Abstract:

The constant political, economic, and media transformations of contemporary society compel teachers working in plurilingual programs to confront a range of professional and personal challenges that require continuous professional development and the ongoing adaptation of pedagogical knowledge and teaching methodologies. These challenges are particularly salient in relation to the emergence of AI, the multiplicity of sources through which foreign languages are acquired, and the need to promote comprehensive education in communicative competence through new bodies of knowledge and pedagogical approaches such as CLIL. Within this demanding context, and as a specific component of a broader research project, the present study aims to examine how the experience of teaching through a foreign language influences the well-being perceived by teachers involved in plurilingual programs in Andalusia. At the same time, it seeks to identify and characterise the mechanisms through which these teachers manage the balance between the challenges and the resources associated with teaching a non-linguistic curricular subject through a foreign language. To address these objectives, the study adopts a qualitative research design based on semi-structured interviews as the principal instrument of data collection. The findings presented here derive from the contributions of twenty participants from Primary and Secondary Education who teach a variety of curricular subjects through English. The data were analysed by means of content analysis techniques, following the variables established within the ecological paradigm. The results indicate that teaching through a foreign language entails significant cognitive and emotional demands, which are closely connected to teachers’ professional identity and personal development. The role of foreign-language-medium instruction extends beyond strictly pedagogical concerns, functioning as a mechanism for identity construction, the articulation of resilience processes, and the achievement of professional fulfillment. In this process, teachers mobilise a wide range of strategies of a psychosociological, physical, and relational nature in order to cope with and respond to the demands of their work. These resources contribute to the establishment of a dynamic equilibrium in relation to major challenges, including the lack of high-quality initial and in-service teacher education, the social expectations attached to a prestigious educational model that contrasts with teachers’ perceived sense of failure in classroom practice, bureaucratic constraints and educational policy limitations, excessive workload, interpersonal and professional tensions with colleagues and school leadership teams, and the recurrent experience of limited professional autonomy. In light of these findings, the study concludes by underscoring the importance and urgency of incorporating teacher well-being into both initial teacher education and continuing professional development for educators working in plurilingual programs. Teacher well-being should be understood not as a secondary or peripheral concern, but as a central condition for sustainable professional practice, long-term personal development, and the successful implementation of plurilingual education.

Acknowledgement:
This research was carried out within the framework of project PID2021-128341OB-I00, funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and, where applicable, by the European Union through NextGenerationEU/PRTR.

Keywords:

Teacher wellbeing, teacher development, foreign language, plurilingualism.