Group Education Futures Architect, Dr Kevin House, opens our research digest with an exploration of different practical strategies educators can use to support their own well-being as well as their colleagues and students.
Trends & Themes
- Educators should employ emotion-focused, meaning-based, and problem-focused coping strategies, to overcome the stresses associated with their role.
- Practical interventions such as assessing staff well-being and maximising institutional resources are vital.
- Educators and school leaders can support children's mental health and well-being by prioritising universal interventions related to social and emotional skills development.
Practical Applications
- How to improve resourcing and training for student and staff well-being and inclusivity.
- The best way to promote strategies which overcome stresses associated with problems, and strategies which promote meaning, purpose and growth.
- Establish a practice framework for monitoring and developing student and staff well-being, centred on self-awareness, self-regulation, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making.
The recent pandemic has cast a huge spotlight on the importance of well-being and has led to the growing demand for strategies and approaches to improve the well-being of staff and students across the globe. This article explores a range of innovative interventions and coping mechanisms designed to empower educators to navigate these turbulent times with resilience and efficacy. By delving into practical strategies and evidence-based approaches, we aim to offer valuable insights for teachers seeking to mitigate the emotional toll of teaching and the intensified levels of stress and anxiety they may face today.
What does the research tell us?
The first article, by Brooks, Creely and Laletas (2022) explores the well-being of three teaching staff from an Australian Primary School, during the COVID-19 pandemic. The article highlights the effectiveness of the Transactional Model of Stress and Coping, devised by Lazarus and Folkman, as a framework to explore teacher well-being during the pandemic. Brooks, Creely and Laletas (2022) describe the positive coping strategies used by participants to manage stress which was induced by fear of the ‘unknown’ during the pandemic era. The specific coping strategies which relate to the Transactional Model of Stress and Coping include:
- Emotion-focused coping strategies, which involve managing the emotional response to a stressor rather than directly addressing the stressor itself.
- Meaning-based coping strategies, which involve finding purpose, personal growth, or positive meaning in the face of stressors.
- Problem-focused coping strategies, which involve addressing the stressor directly by taking action to change the situation or reduce its impact.
Similarly, the second article, by Reynolds et al. (2020) focuses on staff well-being in schools and offers a number of practical interventions to overcome the stressors which contribute to a teachers’ poor mental health. The practical interventions that school leaders should consider when attempting to deal with the growing problem of teacher burnout include: assessing staff well-being through surveying, assessing and maximising available institutional resources; scheduling a programme which encourages staff participation, offering incentives to further participation; and encouraging staff to control the process, while taking ownership of their own well-being within the support framework provided at institutional level.
Finally, with regard to interventions and coping mechanisms which support the mental health and well-being of children, Patalay et al. (2017) examine the role of schools in providing community-based support for children’s mental health and well-being across ten European countries. Despite limited data, they found that schools generally target more universal provision than targeted provision and there was greater reported focus on children who already have difficulties compared with prevention of problems and promotion of student well-being. The most common interventions implemented relate to social and emotional skills development and anti-bullying programmes which typically focus on five core competencies: self-awareness, self-regulation, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making, which includes evolving one’s focus beyond the individual person as the primary focus of enquiry, while looking more deeply at the groups, systems and organisational culture in which people are embedded. Therefore, suggesting ways to foster collaboration and cohesion in order to develop and enhance relationships.
Practical strategies for educators
- Improve resourcing and training for student and staff wellbeing and inclusivity.
- Promote strategies which overcome stresses associated with problems, and strategies which promote meaning, purpose and growth.
- Establish a practice framework for monitoring and developing student and staff wellbeing, centred on self-awareness, self-regulation, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making.
References
Improving staff and student wellbeing: an exploration of interventions and coping mechanisms.
- Brooks, M., Creely, E., & Laletas, S. (2022). Coping through the unknown: School staff wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic. International journal of educational research open, 3, 100146.
- Reynolds, L. W., Bruno, A. J., Ross, K. M., Hall, J. M., & Reynolds, J. (2020). Bolstering staff wellbeing in schools. Journal of School Health, 90(5), 425-428.
- Patalay, P., Gondek, D., Moltrecht, B., Giese, L., Curtin, C., Stanković, M., & Savka, N. (2017). Mental health provision in schools: approaches and interventions in 10 European countries. Global Mental Health, 4, e10.
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