Previous research by academics from City University London found that the Christmas break is of vital important to teachers in terms of restoring their “emotional and psychological health”.
The results showed that teachers who continued worrying about work during the Christmas break were less likely to recover fully from the demands of the teaching term.
However, those who satisfied three based psychological needs during the Christmas break felt the positive effects not just during the holiday, but also in the first few weeks of the spring term.
The three “basic psychological needs” were a sense of competence, autonomy and feeling close and connected to other people.
Dr Paul Flaxman, senior lecturer in organisational psychology at City University London, said: “Our work shows that breaks for teachers, especially at times like half-term, are incredibly important for their psychological health.
Ensuring that teachers have regular opportunities to recover from the considerable demands of the job will help to prevent burn-out. In my opinion, it is vital that these regular breaks in the school calendar are conserved.”
Now, as part of a second phase of the study, the researchers are seeking teachers to give a little of their time each week (around 10 minutes) to complete confidential surveys over an eight-week period before and after the coming half-term holiday.
The research is being carried out in collaboration with the Education Support Partnership and the charity’s CEO Julian Stanley writes more about the work in SecEd this week (see article at: http://www.sec-ed.co.uk/best-practice/make-the-most-of-your-half-term).
Participants will need to register by mid-May to share their own experiences. The research is confidential and all participants will receive feedback on the results, along with some recommendations for improving their own wellbeing and personal resilience.
To get involved in the research project, contact Dr Flaxman via email on teachers.wellbeing@city.ac.uk. For more information, visit www.city.ac.uk/assessing-teachers-well-being