WELLBEING How psychological safety and evidence
quash uncertainty and fear MARK SOLOMONS, founder of triple ERA Award-winning Welbee, an on-line evaluation and staff wellbeing improvement tool, and Edu Intelligence, the first AI tool delivering data analytics and recommended actions from combining stakeholder feedback and wider school data, discusses the use of data in providing psychological safety.
rather than concealing it to protect their personal standing.
• Asking for help. It is OK to admit to struggling with specific demands or to ask for support.
When safety is absent, staff are likely to default to self-protection. They avoid challenging conversations, and stick rigidly to what they think is expected, rather than what they know will genuinely benefit learners.
Data: the groundwork for confidence and safety
T
he education sector continues to face significant challenges – attendance, behaviour, mental health and SEND, to name a few. Those in the state sector are preparing for a new Ofsted framework, and we have just seen the final report of the Curriculum & Assessment Review. We are also operating under severe and persistent financial uncertainty, collectively and individually.
For too many of our dedicated staff, this combination of pressures is creating stress, anxiety and burnout. Once again, Education Support’s latest Teacher Wellbeing Index highlights the impact for staff.
I hear one consistent message in my regular conversations with leaders: a fear that the evidence of their work won’t satisfy the new standards and that they don’t have the resources to deliver all that is now expected of them. Yet, they are obligated to create an environment where staff feel safe to take professional risks, innovate, and perform effectively under pressure. This is where creating psychological safety becomes critical.
Psychological safety: the core of trust Psychological safety, a concept popularised by Harvard’s Amy Edmondson, is the shared belief held by members of a team that interpersonal risk-taking is safe. In the context of a trust, school or college, this safety manifests in practical ways: • Speaking up. Staff feel comfortable questioning a policy or suggesting a new approach without fear of punishment or ridicule.
• Admitting mistakes. Staff can admit an intervention didn’t work, allowing themselves and others to learn from the failure quickly,
The paradox is that while the Ofsted focus – gathering robust evidence, for example to demonstrate the effectiveness of inclusion strategies, and behaviour interventions – can be a source of anxiety, the very resource needed to resolve this anxiety is the strategic use of data. Data, when used effectively, transforms a leader’s decision from a subjective judgement into an evidence-based action. It moves a staff member’s contribution from a risky personal opinion to a verifiable insight. It is the action engine of psychological safety.
Effective data practices achieve three critical outcomes that directly address psychological safety: • It provides the ‘why’ for the ‘what’ Identifying insights and having actions suggested, all based on collected data, and being able to track impact reduces resistance and worry. Staff are no longer executing a hunch; they are delivering a strategic response to a problem the data clearly presents.
• It reduces unnecessary workload. When staff worry about change, they often resort to over-documenting everything. Being able to easily pull this information directly from your data allows staff to safely focus on the actions that the data suggests will deliver the biggest impact. If the data consistently shows progress, leaders and all staff gain confidence and the targeted effort dramatically lowers unnecessary workload.
• It tracks impact, not activity: The curriculum review demands we look at impact. Being able to successfully interrogate data allows us to track what is important. This evidence validates staff efforts and provides evidence for the actions that have been taken.
Leaders must be deliberate about linking psychological safety with data integrity. This may require an intentional culture shift.
• Model vulnerability and data candour. Leaders should admit when a new strategy
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or action was flawed, using the data to explain why. This models for staff that a setback is an opportunity for learning, not a personal failure and turns possible fear into shared accountability.
• Separate data from performance reviews. Ensure that data reviews are distinctly separate from staff performance discussions. When staff believe admitting to poor data will directly trigger a punitive process, they will compromise the data’s integrity. Data reviews must be for collective learning and systemic improvement, not for individual judgement.
• Implement a ‘challenge protocol’. Explicitly define and communicate how staff can respectfully challenge decisions, policies, or data interpretations. This formalises the act of dissent, making it less of a personal risk.
Acknowledge personal economic worries Staff concerns about the state of the economy can directly impact their focus and security at work. Leaders cannot solve the national economy, but they can help address staff uncertainty.
• Focus on staff value. Use your data to publicly and frequently celebrate the impact staff have on learner outcomes. This reinforces their professional value, which is a key component of feeling secure in their role, even when there is external volatility.
• Streamlining processes. The greatest gift a leader can give an anxious staff member is time. Use data to identify and remove inefficient processes and workload for low impact.
The ultimate payoff: confident education A psychologically safe environment, supported by robust and transparent data, shifts the staff focus from fear, to confidence in their ability to demonstrate impact.
When inspectors walk through the door, your staff won’t have to scramble for anecdotal evidence. They will be able to articulate their actions, show their progress and easily justify their choices with an evidence trail that is both authentic and objective.
Staff knowing that data has their back, alongside their leaders, enhances psychological safety. Capturing and connecting your data and most importantly being able to easily and automatically analyse it, and see suggested actions, is now a must. Does this happen for your staff?
For further information and practical advice, visit: u
https://welbee.co.uk
December 2025
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