic practices in teacher education in diverse geopolitical contexts. Our specific objective in this conference presentation is to examine the discourse-practices associated with current “well-being” initiatives in three jurisdictions—Denmark, Western Canada (British Columbia), and Hong Kong. Canada (CA) and Denmark (DK) are both member countries of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) which increasingly foregrounds the link between teacher emotional well-being, quality teaching and student achievement (Viac & Fraser, 2020; OECD, 2017). As a non-member of OECD, Hong Kong posits a compelling contrast: while its recent education reform efforts include an emphasis on well-being, they are also characterized by a ‘consciousness of insecurity’ in the wake of recent ‘securitisation’ under China’s governance (Vickers & Morris, 2022), which aims to cultivate a stronger sense of patriotism and nationalism in the city (Lo, 2024). It is as yet unclear in all three jurisdictions whether well-being is cultivated among teachers to promote compliance with government agendas, and/or to encourage self-censorship in the teaching profession.

Governmentalitytheory (Rose, 1998; Dean, 2009) helps us to identify how therapeutic practices are discursively organized. Discourse is a domain of language-use and refers to a particular way of talking, thinking and feeling that involves shared assumptions (Belsey, 1980) and constitutes objects (Foucault, 1977). Discourse structures meaning and practices and allow certain ways of thinking and feeling to be considered correct or acceptable (Ruti, 2018), while others are viewed as incorrect or unimaginable (Britzman, 2000). By identifying what can and cannot be said, done and felt, we trace how and under what conditions particular discourses come to shape therapeutic initiatives and practices and are framed by particular geopolitical and educational contexts. For example, at the program level, what discourses about teachers’ work (e.g., compassion fatigue) and well-being (e.g., cognitive behaviour therapy) are evident in the promotional literature, prescribed materials and activities and evaluations of resilience workshops for student teachers? At a policy level, how is well-being entangled with discourses of quality teaching?

Our method is that of discourse analysis of key organizational documents. While government policy exists with regard to student well-being, little policy exists pertaining to teacher well-being and its consequences for initial teacher education and teacher development. However, there are ‘transitional’ texts that are guiding governments and institutions in the direction of policy generation. We focus on texts such as transnational working papers (OECD, 2019), teacher organization policy proposals (Canadian Federation of Teachers policy proposal re. teachers’ mental health, 2020; Danish Ministry of Higher Education and Science, 2022), government statements (Hong Kong Education Bureau, 2024). We also examine research publications describing a myriad of well-being interventions in teacher education programs that are already in place in all three jurisdictions (e.g., PROSPER-based online workshops for improving positivity, purpose, engagement, and resilience among pre-service preschool teachers in Hong Kong (see Datu et al, 2023). Analysis will take the form of Bacchi’s (2010) theory of problematization and examine how teacher well-being is variously interpreted as a “problem” (p. 4). Analysis is guided by questions as: What’s the ‘problem’ represented to be in a specific document? What assumptions underpin this representation of the ‘problem’? What is left unproblematic or absent in this ‘problem’ representation? (Bacchi, 2010). An analysis of the stated priorities and desired outcomes of success in said documents illustrate how “teacher well-being” is being constructed as a ‘problem’ for teacher education. We examine what fixes “teacher well-being” as a concern is a “network of power relations embedded in a hierarchy of positioning” (Eveline & Bacchi, 2010, p. 147). We are also guided by questions such as: What discourses orient therapeutic interventions in teacher education in Western Canada, Denmark and Hong Kong, respectively? What forms do therapeutic practices take in each jurisdiction? What discourses are at play in the justification and articulation of therapeutic practices and values, and with what hoped-for e/affects? What similarities and differences, in terms of purpose and practice, are evident? What are some of the ethical, educational and professional implications? How are student-teachers’ ‘competence’ and ‘know how’ linked to their mental health and well-being, if at all? How might identified discourses potentially affect the shaping of professional identities and educational commitments? Drawing on governmentalilty theory and Bacchi’s theory of problematization, we will classify discourses into categories, identifying similarities and differences between, and among, the three jurisdictions. Interpretations will be informed by themes emerging from our ongoing literature review.

In the teaching profession across all three jurisdictions, we are witnessing increasing efforts by governments, researchers, and professional associations to mobilize, monitor and modulate teacher emotions (Phelan, In Press). As a result, the role of the psychological sciences in teacher education is becoming even more pronounced. An undue emphasis on the subjective realm of personality and emotions (Pykett et al., 2022, p. 14) is marginalizing structural and systemic explanations for teacher well-being (Smeyers, et. al. 2007). Saul (2023) coined the term ‘hegemonic wellness’ to capture how the discourse of ‘wellness’ individualizes well-being and privatizes the struggles of teachers. Teacher education is becoming a new source of neoliberal ‘positivity’ whereby challenging working conditions, structured by ideologies of the market and managerialism (Ball, 2003)—excessive standardization; an amplified demand for accountability (Gerwitz, 2002; Hursch, 2005)—are normalized (Karnovsky and Gobby, 2024). Student teachers are learning that they are expected “to psychologically adapt to, accommodate and ‘bounce back’ from—in resilient ways—the more damaging effects of neoliberalism” (Pykett et al; 2022, p. 13). There is a danger that therapeutic practices in teacher education are fast becoming a critical tool in producing and managing “a stable, content and productive” workforce (Zhang, 2017, p. 9). Despite growing concerns about the well-being in teacher education, there is a lack of knowledge about what seems to produce and/or contribute to this problematic issue. The question is if this is a symptom that mirrors structural and systemic ‘violent’ causes (Žižek, 2009). What is lacking in the public and political discourse seems to be the causes of unhappiness and dissatisfaction. Perhaps it has nothing to do with mental health but is instead related to the competitive performance pressure and the test regime culture that exist in today’s (teacher) education (Rüsselbæk Hansen, 2014).

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