The Evolution of Staff Wellbeing β Are you keeping up with change?
What we got right about staff wellbeing, and what we've learned since.
The evolution of staff wellbeing isn't about abandoning what we know. It's about expanding how we think.
Over the past decade, I've watched the conversation about staff wellbeing in schools evolve.
When I first started working in this space, much of our focus was on helping individual teachers develop the skills to look after themselves.
We talked about gratitude, resilience, mindset, strengths, positive emotions and self-care. Much of this came from positive psychology, the science of what helps people function well, build positive relationships and experience greater wellbeing.
And you know what? None of that was wrong. It was just incomplete.
Those strategies still matter. Understanding our emotions, managing our mindset, recognising our strengths and developing resilience are valuable skills, particularly in a profession as demanding as teaching. But over time, the research has helped us see a bigger picture.
We've come to understand that wellbeing isn't simply something we create within ourselves. It's also shaped by the environments in which we live and work.
Research from organisational psychology, including the Job Demands–Resources model (Bakker & Demerouti, 2007), highlights how our experience of work is influenced by the relationship between the demands placed upon us and the resources available to meet them.
Think about teaching today.
Increasing administrative requirements. Complex student needs. Constant change. Competing priorities. Emotional demands.
We can't simply ask people to become more resilient in response to all of this. We also need to look at the conditions in which they're working. For example;
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Are expectations clear?
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Do people feel supported?
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Do they have opportunities to influence decisions?
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Are workplace relationships positive?
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Are unnecessary demands being streamlined?
This is where the conversation has evolved from personal wellbeing strategies towards a more complete understanding of professional wellbeing.
It's not about choosing between looking after ourselves and improving our workplaces - We need both.
It means pro-actively building people's psychological capacity to navigate challenges, while also creating workplace conditions that make it possible for them to do their jobs well.
And importantly, this means recognising that wellbeing is a shared responsibility.
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Individuals influence their own wellbeing.
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Colleagues influence each other's experiences.
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Leaders and systems influence the conditions in which people work.
The encouraging part is that we don't have to start again.
We can build on what we've learned. We can continue teaching emotional awareness, resilience and self-care, while also having more meaningful conversations about workload, clarity, autonomy, relationships and support.
The future of staff wellbeing isn't about doing more wellbeing. It's about understanding wellbeing differently through a professional lens.
This means there are some exciting times ahead. There is hope, change is possible, and I'm excited about what we can achieve together.
So, as we hit the ground running for another term, let’s remember to take stock of what is working well and create a clear vision of what working together effectively looks like, in the future.
Wishing you all a fabulous week.
Research: Bakker, A. B., & Demerouti, E. (2007). The Job Demands–Resources model: State of the art. Read the research.
