WELLBEING Teacher wellbeing and student attainment
and in turn, the teachers’ sense of fulfilment and job satisfaction. A healthy teacher with high job satisfaction and positive morale will be more likely to teach lessons which are creative, challenging and effective. Symptomatic of low staff wellbeing and an unsupportive school culture, are high rates of staff absence due to mental and physical ill-health and exhaustion. This results in an over reliance on substitute teachers, changes to classroom routines, teaching styles and expectations, which can lead to a deterioration in behaviour and disrupted learning. The potential impact on learning, especially for those students who require additional support, is clear.
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With attainment such a high priority, why is it that we don’t warrant the importance of staff wellbeing, when it has such a direct influence on student learning? With the impact of staff wellbeing on student attainment identified, it’s time to ensure that teaching staff’s mental health is supported just as their physical health is.
n his regular column on wellbeing in schools this month, MARK SOLOMONS, CEO of School Wellbeing Accelerator, discusses the reciprocal relationship between teacher wellbeing and student attainment and wellbeing.
It’s that time of year again - exams, evaluations and final assessments. Since the academic year began, student attainment will have been carefully and consistently monitored and support provided where necessary. It’s important that every student can achieve their best, after all, a school’s success is usually measured by the success of its students. But what about the impact of staff wellbeing on student attainment?
We all recognise the importance of the relationships between teaching staff and their students. Teaching and learning is not a straightforward transfer of knowledge – students aren’t ‘empty vessels ready to be filled’ – the process involves complex social interaction. Apart from the academics, teachers build self-confidence and motivation, develop attitudes for achievement and excellence, and other life skills. In classrooms where there is a strong rapport, clear expectations, communication and trust, students flourish.
So what happens when teachers are unable to give their best due to stress or anxiety? If a teacher’s wellbeing is impacted, how does that effect their students’ attainment and how can we address it?
Although research into staff wellbeing in education is limited, available studies show a statistically significant link, and in some cases a causal one, between staff self-reported wellbeing and student outcomes. The role of wellbeing in improving results is also supported through wider research in business and the health sector.
Research in business shows staff wellbeing has a strong and positive link with
improved workplace performance, financial profitability, labour productivity, outputs and services. Evidence shows a connection between wellbeing and job satisfaction, and aspects such as training, skills development, opportunities and the level of staff autonomy. Within the health sector, research has consistently shown staff wellbeing linked to patient care, welfare and mortality. Highlights from findings include evidence of a causal link between staff wellbeing and performance outcomes, and a relationship between staff wellbeing and staff-reported patient care, patient-reported patient care and hospital mortality rates.
In education there is a plethora of research on student attainment, but until quite recently, little focussed on the impact of teacher wellbeing. In 2019, a project carried out in UK primary schools by Professor J Glazzard and Dr A Rose, revealed the perceptiveness of students towards their teacher’s mood and wellbeing, and its impact upon them – children are masters of observation, especially of adult behaviours. The study showed:
‘…children were attuned to their teacher’s mood and could usually pick up when they were feeling stressed, even if teachers tried to hide it. Teachers were seen as ‘stressed’ by children when they were: unusually short tempered;
..they got upset when pupils did not understand the work they were given; classroom behaviour deteriorated; and less work than usual was completed in lessons.’ The study also showed the children’s high levels of concern for the teacher, and their attempts to accommodate the teacher’s mood by ‘behaving, doing something nice for the teacher to cheer them up, and giving the teacher time to get their jobs done’. The teacher/student relationship is dynamic and reciprocal – the benefits flow both ways. This relationship is not only crucial to student learning and outcomes, but also students’ emotional wellbeing and classroom behaviour,
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Further research by the Teacher Development Trust (2021) found evidence to suggest that ‘The quality of teachers’ working conditions has a clear, consistent relationship with student attainment that tentatively suggests a causal impact.’
A similar approach can be taken to building staff wellbeing: collect and analyse data from staff feedback; identify goals for improvement; and implement change to ensure wellbeing is embedded within the school culture. Just as with student attainment, this also needs ongoing attention and focus.
Using an effective survey tool as part of a continuous cycle of monitoring, reviewing and tracking progress, identifying goals and implementing actions to address areas of need, builds a workplace environment where everyone can do their best work. Providing professional development and personal access to high quality wellbeing resources and courses, gives individual leaders and staff members further mental health support. Research undertaken by Queensland University, AU (2021) on wellbeing programmes, indicated:
‘Our current findings would suggest that educating teachers with strategies for managing stress will have positive top-down effects targeting the wellbeing of not only the teachers but also their students.’ The top priority for MATS, schools and college leadership, is student attainment - clearly reliant on the expertise, dedication, health and wellbeing of their staff, therefore staff wellbeing needs to be given equal standing, at the very least.
For further information, support and advice about creating a culture with staff wellbeing at its centre, please contact
welbee.co.uk
June 2023
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