TEACHER WELL-BEING AS A COMPONENT OF PEDAGOGICAL SUSTAINABILITY IN TIMES OF WAR: EVIDENCE-BASED APPROACHES IN UKRAINE

Abstract

The full-scale war in Ukraine has profoundly affected the educational system, leading to significant transformations in the organisation and implementation of the teaching and learning process. Regular interruptions, caused by air raid alerts, displacement to shelters, and power outages, have resulted in the loss of instructional time and complicated the maintenance of teaching quality across all forms of education. Under such conditions, teachers are required to demonstrate a high level of pedagogical adaptability to ensure instructional continuity and effective interaction with students. At the same time, increased professional workload, resource constraints, and prolonged crisis conditions negatively impact teacher well-being, which is a crucial pedagogical condition for sustaining teaching effectiveness. Reduced well-being undermines teachers’ capacity to plan, deliver, and adapt instruction, weakens pedagogical communication, and ultimately affects students’ academic engagement and learning outcomes. Under these conditions, the issue of preserving pedagogical sustainability becomes particularly relevant, as it involves not only organisational stability but also the preservation of effective teaching practices, professional engagement of teachers, and the continuity of pedagogical interaction. Teacher well-being in this context should be considered not as an individual characteristic, but as a systemic pedagogical resource that supports the functioning of educational institutions in crises. The article aims to conceptualise pedagogical sustainability as the ability of an educational system to maintain the quality and continuity of teaching in crisis conditions, and to substantiate teacher wellbeing as one of its key components. Based on a theoretical analysis of pedagogical and psychological literature, as well as a comparative analysis of scientific approaches, the study systematises evidence-based educational practices aimed at supporting teachers and enhancing the sustainability of the educational process in wartime Ukraine.