World Mental Health Day 2024: Putting teacher wellbeing at the heart of positive teaching

Sound familiar?

Teaching is universally recognised as one of the most stressful professions in the world. Countless studies have shown teachers to be approximately twice as stressed as those working other jobs, with more than 75% of teachers feeling a high level of stress at least once a week. But – it is also one of the most magical, rewarding jobs imaginable. What other vocation can find you laughing with joy, beaming with pride and then tearing your hair out, all before first break?

It’s fair to say nobody goes into teaching expecting a regular working week, 8-hour-day job; we all know that it’s a challenging role, one that requires you to be academic, a mentor, role model, coach and, on occasions, enforcer. But ignoring your own wellbeing is simply not viable in the long term: burned-out teachers do not deliver the kind of education we want our young people to experience. 

Today is World Mental Health Day and the theme this year is ‘prioritising mental health in the workplace’. With this in mind, considering the uniquely demanding nature of the teaching profession, we ran a wellbeing webinar for teachers: Putting teacher wellbeing at the heart of positive teaching. The session focused on practical strategies to maintain your mental health as a teacher, regardless of which subject you teach or the ages of your students.

More importantly, we were keen to make the point that this is not a zero-sum game: taking care of yourself does not mean giving less to your students, quite the opposite in fact. Healthy teachers create positive classrooms; they plan interesting, innovative, engaging lessons; they are more patient and empathetic; their students achieve more.

Before we look at some of the strategies for enhancing teacher wellbeing, I want to briefly consider why this is so important. In many ways, the answer to that question is obvious: we need to keep teachers in the classroom.

Even before the pandemic, schools worldwide were reporting a recruitment and retention crisis, with experienced teachers leaving the profession at a higher rate than ever before and insufficient numbers to replace them. In both cases, the mental health toll of the job was cited as a reason. Such a profound threat to the education sector requires a two-pronged response – one part focusing on what we can do structurally to help teachers feel supported, and one part focusing on what teachers can do themselves regarding their own wellbeing.

There is a lot that can be done at a school level to support and empower teachers. If you have a leadership role, either at a departmental or whole-school level, you need to consider how you are protecting your most precious asset – good classroom teachers.

1. Show appreciation. It is an obvious place to start, but it’s amazing how often it gets overlooked. Make sure your teachers feel appreciated and valued. This could be done privately – such as thank-you cards or small gifts at the end of term – or take the form of more public recognition. The important thing is that your teachers feel seen. As a colleague once told me when I started my first Head of Department job, ‘people won’t care what you know until they know that you care’.
2. Share the load. Splitting the workload among your department lightens the collective burden. Plan your curriculum as a team, assigning various aspects of it to different members. Each individual then prepares their scheme of work, along with the necessary resources, and shares it with the group, meaning everyone only needs to plan one section of the curriculum and gets lots of support with the rest!
3. Link performance reviews to professional development – with non-judgemental lesson observations. These are an inherently stressful process, as people feel scrutinised and evaluated, which could create pressure and tension. Part of this anxiety comes from the outcome, which often encapsulates their entire worth as a teacher, based on a tiny fragment of their working practice. Schools can gain so much more from this process by replacing evaluative lesson observations with non-judgemental consultations. Instead, encourage open discussions about strengths and weaknesses between the teacher and observer. This can then be linked to staff professional development, meaning teachers are getting the right training to improve their performance, without the fear created by a graded assessment.
4. Coaching and mentoring. When budgets are tight, external professional development can prove unaffordable – but that doesn’t mean you can’t develop your staff. Other teachers within the department or across the school can act as coaches and mentors, providing advice on aspects of teaching where they have notable strengths. This doesn’t have to be a case of experienced teachers guiding their less experienced colleagues, rather an alignment of needs and strengths within the staff body. This can be as simple as seeing best practice in a live setting, or it could extend to joint lesson planning or even paired teaching.

As well as what can be achieved at a whole-school level, there is a lot you can do yourself to preserve your wellbeing and enhance your teaching.

1. Establish boundaries. Teaching is a job that is never ‘finished’ – there will always be something you could do, books you could mark or resources you could improve. As such, it is vital that you look at your diary and ensure there are blocks of protected time where you are off duty, where you don’t check your emails, don’t think about work and do something for you. It could be a hobby, a class, playing sport, catching up with a friend or just going for a walk. The important thing is this time is ringfenced and protected.
2. Keep positive mementos. Let’s not sugarcoat it, there are tough days in teaching – days when you wonder why you do it. I have a folder which I tucked every thank-you card and letter from a student or parent that put a smile on my face. It became my wellbeing life raft when I needed a boost, reminding me of the value of the role, the difference you can make as a teacher and that this is appreciated.
3. Create a community. One of the great things about teachers is that they tend to be ‘people’ people. Let’s face it, it would be a strange job if you weren’t! So, look for people within your circle who you feel can provide that support and understanding. This could be an official working group that meets often to discuss staff welfare and explore strategies, or it could be a completely informal arrangement, where a group of you have a regular check-in to see how everyone is. It can be incredibly useful to talk to someone about the stresses and strains of teaching with someone who understands the context – equally, it can be just as powerful to meet up and chat about anything other than work.

We discuss each of these strategies, among others, in the webinar – so please do watch the recording here. In the meantime, though, I’ll sign off with a thank you: thank you for all that you do for your students, because teaching is a tough job and doing it well takes a lot out of you. But never forget how important it is and how much difference you make.