The episode has been inspired by the recent publication of Education Support UK’s Teacher Wellbeing Index 2024, which has once again painted a worrying picture about the wellbeing of those who give so much to educate our children and young people in schools.
As such, we hear from Education Support about the findings of this year’s Index research findings and speak to our guests about the wellbeing challenges that teaching staff face.
Our expert panel offers practical ideas, discussing what schools can do to develop healthy working cultures, including promoting good working practices, building positive working relationships, and preventing staff burn-out.
We discuss preventative action including coaching/mentoring, wellbeing audits, and more.
We also consider how teachers can maintain a healthy work/life balance and discuss what individuals can do, including setting boundaries, saying 'no' effectively, safeguarding personal time, and good habits at home.
We touch upon diversity and inclusion too, including the wellbeing challenges faced by staff from minority backgrounds and how schools can ensure they are supporting all colleagues.
This episode was hosted by SecEd’s editor Pete Henshaw. His guests were:
- Helen Webb is an accredited executive coach based in Leicester. She supports and develops school leaders so they can avoid burn-out, drive school improvement and get the best out of their team and themselves. Helen has more than 20 years’ experience in education as a science teacher, lead practitioner, PGCE and ECT mentor, ECF Lead and ECT induction tutor. She is a regular contributor to SecEd – find her previous articles via www.sec-ed.co.uk/authors/helen-webb
- Sanum J Khan is assistant headteacher for personal development at Sir Henry Floyd Grammar School in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire. She is also , a diversity/equity/inclusion lead and a teacher of RE and PSHE. Find Sanum’s previous articles for SecEd via www.sec-ed.co.uk/authors/sanum-j-khan
- Gemma Scotcher is director of communications and public affairs at Education Support UK, a UK charity dedicated to supporting the mental health of everyone working in education. Education Support offers help or advice on any issue. Contact the free 24-hour helpline on 08000 562 561 or www.educationsupport.org.uk
To hear other SecEd podcasts, or to subscribe for free to new editions, search for 'The SecEd Podcast' in your podcast streaming application of choice. Or visit www.sec-ed.co.uk/podcasts. For details about The SecEd Podcast, or to suggest future topics, email editor Pete Henshaw at editor@sec-ed.co.uk