Faculty & Staff

What individual factors might support teacher resilience?

The teachers who had the highest levels of wellbeing and job satisfaction and the lowest levels of burnout had relatively high levels of self-care, self-esteem, emotional intelligence and optimism. This suggests that teachers need to make self-care a priority, for example, by making sure that they get enough sleep, eat healthily and take regular exercise. Although you will probably have found from your placement experiences that this is easier said than done, our results show that this is really worth investing in. You might feel that you are doing the right thing by working long hours to ensure that your lessons are as good as they possibly can be, but as the old adage goes, you cannot pour from an empty cup!

Self-esteem was also found to be important, but how do we make sure that our self-esteem remains healthy? First of all, I think it is important to recognise some of the everyday threats to self-esteem we might encounter so that we are prepared for them and can understand the reasons why we feel deflated from time to time. In Denis Lawrence’s Teaching with Confidence2, he identifies some common threats to teachers’ self-esteem including difficult parents, school inspections, lack of positive feedback and coping with challenging behaviour. While these threats cannot easily be avoided, just understanding how such factors might be affecting our mood and recognizing that feelings are transient, is sometimes half the battle. We can also create little events throughout our working week designed to lift our self-esteem, e.g. thinking of three things that have gone well on the way home from work every week, phoning a parent every Friday to tell them something positive about their child. This second activity, found in Jim’s Smith’s The Lazy Teacher’s Handbook3 is likely to make the parent and their child feel good, while also making you feel good about the difference that you are making to children’s lives. The mental health charity Mind also make some useful suggestions for boosting your self-esteem here.

Emotional intelligence was found to be a strong predictor of how happy and well teachers feel, but what does it mean and how can we become more ‘emotionally intelligent’? There are lots of different definitions out there for emotional intelligence but the basic idea is that to be emotionally intelligent you need to be aware of your emotions (and others’), be able to express your emotions effectively and also be able to control them where necessary. Emotional intelligence also includes being able to form strong empathetic relationships with people. I am sure you are already aware that relationships are essential to successful teaching – they have also been found to be absolutely central to the development of resilience. If you invest in your relationships with your students and colleagues, you are much more likely to thrive in the profession.

Try to recognize positives

• Celebrate your successes. No matter how small they may seem, take time to praise yourself. For example, this could be getting outside for a walk or doing some tidying. 

• Accept compliments. You could save them up to look over when you're feeling low or doubting yourself.

• Ask people what they like about you, if you feel comfortable. They may recognize things that you don't think about yourself.

• Write a list of things you like about yourself. For example, this could be a skill that you've learnt, or something you do to help other people. 

Be kind to yourself

• Get to know yourself. For example, what makes you happy and what you value in life. You might find it helpful to write this in a journal.

• Try to challenge unkind thoughts about yourself. You might automatically put yourself down. If you find yourself doing this, it can help to ask: "Would I talk to a friend in this way?"

• Say positive things to yourself. Some people like to do this in front of a mirror. It can feel strange at first, but you may feel more comfortable the more you do it.

• Practise saying no. Being assertive can be difficult if you're not used to it. But agreeing to too many things to please others can be draining. It could help to pause, take a breath and think about how you feel before agreeing to do something you don't want to.

• Try to avoid comparing yourself to others. For example, it might help to limit how much time you spend on social media or online communities. What other people often choose to share about their lives isn't always the full picture.

• Do something nice for yourself. For example, making your favorite meal or playing a game you enjoy.

Look after yourself

• Try to get enough sleep. Getting too little or too much sleep can have a negative impact on how you feel. See our pages on coping with sleep problems for more information.

• Think about your diet. Eating regularly and keeping your blood sugar stable can make a difference to your mood and energy levels. See our pages on food and mood for more information.

• Try to do some physical activity. Being active can help your mental wellbeing. This may include helping to improve your self-esteem. See our pages on physical activity for more information.

• Spend time outside. Being in green space can often help how you feel. See our pages on nature and mental health for more information.

• Practise mindfulness and meditation. For example, you could try Headspace's meditation course for self-esteem. 

• Try to avoid recreational drugs and alcohol. You might want to use recreational drugs or alcohol to cope with difficult feelings about yourself. But in the long run they can make you feel worse and can prevent you from dealing with underlying problems. See our pages on recreational drugs and alcohol for more information.

• Sign up to a self-help programm. For example, you could try our supported self-help programme if you are in Wales. Or you could use the Reading Well books scheme to find books to help with your self-esteem.