Why is the teaching workforce in crisis, and what can we do about it?
We know that the process that causes a teacher to leave the profession is something that starts a long time before a teacher actually leaves… (Lindqvist and Nordänger, 2016)
Less than ten years ago, you would struggle to find much academic research to support promoting teacher wellbeing and how it equates to higher pupil outcomes. However, today, this evidence base is now changing.
Dating back to 2003, studies show teachers leave the profession due to workload in education (Struyven and Vanthournout, 2014). Today, even if you don’t believe it, teachers are working fewer hours, but only by a smaller margin, and work is doubled by contracted time!
The majority of their work is split between 50 per cent on teaching and 50 per cent of administration tasks. On average, this is around 50 hours per week during term time, regardless of working in the independent or state sector.
Only last month, research showed that headteachers are quitting within the first 5 years of taking on a job in an English school, with 52% of education professionals have considered leaving the sector in the last 2 years due to pressures on their mental health and wellbeing.
The challenge is even greater in terms of mental health, and I want to help.
Having dedicated much of the last decade to understanding teacher workload, I’ve been sharing many solutions to help teachers in schools work more effectively.
Educators Online: Breaking Through Burnout
This exclusive mental health and wellbeing webinar was for educators from across the UK and beyond. This session was one of ten free webinars of Ctrl, Alt, Empwr – a four-day digital festival.
- In my session, I will share guidance on how teachers can manage their mental health
- Watch the session
Ctrl, Alt, Empwr is a 4-day digital festival, free to attend for teachers.
As part of the festival, BeatFreeks published The Social Snapshot, a paper that explores and highlights key trends surrounding Generation Z and the Online Space.
The key to developing teacher wellbeing as a strength, is to embed it within the culture of the school, ensuring everyone takes shared responsibility for it.
This is a promotion
