Teachers’ professional agency is a popular research topic in various teaching contexts across different countries because it contributes to student learning, pedagogical activities, teacher collaboration and development, and societal and school development (e.g. Leijen et al., 2020). However, most studies have been conducted using qualitative methodology and focusing on single country contexts. Also, European and Western studies have laid the theoretical foundation for agency studies but insights from the African context have been scarce. In addition, some previous studies have examined teachers’ professional agency in relation to exhaustion and other kinds of negative wellbeing indicators (e.g., Sullanmaa et al., 2024) while the positive indicators, for example engagement, have been receiving less attention (e.g., Cao, 2024).

In this quantitative study, the relationships between teachers’ professional agency and wellbeing at work is examined both from its positive (e.g., work engagement) and negative perspectives (e.g., exhaustion) while also considering the influence of working conditions. Teachers’ professional agency is conceptualised as an action-based phenomenon that shapes and is shaped by work practices, the work community and evolving professional identity (Eteläpelto et al., 2013). Thus, agency is evident when employees influence and develop their own work and shared community practices, and negotiate their professional identity while aligning their work with their values (Eteläpelto et al., 2013; Vähäsantanen et al., 2019). Teachers’ professional agency is likely to promote their wellbeing at work which is a favourable mental and physical state that appears as the absence of exhaustion and presence of engagement (e.g., Ozturk et al., 2025). Working conditions also shape teachers’ wellbeing. Supportive and respectful relationships with the school leadership, colleagues and parents are especially important but also certain degree of autonomy in decision-making and adequate time resources (Skaalvik & Skaalvik, 2011, 2020; Leijen et al., 2020; Ozturk et al., 2025).

This study will employ questionnaire data from the East-African countries of Kenya, Tanzania and South Sudan. The data will not only offer a means to model the theoretical relationships between the teachers’ professional agency and wellbeing but also yields novel information about the understudied East-African context where teacher deficit and attrition are contemporary dilemmas (e.g. Boniface, 2016; Kiongo, 2020).

This quantitative study aims to examine how pre-primary, primary and secondary level teachers’ professional agency and working conditions are related to their wellbeing at work especially in the East-African countries of Tanzania, Kenya and South Sudan. The research questions are as follows:

1. How do teachers experience professional agency, well-being at work, and working conditions across the countries?
2. How are teachers’ professional agency, wellbeing and working conditions associated with each other?

This study was conducted in the East-African countries of Kenya, Tanzania and South Sudan. These East-African countries share a similar situation where there is a great teacher deficit in different school levels and a need to improve teachers’ wellbeing at work (Boniface, 2016; UNESCO, 2024). This study concentrates on the pre-primary, primary and lower secondary school levels because these are essential institutions for educating the whole population and enabling student eligibility to higher secondary and tertiary education. The data are collected with an online survey questionnaire in rural and urban settings. Data collection is currently (in January 2026) progress in Kenya and South Sudan and completed in Tanzania. To date, the analysis has been conducted using Tanzanian survey data. Altogether N = 449 participants took the survey. There were 221 females (49.2%) and 226 males (50.3%). Two participants (0.4%) were not willing to declare their gender. Participants declared their age as follows: 20–29 years, n = 74 (16.5%); 30‒39 years, n = 238 (53.0%); 40‒49 years; n = 92 (20.5%) and 50 or more years, n = 45 (10.0%). Agency was measured with the Professional Agency Measure (PAM) which covers the three dimensions of influencing at work, developing work practices and negotiating professional identity with 17 items following a five-point Likert scale (Vähäsantanen et al., 2019). Wellbeing was measured using two scales: Work engagement was investigated with the UWES-3 scale (Schaufeli et al., 2019) which covers the dimensions of vigor, dedication and absorption with three items following a seven-point Likert scale. Emotional exhaustion was investigated with the scale of Hadžibajramović and colleagues (2024) covering four items following a five-point Likert scale. Working conditions were measured with five scales: Supervisory support (three items; Skaalvik & Skaalvik, 2011); Relations with colleagues (three items; Skaalvik & Skaalvik, 2011); Relations with parents (three items; Skaalvik & Skaalvik, 2011); Autonomy (six items, Skaalvik & Skaalvik, 2020) and Time pressure (three items; Skaalvik & Skaalvik, 2011). All working conditions scales followed a six-point Likert scale. The present analyses are based on descriptive statistics from the Tanzanian data. Detailed examination of variable associations will be conducted using structural equation modelling following completion of data collection.

Teachers gave relatively high ratings regarding their Professional agency. They considered that they may influence their work practices (M=4.4, SD=0.6), develop their work practices (M=4.7, SD=0.4) and negotiate their professional identities (M=4.4, SD=0.6). Furthermore, teachers perceived their wellbeing at work to be relatively good. They considered themselves highly engaged (M=6.1, SD=1.2) and not very exhausted (M=2.4, SD=0.9). As regards teachers’ working conditions, they receive comparatively well supervisory support (M=5.4, SD=0.8), have good relations with colleagues (M=5.3, SD=0.8) and parents (M=4.9, SD=0.9) and experience relatively high autonomy in decision-making (M=5.0; SD=0.7). Teachers rated their time pressure above average (M=4.1, SD=1.1). Preliminary Pearson correlation analyses imply the following statistically significant associations: professional agency in terms of influencing at work (.38), developing work practices (.31) and negotiating professional identity (.20) is positively and moderately correlated with work engagement. In turn, influencing at work (‒.22), developing work practices (‒.19) and negotiating professional identity (‒.15) are negatively correlated with emotional exhaustion. Furthermore, working conditions in terms of supervisory support (.35) and relations with colleagues (.31) and parents (.32) as well as autonomy (.32) is positively correlated with work engagement. In turn, supervisory support (‒.19) and relations with colleagues (‒.21) and parents (‒.18) are negatively correlated with emotional exhaustion. Time pressure (.28) is positively correlated with emotional exhaustion. The study provides novel insights into teachers’ professional agency and work-related wellbeing in Sub-Saharan countries and deepens international and European understanding of how agency and working conditions are related to wellbeing. The study also strengthens the European research tradition by validating and utilising a European professional agency measure. Furthermore, the findings offer practical implications for school leaders and policymakers in developing working conditions that foster professional agency and wellbeing, support continuous professional development, and safeguard the attractiveness of the teaching profession.

Boniface, R. M. (2016). Teachers’ retention in Tanzanian remote secondary schools - Exploring perceived challenges and support. Doctoral dissertation, Linnaeus University, Växjö, Sweden. https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:903246/FULLTEXT01.pdf Cao, G. (2024). Chinese EFL teachers’ professional agency as a facilitator of their sustainable development and work engagement. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 34(1), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijal.12512 Eteläpelto, A., Vähäsantanen, K., Hökkä, P., & Paloniemi, S. (2013). What is agency? Conceptualizing professional agency at work. Educational Research Review, 10, 45–65. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.edurev.2013.05.001 Hadžibajramović, E., Schaufeli, W., De Witte, H. (2024). The ultra-short version of the Burnout Assessment Tool (BAT4)-development, validation, and measurement invariance across countries, age and gender. PLoS One, (19)2, e0297843. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0297843 Kiongo, P. (2020). Determinants of career change among teachers in rural Kenya: The case of Tana River County. American Journal of Education and Practice, 4(1), 1–3 Leijen, Ä., Pedaste, M., & Lepp, L. (2020). Teacher agency following the ecological model: How it is achieved and how it could be strengthened by different types of reflection. British Journal of Educational Studies, 68(3), 295–310. https://doi.org/10.1080/00071005.2019.1672855 Ozturk, M., Wigelsworth, M., & Bagnall, C. (2025). Conceptualising teacher wellbeing: A qualitative investigation with primary school teachers in England. Teaching and Teacher Education, 159, 104989. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2025.104989 Schaufeli, W. B., Shimazu, A., Hakanen, J., Salanova, M., & De Witte, H. (2019). An ultra-short measure for work engagement: The UWES-3 validation across five countries. European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 35(4), 577–591. https://doi.org/10.1027/1015-5759/a000430 Skaalvik, E. M., & Skaalvik, S. (2011). Teacher job satisfaction and motivation to leave the teaching profession: Relations with school context, feeling of belonging, and emotional exhaustion. Teaching and Teacher Education, 27(6), 1029–1038. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2011.04.001 Skaalvik, E. M., & Skaalvik, S. (2020). Teacher burnout: Relations between dimensions of burnout, perceived school context, job satisfaction and motivation for teaching. A longitudinal study. Teachers and Teaching, 26(7–8), 602–616. https://doi.org/10.1080/13540602.2021.1913404 Sullanmaa, J., Pyhältö, K., Pietarinen, J., & Soini, T. (2024). Teacher agency in the professional community and association with burnout: A longitudinal person-centred approach. Research Papers in Education, 39(4), 539–559. https://doi.org/10.1080/02671522.2023.2178028 UNESCO. (2024). Global report on teachers: Addressing teacher shortages and transforming the profession. Paris: UNESCO. https://doi.org/10.54675/FIGU8035 Vähäsantanen, K., Räikkönen, E., Paloniemi, S., Hökkä, P., & Eteläpelto, A. (2019). A novel instrument to measure the multidimensional structure of professional agency. Vocations and Learning, 12(2), 267–295. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12186-018-9210-6