WELLBEING The positive impact of staff wellbeing
maintain and grow staff participation (ideally 70%+); soliciting open and honest responses; and effectively analysing and benchmarking the results to identify learning and areas for focus. Other recent research from the Teacher Development Trust in February 2021, offers further insights. The review of 30 papers on teacher working conditions illustrated that there was a clear and consistent relationship between these and student attainment, with a crucial role to be played by school leadership to foster the right conditions.
Of the five aspects identified as most ‘closely associated with increased student attainment’, two relate directly to school culture and staff wellbeing: • Creating a culture of mutual trust, respect, enthusiasm in which communication is open and honest,
• Build a sense of shared mission, with shared goals, clear priorities and high expectations of professional behaviours and of students’ learning
I
n his monthly column on wellbeing this month, MARK SOLOMONS, CEO of School Wellbeing Accelerator - an acclaimed wellbeing expert with over 12 years’ experience developing leadership and culture in UK schools and creator of Welbee a highly effective online evaluation and staff wellbeing improvement tool, winner of the ERA 2022 Wellbeing Award – discusses the positive impact of staff wellbeing.
February has been a difficult month in schools across England and Wales, with industrial action bringing uncertainty, stress and additional anxiety to teachers, support staff and leaders. The strikes are a clear indication of the levels of dissatisfaction in a profession that has been pushed to its limits.
As well as the practical challenges headteachers faced on strike days, with the expectation from the DfE that schools remained open where possible, the impact of the action will add to the current financial pressures. The reduction in salary in real terms over the last decade has added to what is already a very challenging post Covid time for schools – high workload, job satisfaction, wellbeing and mental health - all inextricably linked issues. The latest Teacher Wellbeing Index 2022, from Education Support, highlights the impact of school culture on wellbeing, where 42% of those surveyed ‘consider their organisations culture has a negative effect on their wellbeing’. Although this number remains the same as in 2021, there was a decrease in the number of senior leaders and teachers reporting the culture at their workplace having a ‘positive effect on their wellbeing’. An organisation’s culture is largely driven by the behaviours and practices of the senior leaders which reflects across teams and departments. Other line managers replicate
what they see and experience, rather than what is set out in policies and objectives, which shapes how staff feel and perform. If staff do not feel they have a voice, belong or are not trusted, work-related stress will increase. Three quarters of teachers and education staff reported work-related stress, an increase from 2021 levels, with school leaders at the highest level – 84%.
59% of staff considered leaving the profession with 55% actively looking to change jobs – with a 5% annual increase for senior leaders. We know from the numbers of staff leaving that a high number will follow through and change profession. An evidence-proven way to reverse these figures is to proactively put staff first and embed their wellbeing within the school culture.
Take a systemised approach – start with your school data (including, staff turnover, absences and grievances), and add to this with staff feedback – talk to staff through one-to-ones, groups and using stay and exit interviews. Add to this with an evidence-built survey, ideally with benchmarks, to measure your current position – if you have signed up to the Education Staff Wellbeing Charter, you will want to use one recognised within Commitment 11.
All the above, together with collected survey comments will help identify strengths to celebrate and challenges to address, which will inform the school development plan. Look for quick wins, take small and regular steps, involve all staff in the solutions, follow up and make sure those solutions become part of what is done each day. Then the process begins again, you can track changes using the same survey, and this continuous cycle will lead to identified progress and positive outcomes.
One stumbling block is often consistency in the initial and following surveys; using the same questions; engaging staff in results, so you
12
www.education-today.co.uk February 2023
The latest Ofsted Education Inspection Framework, July 2022, highlights the role of leadership in developing a supportive school culture. Under ‘Leadership and Management’ the framework states that:
‘Inspectors will make a judgement on the effectiveness of leadership and management by evaluating the extent to which:
• leaders have a clear and ambitious vision for providing high-quality, inclusive education and training to all. This is realised through strong,shared values, policies and practice
• leaders engage with their staff and are aware and take account of the main pressures on them. They are realistic and constructive in the way that they manage staff, including their workload.
The criteria for ‘outstanding leadership’ include the following statement: • Staff consistently report high levels of support for well-being issues
Overall it’s heartening to see the inclusion of staff well-being within the Ofsted framework, and the provision by the DfE of voluntary sign up to the Staff Wellbeing Charter, yet awareness of the full impact of staff wellbeing in some schools and MATs is only just beginning.
In real terms salary rises are just the tip of the iceberg, rising to the surface because of the increased financial pressures brought about by the cost-of-living crisis that is hitting all our pockets. However, the crisis in recruitment and retention is not primarily based on finances. We must make teaching and working in education an attractive proposition through improving working conditions, with staff wellbeing at the heart of MAT, school and college life and something that simply happens every day.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48
