How to get your SLT on board with staff wellbeing

‘Pupils must come first…’

Senior leadership teams (SLTs) often assume that this is a self-evident truth. Caring for children is the reason teachers do what they do: it’s why they went into teaching in the first place. But is it true? And is it sufficient to keep them teaching?

According to a BBC report in 2020, 25 per cent of primary headteachers and 37 per cent of secondary headteachers who started their jobs in 2015 had left by 2020.

A survey by teachers’ charity Education Support in 2021 found that 63 per cent of SLTs and 53 per cent of teachers had considered leaving in the previous two years. Eighty per cent of SLTs and 70 per cent of teachers cited the reason as work overload.

It’s clear the education system is in crisis. And not just in the UK – in the USA and Australia too. It is time to rethink the role of SLT and to put the mental health of staff on the same footing as pupils.

What is wellbeing?

‘Employee wellbeing is a key factor determining an organisation's long-term success and effectiveness. Employee wellbeing relates to all aspects of working life, including the environment employees work in, the climate in the workplace and how a workforce feels about their day-to-day work.’
From Employee Wellbeing: A Beginners Guide, Oak Engage

For ‘organisation’, you can also read ‘school’.

What wellbeing is not…

Wellbeing is not about the SLTs making school staff wholly responsible for their self-care. It is not about organising ‘nice to have’ but unconnected gestures, such as cakes on Friday or organising a staff exercise class during a short lunch hour. These things can obviously help promote an atmosphere of wellbeing, but much more needs to be done. Nor is it the role of SLTs to absorb staff mental ill-health, as ‘buffer’ leadership can also cause high levels of stress and a stressed SLT leads to stressed staff.

15 things you can do as an SLT

1. State your commitment to putting staff first. Look after the people who look after the children.
2. Create a school wellbeing and mental health community. Move from hierarchical to collaborative roles: instead of doing to, do with.
3. Don’t assume you know what the issues are. Find out through an anonymous survey. Send an anonymised report of the results to all staff. This reassures them that you are being open and transparent.
4. Devolve leadership. Ask for volunteers to sit on a staff wellbeing and mental health working group. Open it to all staff except SLT. The working group’s purpose is to recommend actions. Decision-making is shifted from leadership to staff. Ensure the group meets during a directed time slot. For instance, instead of attending a staff meeting.
5. Say if you’re not okay. Be authentic. Being strong while struggling inside is exhausting. It also doesn’t work. Instead, try saying ‘I have had one of those days. I’m feeling stressed right now. If I am impatient during the lesson, my apologies. You can help by…’
6. Have that conversation. Show you care. ‘Hi Bill. Are you okay?’ ‘Yes, thanks.’ A familiar social exchange. But what does it mean? Compare this: ‘Hi Bill. I’ve noticed you’ve been looking exhausted lately. We could have a chat at 3.45pm in my office. Would that be helpful?’
7. Create a safe space. The staff toilet doesn’t cut it as a safe space if staff are upset or struggling. No spare rooms? Move SLT out of their offices on a rota basis.
8. 8Get pupils working alongside staff. Train pupils to work alongside staff to offer mental health first aid to their peers. Excellent leadership development for pupils and additional support for staff equals a win-win.
9. Communicate your commitment to parents. Explain why the school is improving staff wellbeing and mental health. Make it clear that staff who are looked after teach more effectively and can take better care of the children.
10. Talk. Talk. Talk. Keep the conversation about mental health going, for both staff and pupils. Talking about mental ill-health won’t make it worse. Not talking about mental ill-health can.
11. Appoint a specific governor. Develop the role of a wellbeing and mental health governor who links the governing board with staff.
12. Train a senior mental health lead. The DfE fully funds one place for every state school until 2025. Develop leadership for staff beyond SLT. Could a member of the support staff lead on mental health?
13. Assess progress. Once you’ve found out what the issues are with your staff (see point 3) run the survey again a year later. What has improved? What do you still need to improve?
14. What next? Create a detailed action plan for year 2; key milestones for year 3; a broad overview for year 4, integrating staff wellbeing and mental health with your school development plan.
15. Sign up for the Staff Wellbeing Award. Think of this as a means to an end, not just a trophy. You choose the criteria that your school needs to develop in order to drive real change and impact.

And finally...

Consider this quote from my interview with Jeremy Hannay:

‘There is no pupil wellbeing, there’s no pupil achievement, there’s no pupil collaboration; there’s no pupil collective responsibility, there’s no pupil anything until the adults experience it first… if we’re not putting our adults into a soil that is nutrient-rich – that will allow them to flourish into whomever they want to be as an educator, they have no chance of doing that effectively and sustainably in a classroom of children… we need to make sure as leaders that we take care of the people who take care of our pupils…’

About the author

Steve Waters is a wellbeing and mental health consultant and founder/CEO of the Teach Well Toolkit. He is also the author the Staff Wellbeing Award and ‘Cultures of Staff Wellbeing and Mental Health in Schools’ (2021).

Recommended reading

• Cowley, A. (2019) The Wellbeing Toolkit. Bloomsbury.
• Erasmus, C. (2019) The Mental Health and Wellbeing Handbook for Schools. Jessica Kingsley.
• Howard, K. (2020) Stop Talking about Wellbeing: A pragmatic approach to teacher workload. John Catt.
• Jennings, Patricia. A. (2021) Teacher Burnout Turnaround: Strategies for empowered educators. New York Norton.
• Leiter, M.P. & Maslach, C. (2005) Banishing Burnout: Six strategies for improving your relationship with work. Jossey-Bass.
• Maslach, C. & Leiter, M.P. (1997) The Truth about Burnout: How organizations cause personal stress and what to do about it. Jossey-Bass.
• Tomsett, J. & Uttley, J. (2020) Putting staff first: A blueprint for revitalising our schools. John Catt