مشخصات پژوهش

Teachers are central to the quality of educational systems, particularly in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) contexts where they mediate linguistic knowledge, communicative competence, and learner motivation. In recent years, however, many educational systems worldwide have witnessed increasing employment precarity among teachers, characterized by temporary contracts, unstable income, limited benefits, reduced job security, and constrained professional autonomy (Breshears, 2019; Litzenberg & Fraser, 2023; Willson et al., 2025). Such precarious employment conditions may undermine teachers’ psychological resources and professional functioning. Within educational psychology, two constructs are particularly relevant to understanding teacher effectiveness under difficult working conditions: teacher agency and teacher self-efficacy. Teacher agency refers to teachers’ capacity to make purposeful choices, shape their practices, and act strategically within structural constraints (Biesta & Tedder, 2006; Tao & Gao, 2021). Self-efficacy refers to teachers’ beliefs in their capability to organize and execute teaching tasks successfully (Bandura, 1997; Tschannen-Moran & Hoy, 2001). Strong agency and self-efficacy are associated with innovation, resilience, job satisfaction, learner achievement, and professional growth (Buric & Moè, 2020; Sulis et al., 2024). Although employment precarity has been studied in higher education and contract teaching contexts internationally (Adebola et al., 2020; Apat & Swain, 2023; Han, 2025), little is known about how precarious conditions influence EFL teachers in Iraq, particularly at the high-school level. Iraqi education has faced prolonged instability due to economic fluctuations, institutional challenges, policy transitions, and uneven resource allocation. These contextual pressures may create insecure work environments for teachers, especially younger or newly employed teachers. Age is another important factor. Age often reflects differe