Better wellbeing support for educators

Tips on improving retention, tackling burnout and more, with Lynn How.

If there’s one thing we can always count on in the UK education sector, it’s the absolute passion and dedication of our teachers. Despite the very real challenges they face, many continue to go above and beyond in supporting their students.

This article is a tribute to those professionals who, despite everything, still pour their energy and commitment into the job – sometimes to the detriment of their wellbeing. We’ll look at some of the key issues impacting education staff and practical strategies for how schools can work towards overcoming them.

Issue 1: Recruitment and retention

The recruitment and retention crisis is well documented. Many schools are struggling to fill vacancies, leading to increased workloads for the staff that remain. The government has recognised the issue, but solutions remain elusive. In the meantime, teachers are left to pick up the slack with no further support. Class sizes are increasing, paperwork is multiplying and there are fewer colleagues to share the load. Yet, somehow, teachers continue to deliver, showing up every day for their students. They’re adapting lesson plans, supporting students with additional needs and offering pastoral care, all while dealing with their own growing workloads.

3 practical strategies for improving recruitment and retention:

Despite the difficulties, there are some actions schools can take to improve things:

1. Flexible working options: Offer part-time roles, job shares or adjusted hours where possible. This will attract a wider pool of applicants and help retain experienced staff who might otherwise leave the profession entirely.
2. Meaningful induction and mentoring: Pair new staff with skilled mentors who have protected time to support them.
3. Invest in professional development: Provide clear CPD pathways that staff actually want! Knowing they can grow and be supported long-term (even if they eventually leave for promotion) increases both commitment and job satisfaction.

Issue 2: Burnout

This relentless pace is leading many to the brink of burnout. Burnout in education is not a new concept, but it’s becoming increasingly prevalent as teachers struggle to keep up with the demands of the profession. It’s no secret that stress levels are sky-high, with teachers often feeling like they’re constantly firefighting rather than delivering the quality of education they know they’re capable of. In some settings, there are unspoken expectations that teachers should just “get on with it.” After all, they’re in it for the students, right? But this expectation often leads to teachers working longer hours, giving up their evenings and weekends, and sacrificing their own wellbeing, all because they care so much about the kids in their classrooms.

We encourage staff to speak out about personal mental health challenges on the one hand but, on the other, sometimes prefer that they don’t mention it. Knowing who to trust with your personal information is also an issue in some settings. Many teachers feel unable to say “no”, even when they know they’re being stretched too thin. There’s a sense that if they don’t pick up the extra work, no one else will, and the students will be the ones to suffer. In these instances, individuals need to look a bit more closely at their personal boundaries as no one else is going to set them at appropriate levels for you.

3 practical ways to protect against burnout and boundary-blurring:

Teachers need better support from both their leadership teams and the wider system. This includes more manageable workloads, more time for planning and marking, and realistic expectations around work-life balance. Schools should also be looking at ways to retain their staff, whether that’s through better pay, improved working conditions or greater opportunities for professional development.

Here are three ways schools can support teachers’ work-life balance:

1. Introduce opt-out wellbeing days: Allow staff one or two pre-agreed, ‘no-questions-asked’ days off per year for their mental health. This should be normalised and protected in policy.
2. Training on assertiveness and boundaries: Offer CPD on how to say “no” professionally, how to prioritise without guilt and how to recognise early signs of burnout.
3. Rebalance the “go-to person” culture: Audit who always picks up the extra work (usually the same few people) and spread responsibilities more fairly. Do this formally, not just verbally.

Positive steps forward

We need to value teachers’ wellbeing as highly as we value outcomes for students. After all, if we don’t support the people at the frontline, our students will not be well supported by staff.

I’ve seen a few schools take proactive measures to support their staff – and it’s refreshing. For example, one school introduced PPA on Friday afternoon for all, to give teachers time to focus on planning, marking or just decompressing, as well as the opportunity for a quick getaway if they had a fun weekend planned. As long as the work was done, they could use that time as they wished to. Another school implemented a flexible working policy, allowing staff to adjust their hours slightly if they need to balance work with personal commitments such as picking up their children from school on one day a week. It may seem small, but these kinds of actions can make a big difference to a teacher’s wellbeing.

On a more practical level, some schools are ensuring every teacher has access to a teaching assistant for at least part of the week, which really helps lighten the load when managing large classes. Others are properly investing in staff training focused on mental health and resilience, recognising that supporting our students’ wellbeing starts with looking after our teachers and not looking at wellbeing as a box-ticking exercise.

These examples show that, while the broader system may feel immovable, individual schools can still make meaningful changes.

Conclusion

Fast forward five or ten years and I’m not sure where we’ll be. I feel it’s still going to get worse before it improves and that at some point there will be some sort of implosion. There are not enough sticking plasters in the world to deal with these huge core issues. However, I want to say thank you to the teachers and school staff who show up every day, even when they’re running on empty.

 The education sector needs to recognise that, while passion and dedication are wonderful qualities, they cannot be the only things holding up the education system.

Thank you to the ones who stay late to mark that one last set of books or who spend their own money on classroom supplies because the budget won’t stretch.

Thank you to those who, despite the recruitment crisis, the heavy workloads and the stress, still find time to smile at their students, to listen and to care.

Keep doing what you’re doing; but also set those healthier boundaries and become at least 20% less agreeable.