Focusing on Teacher and Principal Wellbeing
Recent research has found that since COVID-19, many Australian teachers, principals and education support staff have “experienced increased mental health related problems due to mounting stress, overwhelming workload, and other circumstantial challenges”.
The research found that school communities have encountered, and will continue to face, mental health impacts due to pandemic-related measures such as lockdowns.
A focus on teacher and principal wellbeing is critical in order to support student wellbeing and to attract and retain staff. In recent times, people have been leaving their jobs across industries and sectors, often due to stress, overload and burnout, in a phenomenon known as the Great Resignation. The education sector has experienced staff shortages and associated stresses, such as overloading the existing workforce. A recent Australian report stated that:
“like many sectors and industries, education has been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic globally in unprecedented ways. Evidence suggests it has had a detrimental impact on educators. The exhaustion and overwhelming workload have led to an increasing number of teachers leaving the industry and causing a workforce shortage”.
Improving teacher and principal wellbeing will support schools to hold onto the staff that they have, as well as being an attractive value proposition for prospective employees.
It is generally accepted that the COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant negative impact on mental health for children and young people, and that its effects on Victorian children’s mental health will likely become a long-term issue that needs continual support in the future. Compellingly, we know that when teacher and principal wellbeing is high, they are better able to support students who are struggling, emotionally, socially and educationally. By investing in teacher and principal wellbeing, schools can offer better support to children who are vulnerable at this time and into the future.
It is also important that schools focus on building teacher and principal resilience. The pandemic situation remains unclear and new COVID-19 variants are expected to emerge over the coming months. Schools need to prepare for future dangerous variants and associated prevention measures, such as the possibility of another lockdown. While we would dearly love to say this will not happen, the fact is that this pandemic is not over yet. We need to prepare teachers, principals and students to be resilient in the face of whatever future comes our way.
schoolED can help your school with these challenges through a range of webinars, workshops, professional development days and coaching, all designed to support teacher and principal wellbeing and resilience as schools emerge from COVID-19 and transition back to onsite learning.
