The promotion of teachers' wellbeing and the improvement of their social-emotional competence are key aspects in enhancing healthy classroom climate. The training program "ME4YOU [ME for YOU]" fosters teachers' self-reflective competences to deal with emotional and relational dimensions of teaching. Two levels of the ME4YOU program were realized. Level 1 encompasses experiential activities that encourage participants to reflect on their professional practices and their general functioning as individuals. Level 2, the focus of this contribution, is proposed to teachers who have completed level 1 and uses a narrative technique that leads participants to explore their life stories and professional careers, highlighting the interconnection between personal characteristics and professional role. Each training group included teachers from kindergarten, primary, and middle school.
56 teachers took part in the training group (52 females; M professional experiences = 22.27 years, SD = 9.64 years), and 67 teachers constituted the control group (62 females; M professional experiences = 15.25 years, SD = 8.84 years).
The effectiveness of the ME4YOU was evaluated with reference to three variables, that were assessed before (pre-test) and after (post-test) the training activities: professional self-efficacy (PSE), self-efficacy as emotional socializers toward students (SEES), and emotional self-efficacy (ESE). Analyses of variance (ANOVA) for repeated measures were implemented. Results evidenced a significant effect Time x Group both for PSE (Wilks' λ = .92, F (1,113) = 10.294, p = .002, ηp2 = .08), SEES (Wilks' λ = .97, F (1,120) = 4.045, p = .047, ηp2 = .03) and ESE (Wilks' λ = .92, F (1,119) = 10.037, p = .002, ηp2 = .08). In all cases, the training group demonstrated higher self-efficacy in both personal and professional domains compared to the control group.
The results highlight the importance of strengthening teacher agency to promote both individual and classroom well-being.