CONFERENCE
On 27 November 2025, at the Faculty of Education Sciences and Psychology of the University of Latvia, Agija Dace Bidiņa, a student of the Master’s study programme “Education Sciences”, module “Educational Management”, successfully defended her Master’s thesis “Well-being in the management of teachers' professional development quality”. The thesis was supervised by Associate Professor Dr.paed. Sanita Baranova and developed within the State Research Programme “Education” (SRP “Education”) project “Elaboration of evidence-based solutions for effective professional competence development of adults and assessment of the transfer of its results into practice in Latvia” (No. VPP-IZM-Izglītība-2023/4-0001).
The aim of the thesis research was to explore the inclusion of teacher well-being in the management of professional development to ensure quality in general education institutions. The relevance of the study is grounded in the fact that, although teachers’ professional development is regulated by legislation and a variety of development opportunities exist, this does not guarantee the transfer of professional development into practice to ensure educational quality, nor does it address the shortage of teachers in the profession. Previous research indicates that the element of well-being is missing in the system of teachers’ professional development.
The review study analysed scientific literature, conducted a survey of teachers in Latvia’s general secondary education institutions, and carried out content analysis of focus group interviews with education experts. Recommendations for integrating teacher well-being into the professional development system were compiled into a framework that received expert evaluation within the SRP “Education” project.
The research results show that high-quality management of professional development requires the inclusion of teacher well-being, where professional development management consists of planned forms of development, relevant content, support for individual development, and quality assurance.
In the context of managing teachers’ professional development, the study offers theoretical novelty by conceptualising well-being in teachers’ professional development, as well as practical value by creating a framework for incorporating teacher well-being into the professional development system across three levels of educational management: the state level as the governance level of the education system, the educational institution as the level of a learning organisation, and the teacher as the manager of their own professional practice.
We warmly congratulate Agija Dace Bidiņa on obtaining her Master’s degree in Education Sciences and wish her resilience and success in her further growth!
The SRP “Education” project team.
