Staff welfare

In this Q&A, Margaret Horton, Senior Vice Principal at Methodist Ladies College, shares how the school has developed a culture of wellbeing which has raised EAP utilisation rates well above the industry standard.

‘Ultimately, our pilot … has transformed the way we meet the needs of our students and staff, particularly in a post-pandemic landscape.’ In this reader submission, Bridget Garing shares the details of a pilot Pittwater House in New South Wales undertook earlier this year to encourage staff to work collaboratively to support students.

It’s well-known that teaching is a stressful career. Finding the time to discuss challenging matters and to reflect on your practice might seem impossible. New research shows a reflective circles peer support model has a positive impact on educators. We speak with lead researcher Fiona Gardner in this article to find out more.

As a teacher, how has work impacted your wellbeing during the pandemic? What wellbeing initiatives are offered at your school, and how can they be improved to better support teachers? In this article, we outline five further readings which explore educator wellbeing in Australia and internationally.

More than half of Australia’s population is under COVID-19 lockdowns, which means many of you are right in the thick of a long period of remote learning, maybe while trying to homeschool your own children at the same time. In today’s episode I run through some of the recent wellbeing pieces we’ve published, as well as some other highlights from a busy month here at Teacher.

Planning ahead to meet the professional learning needs of staff to improve teaching effectiveness in your school is an important aspect of a principal’s work. But, what happens when these plans get overtaken by events?

The Knox School has been working with academics to research what teachers learned from the lockdown experience. In this final article of a three-part series, middle leader Melodie Matheson shares how teacher wellbeing became a transformative influence on her leadership.

You might’ve noticed we’ve been placing a real emphasis on wellbeing at Teacher recently. We’ve looked at new research into student wellbeing, resilience, and launched a new publication dedicated to educator wellbeing outside of the classroom. In today’s podcast we take you through anything you might have missed.

It is widely acknowledged that teaching is a stressful job, and the global events of this year have added an enormous amount of extra pressure on those working in education. In today’s article, we take a look at the research into the prevalence of stress and burnout for teachers and school leaders, and explore some of the protective factors.

Our annual Teacher reader survey has just concluded for another year. As your responses have been coming in, we have been making note of your suggestions and requests, and have been reading about your experiences with the challenges of this pandemic. You’ve also let us know how you’re taking care of your own wellbeing outside of work.