In the current educational climate, where schools are trying to improve learner achievement with limited resources, educator well-being may be overlooked as a ‘nice to have’ rather than as a vital component of the educational system. However, from an organisational perspective, employee well-being is an important factor for educational quality and performance. This issue of the TIMSS SA newsletter focuses on the well-being of South African educators as we try to better understand their physical and emotional status.