Teacher evaluation as a psychological work condition: professional feelings and occupational wellbeing among teachers in Chinese private higher education

IntroductionTeacher evaluation can operate not only as an administrative performance-management procedure but also as a psychological work condition. This study examined whether teachers’ perceptions of evaluation were associated with occupational wellbeing through professional feelings.MethodsA cross-sectional self-report survey was conducted with 476 teachers from four private higher education institutions in Guangdong Province, China. Teacher evaluation was measured through perceptions of purpose, methods, indicators, content, feedback, and use of results. Reliability, factorability, correlations, regression models, and mediation analysis were examined in SPSS Statistics 26.0.ResultsPerceived teacher evaluation was positively associated with occupational wellbeing. Evaluation content and feedback showed stronger associations with wellbeing than evaluation purpose. Professional feelings partially mediated the association between overall teacher evaluation and occupational wellbeing.DiscussionThe findings suggest that evaluation systems are psychologically relevant when teachers interpret them as fair, comprehensive, feedback-rich, and recognition-oriented. The results extend organizational justice theory, self-determination theory, and the Job Demands-Resources model in a private higher education context.