WELLBEING Making wellbeing central to school culture
you may also receive recommended actions. School and college leaders would not dream
of taking a ‘wait and see’ approach to delivering student outcomes and instead robustly measure and track progress to drive improvements and deliver the best results. Should the wellbeing of staff be treated any differently?
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n the first of a new regular column on wellbeing in schools, 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 - shares his views on the importance of staff wellbeing for schools of the future. For many people, the past two years have
been among the most stressful of their lives, and for those on the frontline, including teachers and school leaders, this has taken a huge toll on their wellbeing. Mental ill-health in schools is at an all- time high. There is an exodus of teachers and leaders from the profession. It’s a crisis we must address and one that is best resolved through a paradigm shift in the way we look at the culture and climate in our schools. We need to recognise the importance of staff wellbeing, ensure it is a priority, and something that simply happens every day. An ongoing study, A Culture of Improvement
by The Teacher Development Trust*, reports a statistically significant link between teachers’ working conditions - the culture that leaders create - and student attainment. Having good staff wellbeing and a mentally
healthy school is a win-win situation – happy and motivated staff have a direct and positive impact on students’ learning and attainment. Less staff absence means less need for supply teachers, and staff want to stay - so lower recruitment. All adding up to a reduction in overall costs and an increase in student outcomes. Actions to improve staff wellbeing are often
piecemeal initiatives – a wellbeing day, yoga, cakes, or a shout out – all quick fixes that are easy to organise. Yet if staff do not feel valued or do not enjoy their job, once the day is over, yoga completed, or the cake eaten what has changed? Improving the wellbeing of staff is all about
culture and taking the steps below will deliver the impact needed.
• Build capacity in schools so leaders have time to plan for effective leadership “The thing that is causing people to get ill at work and adversely affect their quality of working life is line managers who are not socially and interpersonally skilled. They don’t have the soft skills that are needed.” Professor Sir Cary Cooper, a UK leading expert on organisational wellbeing. So often, teachers taking on leadership roles
remain responsible for a heavy teaching load. The expectation that leaders can be efficient and effective when juggling teaching duties and leadership roles (for which they typically may be given just a few hours a week), is absurd and would not be expected in equivalent positions in the commercial sector. With little to no time to plan, school leadership becomes reactive rather than proactive. This has long been a challenge and one that
Covid has made even more difficult with the demands having increased in many schools. What can senior leaders do to change this?
• Provide CPD that increases understanding and decreases workload Provide training that also improves personal effectiveness and efficiency (prioritising, managing interruptions, managing emails, change, delegation, etc.) and you will further increase capacity. Help leaders and staff choose their working hours and fit their work to them, rather than allowing workload to dictate them. With more time and capacity to develop their
own behaviours, knowledge and skills, leaders will better support others, reducing stress and improving wellbeing and engagement.
• Measure wellbeing as part of your culture As with any action taken from within the school development plan, the impact needs to be measured. An evidence-based anonymous staff survey can provide the initial baseline and future performance, providing scores, benchmarks and additional feedback. When using a third party
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www.education-today.co.uk
• Focus on behaviours For wellbeing to be something that simply happens every day, it must be supported by the school values, and it is important the behaviours that underpin these are developed with appropriate training or coaching and can be effectively articulated by everyone. These behaviours need to be evident and readily recognisable in the life of the school, reinforced through daily praise, performance management and appraisals. Regularly catching people doing something right and in the moment is the fastest way to improve wellbeing and create an environment where more people want to work and stay.
• View changes through the lens of wellbeing New policies, procedures and practices should be considered through the lens of staff wellbeing before being implemented. ‘High energy’ changes that need increased time or commitment should deliver equally strong and beneficial outcomes and with each incoming requirement there should be one that is less necessary that is let go. If staff are continually burdened with more requirements, without this being effectively managed, stress increases and any positive benefits from change decreases. Now is the time for wellbeing to take centre
stage. The DfE’s Education Staff Wellbeing Charter illustrates greater Government awareness of the impact poor staff wellbeing is having on the effectiveness of schools, colleges and MATs and the outcomes they achieve for their students. It is voluntary and shares 11 school commitments, some requiring significant change, and without additional resources, meaning it is unlikely to be universally adopted. However, it is a step in the right direction towards building a fully professional education sector, fit for the 21st century. Staff wellbeing is used as a performance
indicator by many highly successful companies and businesses. Rather than increase levels of stress with the perceived threat of punitive inspections, perhaps OFSTED, and other inspectorates, could also encourage staff wellbeing in schools by including it as a much higher and key priority in their criteria for success, placing wellbeing at the very heart of every school.
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https://welbee.co.uk/ u
https://tdtrust.org/coi/
February 2022
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