While teaching at the elementary and secondary levels and working on a master’s in educational administration, Levasseur noticed a troubling trend. Some of her colleagues — even relatively new hires — were leaving the profession. “What leads teachers to give up what is often a dream career?” she wondered. “Was it the classroom reality? A lack of support? Other unseen factors? Was there a path to prevention?” These questions motivated her research interest in teacher attrition and examining the factors influencing workplace well-being in schools.
Improving wellness-based leadership practices
Levasseur brings rich professional and academic experience to the Faculty of Education, with insight into work design and school-staff psychological health in Quebec, Canada, and Europe. With expertise in organizational behaviour and educational administration, Levasseur examines factors affecting the psychological well-being of all staff in school settings.
Using motivational theories and advanced statistical analysis, Levasseur aims to shed light on the lived realities of managers and the perceptions of those under their supervision regarding support, fairness, trust, and leadership. Her objective is to highlight the characteristics of work environments that promote wellness and foster positive contributions to school staff retention, work engagement and personal and professional development.
Increasing teacher recruitment and retention
How people work together in school settings, develop and maintain interpersonal connections, and are affected in their professional lives is key to Levasseur’s research. By studying psychosocial workplace risk factors, for example, Levasseur seeks to increase the recruitment and retention of teaching staff and enhance well-being, job satisfaction and personal fulfilment.
In researching the experiences of school staff — particularly understudied groups such as vocational teachers and educational support workers — Levasseur considers their perceptions, motivations, behaviors and unique characteristics.
“What I’m really interested in is the human being in the workplace,” Levasseur says.
Promoting francophone scholarship in Canada and internationally
Levasseur is a collaborator with Quebec’s Groupe de recherche et d’intervention sur l’organisation du travail des directions d’établissement d’enseignement (GRIDE), conducting comparative analyses of the perceptions of principals from France and Quebec regarding their work environments and psychological health. She also looks forward to tapping into her other professional networks to broaden the reach of her investigations with French-speaking school staff in minority language settings, in Ontario and other Canadian provinces.
“It's a tremendous opportunity for me to join colleagues in the Faculty of Education who are committed to the issues of inclusion and diversity, and who amplify underrepresented voices through innovative research. I’m proud to help advance our understanding of the uniqueness of each individual and the importance of caring interpersonal relationships in the workplace,” says Levasseur.
Welcome to the Faculty
"On behalf of our administrative staff and professors, I extend a warm welcome to our newest professor Alice Levasseur. I am thrilled to have her join our community," says Francis Bangou, Dean of the Faculty of Education.
"Her research on the psychological well-being of school personnel and the critical issues of teacher recruitment and retention is both timely and essential. I anticipate her contributions will help advance our understanding and support of educators. I trust she will find our institution a stimulating, collaborative, and supportive environment and wish her a successful and fulfilling career with us," he adds.
About Alice Levasseur
Alice Levasseur’s research focus includes assessing workplace psychological health indicators and exploring leadership practices that foster motivation and teaching staff engagement. Her international, multidisciplinary work was supported in part by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Levasseur’s co-authored collection Soutenir la motivation du personnel scolaire: Guide pratique pour les directions d’établissement (Presses de l’Université du Québec, 2024), offers professional development tools for school leaders seeking to understand motivation and improve management practices.
