From Burnout to Flourishing: Reassessing Teachers’ Well-being through PERMA

Teachers’ dissatisfaction has become a growing concern in contemporary education, influencing instructional quality and professional well‑being. This research article examines the underlying causes of dissatisfaction through the PERMA framework of Positive Psychology—Positive Emotion, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, and Accomplishment—while drawing upon classical theories of well‑being such as hedonism, eudaimonism, objective list theory, and desire‑fulfilment theory. Using a conceptual synthesis methodology, the study analyses secondary literature to generate structured results: five interdependent dimensions of teacher well‑being that explain how systemic pressures, workload, and recognition gaps reduce meaning, accomplishment, engagement, and positive emotions. The results highlight that improvements in one domain, such as relational support, can positively influence others, underscoring the need for holistic interventions. Discussion situates these findings within the National Education Policy (NEP 2020), emphasising supportive institutional practices, positive school environments, and professional growth opportunities. The study contributes an original framework linking philosophical traditions with contemporary psychology, offering actionable insights for policymakers and teacher educators to embed well‑being practices into teacher education curricula and institutional policy.