Teacher Wellbeing
Nyree Wilson - Learning Specialist
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"Teachers can only give as much energy to their work as they give to themselves" - Learn how to set priorities, know what your roles and responsibilities are, and make time for self-care.
"Teachers can only give as much energy to their work as they give to themselves" - Learn how to set priorities, know what your roles and responsibilities are, and make time for self-care.
Walking into a classroom energised, positive and rested allows you to be more present and to respond effectively to the challenges that can surface in the course of a day.
Teaching involves emotional labour, high levels of organisation and personal management, and a plethora of other tasks taken on as part of our roles and responsibilities.
Priorities
Priorities
Knowing what the priorities are, and being able to set priorities for yourself is a powerful strategy for ensuring that you are not expending unnecessary energy.
Teachers often find themselves in a whirlpool of seemingly menial tasks - empower yourself to set priorities around the things that have an evidenced positive impact on student learning.
Also empower yourself to clarify and discuss key priorities with leadership, the teams you work with, and even your students!
Ask yourself:
How is what I'm doing now having a positive impact on student learning?
With the time I have, what must I do, what should I do next, and what could I do if I have a bit more time?
Am I taking responsibility for the right things within the definition of my role?
Roles
Roles
Educators are often passionate and dedicated learners as well as teachers. They care about the students they support and often give up a great deal of personal time to improve outcomes for these young people.
However, it is work, and we have a right to balance the roles we take on in schools with the roles we carry out in our personal lives.
Yes, there are times when our roles as educators will demand greater focus and attention. And, we often take on additional roles and associated responsibilities.
Because of this, it is important that we maintain a balanced focus on our personal and professional roles.
Clearly define the responsibilities associated with your personal and professional roles. Use this knowledge to help manage the amount of time you are giving to the roles you take on.
Responsibilities
Responsibilities
As educators, there are professional responsibilities that we must uphold. Be familiar with what these are and avoid piling up your plate with responsibilities beyond your role.
How schools define the responsibilities of their staff can differ. Schools should have a consultative process in place to develop a local agreement and workforce plan that defines these responsibilities. Education unions are an important source of information to clarify the formal responsibilities associated with our profession.
Victorian Institute of Teaching
Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership - Professional Standards
Australian Education Union - Federal - provides links to state branches
Be a learner
Know your impact
Forgive yourself and others
Phone a friend
Find the fun
A collection of mantras and phrases shared by educators that help them get through the tricky patches.
A collection of mantras and phrases shared by educators that help them get through the tricky patches.
Hold it lightly
Explore other ways of working
Seek out time saving strategies
We are in this together
What went well today?
Educators need to empower themselves to take time to nurture their wellbeing.
Sometimes, we also need to explore ways of caring for ourselves.
Below are some starting points for you to explore. We are not all into meditation, or pumping iron at the gym, the trick is to find what works for you,
Well-being resources for teachers
Well-being resources for teachers
Explore a range of strategies that take our current circumstances into account.
Click on the image, or follow this link: https://schools.au.reachout.com/teacher-wellbeing
Information and self-help for common mental health problems - e-couch is an online, self-directed training program which provides interactive self-help and evidence-based information to help users to understand and manage symptoms associated with common mental issues.
Information and self-help for common mental health problems - e-couch is an online, self-directed training program which provides interactive self-help and evidence-based information to help users to understand and manage symptoms associated with common mental issues.
The program is like an interactive self-help book, which you can log back in to at any time to learn more skills or to add to your workbooks.
e-couch offers five programs: Depression, Anxiety & Worry, Social Anxiety, Divorce & Separation and Loss & Bereavement. Each program includes a comprehensive information module, as well as self-help modules with interactive exercises and workbooks which teach evidence-based strategies.
Use this Vic Health endorsed search engine to find walking trails near you and get away from the work!
Benefits of Meditation
Benefits of Meditation
Here is a link to the Smiling Mind You Tube channel, they have some great guided meditation videos and explainers, in Australian accents!
Meditation is not for everyone, but it's really worth a try!
A guided meditation designed for teachers!
A guided meditation designed for teachers!
This meditation is designed to help you understand your reaction to stress, also known as the ‘fight or flight’ response. It works by noticing where you hold stress in your body and connecting to your breath in order to switch from ‘fight or flight’ mode into calm, alert, rest mode. This was made with teachers in mind, to help them become less reactive in moments of stress.
This is a collaboration between Smiling Mind and ABC.
Breathing exercise
Breathing exercise
Basic breathing exercises that encourage breath control can help release stress. Follow along with this video to practice this strategy.
Identifying Stress & Taking Actions to Achieve a Better Mood (Self Care) (1) (1).pptxUnderstand stress & learn how you can manage it.
Understand stress & learn how you can manage it.
While the opening slide refers to the student experience, the information in this resource is important for everyone. Learn some tips about dealing with stress and find what strategies to manage stress will work best for you.
Growth Method.pptxSelf-care strategy for regulating feelings
Self-care strategy for regulating feelings
A strategy for settling ourselves and supporting others to settle and regulate feelings of being overwhelmed or ‘triggered’.
Click on the image to the left to explore this resource.
Teacher Stress and How to Manage it.pptxTeacher stress and how to manage it
Teacher stress and how to manage it
Understand the causes of teacher stress, probably no surprises here! But, also identify 5 key pillars of how we can help manage it.
Click on the image to the left to explore this resource.
Employee Health, Safety and Wellbeing Services
Employee Health, Safety and Wellbeing Services
The Employee Assistance Program (EAP) is a free, short-term, and strictly confidential counselling service that helps our employees be at their best. These sessions can be used to develop tailored strategies to help enhance wellbeing – both in and outside of work. The EAP is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week for up to four sessions for the Department's employees (and school council employees such as casual relief teachers). Immediate family members of Department employees can also now access EAP.
Find Time for Fun Stuff Away from Work
Find Time for Fun Stuff Away from Work
Site developed and maintained by Nyree Wilson 2021
What this means... The Creative Commons license for this work (Attribution-NonCommercialNoDerivs CC BY-NC-ND) means you can share these sites and associated resources with others as long as you credit me to help keep me connected with my work.
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