Stop Talking About Wellbeing

Book excerpt: Stop talking about wellbeing, and start taking action to own your workload. As the teacher retention crisis reaches breaking point, and mental health for teachers features regularly in the press, wellbeing has been pushed to the top of the national agenda in a bid for schools to consider how to look after their staff. However, wellbeing is becoming a tokenistic feature within the education sector, as staff participate in compulsory wellbeing-linked activities that have very little impact on their workload or ability to do what they came into the profession to achieve: inspiring young people. In a critical consideration of a range of educational research, Kat explores the key factors that form a teacher's role within school, outlining a range of ways that teachers can take ownership of their workload, and wellbeing through a sense of true job fulfilment. Interviewing expert teachers in their field and taking a Kat provides practical strategies for teachers at any point of their career to take away and implement immediately, in a bid to improve the educational landscape for teachers everywhere.