Psychological Well-Being of Junior High School Religious and Moral Education Teachers and Their Teaching Self-Efficacy: A Study in the Mfantseman Municipality

Abstract

The study examined the effect of psychological well-being of the RME teachers in Mfansteman municipality on their teaching self-efficacy. Cross-sectional survey design of the quantitative approach was employed in the study. The population of the study was all the 144 JHS RME teachers in the Municipality and the study involved all of them through the census method. Frequencies, means, standard deviation, Simple linear regression (SEM SmartPLS) and General Linear Model (GLM) were used to analyse the data collected from the teachers through structured questionnaire. Findings indicated that the JHS RME teachers in the Mfansteman municipality have a high level of self-efficacy. It was also found that the RME teachers possess a high level of psychological well-being. Findings also revealed that the psychological well-being of the teachers has a significant effect of on their sense of efficacy beliefs. It was also found that gender proves to have an effect on the self-efficacy of the teacher. It was recommended that GES should prioritize the mental and emotional health of teachers. Again, educational policies in Ghana should consider genderresponsive support interventions to ensure that teachers develop strong sense of efficacy beliefs. Moreso, GES should prioritize psychological well-being and efforts should be made to include well-being indicators in performance appraisal and teacher support frameworks. Furthermore, Colleges and universities that train teachers should embed mental health education and emotional intelligence training into their curricula. Finally, psychological wellbeing should be considered a key professional competency in the field of teaching.