UNDERSTANDING TEACHER QUALITY OF WORK LIFE: A DYNAMIC MODEL OF ORGANISATIONAL CLIMATE, PSYCHOLOGICAL DISTRESS AND MORALE *

How does a school's organisational climate contribute to teachers' psychological distress and morale? This paper reports on three studies that investigated the relationships between different aspects of school organisational climate, and how these relationships contribute to teachers' quality of work life. Questionnaire data were obtained from 1,160 Victorian primary, secondary and technical and further education teachers. Structural equation analyses were used during the first study to develop a model of the relationship between 11 different aspects of school organisational climate and a teacher's level of morale, psychological distress, and overall quality of work life. Two further studies supported the relationships specified in the original model. Collectively, the three studies provide strong empirical evidence for a link between organisational climate and teacher quality of work life. In particular, it was found that supportive leadership, professional interaction between teachers, opportunities for professional growth, and goal congruency were an essential feature of positive school organisations. Moreover, it is argued that an understanding of the relationship between organisational climate and teacher quality of work life will provide practitioners and policy makers with appropriate points of entry to bring about sustainable school improvement.