Teachers’ Work Engagement as a Correlate of Creativity and Innovation: Basis for a Technical Assistance Manual

This study examined teachers’ work engagement and its relationship with creativity and innovation as a basis for developing a contextualized Technical Assistance Manual for public elementary schools. Creativity and innovation were treated as related but distinct constructs, with creativity referring to the generation and development of novel and useful ideas, and innovation referring to the identification, adoption, and implementation of ideas into practice. The study employed an explanatory sequential mixed-method design, wherein quantitative data were first collected and analyzed, followed by qualitative interviews to explain and deepen the understanding of the quantitative findings. The quantitative phase involved 144 public elementary school teachers, while the qualitative phase included interviews with eight school heads. A validated instrument measured psychological, physical, cognitive, and emotional dimensions of work engagement, and creativity and innovation in terms of idea generation, identification of impactful ideas, and implementation. Findings showed that teachers demonstrated a high level of work engagement (M = 4.53) and high engagement in creativity and innovation (M = 4.33). Teachers were strongest in idea generation and identification of impactful ideas, while implementation emerged as an area for improvement. Pearson correlation analysis revealed a strong, positive, and statistically significant relationship between work engagement and creativity and innovation (r = .781, p < .001). Qualitative findings explained this relationship by identifying psychological availability, cognitive engagement, and psychological safety as areas requiring support, while time constraints, resistance to change, insufficient training, limited resources, and unclear understanding of innovation were identified as barriers to implementation. The integration of quantitative and qualitative findings provided the empirical basis for developing a contextualized Technical Assistance Manual. The manual was designed to address identified areas of need through coaching, mentoring, collaboration, professional learning, resource support, and strategies for implementing innovative instructional practices. The study underscores the importance of strengthening teachers’ work engagement to foster creativity and innovation and enhance instructional practices and learning outcomes.