WELLBEING
Recruitment, retention, and school culture This month, in his latest column for Education Today looking at wellbeing, MARK SOLOMONS,
creator of triple ERA Award-winning Welbee, an online evaluation and staff wellbeing improvement tool, discusses recruitment, retention and the importance of a positive school culture.
actions done well and with consistency will make a real difference: • Relate – before beginning to discuss work tasks, ask staff about themselves, even just for a minute or so. Have a quick chat with staff as you pass in the corridors or in the staff room.
• Be visible and present - recognise and praise staff when you see something being done well. ‘Managing by wandering around’ (MBWA) – is not designed to monitor teaching or keep an eye on pupil behaviour, but rather to highlight positive experiences going on in school.
• Involve staff in decisions that affect them - implementing change without an explanation creates feelings of powerlessness andlack of autonomy, which lower wellbeing. Be open and transparent and ensure staff members understand why an action is being taken. Promoting positive communication will help dissipate gossip and cliques.
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pring Term is often the time when staff begin to consider their options – to stay or go to pastures new. While there is time before decisions must be made, if people are thinking of moving on, they are likely to be sending out feelers, having conversations with colleagues from other schools, and keeping an eye out for more attractive opportunities.
The Initial Teacher Training census 2023/24, shows recruitment continues on a downward spiral. Overall, it was 38% below target, driven mainly by the secondary sector at 50% below (with much higher levels in subjects such as maths, physics and computing) compared to 4% below target for primary. So what can schools do to better retain and recruit staff in the current climate, amidst a continuing cost of living crisis and a highly competitive labour market? The best place to start is to identify where your school is now. Does it reflect the national situation, and what challenges are you facing? Do you know how your staff feel towards the issues that impact their professional and personal lives – workload, finances, access to professional development or training and career provision, mental health and wellbeing?
Spring term is one of the prime times of year to assess the current climate and culture in your school, MAT or college, and help identify potential stress or burnout through well designed anonymous staff surveys which provide an avenue for discussion of issues. Stay interviews can also help better understand what is likely to keep staff, and are often more informative than exit interviews with leaving staff, whose feedback can often be generic and is not always as actionable,
Know your numbers
As well as taking stock of what staff are saying, do you know your numbers?
• The number of staff leaving and percentage of your total headcount
• The time (and effort) required to recruit replacements
• The number and percentage of vacancies likely to be filled internally
• Days lost to staff absence and the cost of supply and cover.
The costs associated with recruitment are significantly higher compared to those incurred in proactively managing staff wellbeing and investing in appropriate tools. According to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (2023), 61% of all ‘leave’ decisions in education have a wellbeing component, with the likely direct and indirect costs for each vacancy being £6,210.
The Health and Safety Executive, estimate that over 68% of absences in education have a wellbeing related cause. There is significant scope to reduce these and the associated costs, spending to improve wellbeing, will generate a return on investment, putting money into the budget, rather than taking it out.
Taking action
When talking with school, MAT and other education leaders, I often hear about the challenges associated with initiating change, particularly when it involves culture – the lack of time or capacity or the difficulties of simultaneously juggling numerous priority projects.
Yet if we do not act, we will get the same outcome. While it is tempting to ensure everything is lined up and ready before we begin, imperfect action is preferable to perfect inaction - small changes and improvements can have a big impact.
Staff want to feel they belong, are valued, appreciated, and listened to. Simple everyday
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• Reduce workload – remove high effort and low impact activities and automate aspects of those that are high effort and high impact. If staff are given new or additional duties, remove a task that equates to the additional responsibilities.
• Help and encourage staff to look after themselves – provide access to effective wellbeing resources – for example Welbee, with resources to support both leadership and staff.
• Professional development - alongside required school-wide PD, give staff access to personalised PD which meets their needs or interests.
• Look after yourself - as a leader be a role model for colleagues - to help implement change you must live it yourself. For instance, if you are promoting an improved work/ life balance with a suggested time for all staff to leave school, ensure you are among them.
The Parliamentary inquiry into ‘Teacher recruitment, training and retention’ is due to report this year. Evidence gathered from teachers and education staff makes for interesting reading - discussion on approaches to leadership, with the age-old top-down model coming under scrutiny, and negative references to authoritarian regimes. The ‘public image’ of an overworked, underpaid, and under-appreciated workforce, ground down by punitive inspections and parental complaints, needs to change if we are to attract people into the education sector. While the DfE announced measures to support teacher retention and recruitment, history suggests that any much-needed change is likely to come from within the sector. Providing a more attractive and supportive workplace culture with wellbeing at its centre is the best place to start.
For further information, support, and advice about creating a culture with staff wellbeing at its centre, please contact
welbee.co.uk
February 2024
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