The THRIVING project
Short description
The THRIVING project focuses on teachers’ work environment and work-related health. Schools are the largest workplaces in Sweden, but also among the most psychologically demanding. Many teachers experience high levels of stress and mental ill-health, and an increasing number are considering leaving the profession.
The THRIVING project aims to co-develop, test, and evaluate a practical organisational-level intervention together with teachers, school leaders, and other key stakeholders. The intervention focuses on strengthening psychosocial support at work.
Through co-creative research, we develop solutions to reduce stress, mental ill-health, and staff turnover among teachers. The results will include a manual, a training package, and a digital platform for long-term dissemination in Swedish schools.
About the Project
The THRIVING project aims to co-create, implement, and evaluate an organisational-level intervention for school leaders to prevent mental ill-health, stress, and staff turnover among teachers. The project is carried out in close collaboration with schools, school leaders, teachers, and other stakeholders to ensure that the intervention is relevant, feasible, and sustainable in practice. The goal is to strengthen teachers’ work environment, health, and opportunities to remain in the profession. Approximately 600 participants will be included in the research.
THRIVING is an acronym for Teachers’ Health and Retention through co-created InterVentions for stayING at work, but it also carries a symbolic meaning related to growth, well-being, and thriving in working life. This reflects the project’s overall ambition: to promote sustainable and healthy working lives for teachers.
Teachers may have the single most important role in promoting students’ learning, health, and development. To succeed in this mission, it is essential that teachers have the conditions and support needed to sustain and perform their work effectively. For school leaders, promoting a sustainable work environment, reducing stress, supporting mental health, and reducing staff turnover are key priorities. Ultimately, this is about creating sustainable conditions that enable teachers to carry out their important societal mission.
The project has been developed by an interdisciplinary research team including researchers in psychology, education, work science, health sciences, and intervention research from the University of Gothenburg, Linköping University, and Umeå University. The project will run from 2026 to 2028.
If you have any questions about the project or are interested in participating, please feel free to contact Elin Hoff Brattberg and/or Therése Skoog. Their contact details can be found on the right-hand side.
All researchers involved in the project are also members of FNHL, the Research Network for Sustainable Teaching, where Therése Skoog serves as Project Lead and Elin Hoff Brattberg as Coordinator.
Researchers
Therése Skoog, University of Gothenburg
Elin Hoff Brattberg, University of Gothenburg
Birgitta Kimber, Umeå University
Cathrine Reineholm, Linköping University
Andreas Wallo. Linköping University