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Coordinate support for staff wellbeing

Measuring Impact and Success

Here are some suggestions for measuring impact:

  • Organise a ‘before and after’ survey, allowing at least a term for the strategies to build a school culture affect staff wellbeing. Think about the extent to which your staff trust the school leadership, as this will determine whether the survey responses should be anonymised. The more open the dialogue between staff and the acceptance of criticism, the less need there is for anonymity. Ensuring anonymity, either via the format of the survey or by outsourcing it to a third party, gives staff confidence that they can be honest in their responses.
  • Host a ‘before and after’ discussion with staff via a focus group. Similarly, members of focus groups must be able to discuss their views in confidence with the focus group leader. The group leader shouldn’t be a member of leadership, both to encourage openness and also to avoid a perception that staff are being steered towards a particular opinion. The focus group report should be anonymised, covering key points which were agreed upon by the majority of the participants.
  • Arrange a ‘before and after’ formal discussion with middle leaders, using a scheduled meeting.
  • Organise a review by the link governor for staff wellbeing, selecting staff at random.

Remember in each case to describe the impact of your actions (that is, what difference they made) and not just what you did.

Overview

 

This benchmark is about ensuring support mechanisms are in place to support staff wellbeing should problems arise. This starts at the very top with leadership and making sure staff wellbeing has a strong voice in the leadership team, via the senior mental health lead and the wellbeing governor. It is about ensuring information and signposts are available when staff do need help and making sure the processes for getting help are clear and easily understood. It is critical to ensure that staff have lots of opportunities to talk and share concerns about their wellbeing, and if needed, receive counselling to help them cope.

Intentions

Intentions are actions you intend to take in order to improve your provision in this benchmark. Choose three intentions to focus on.

Most schools will already have a designated mental health lead in place (this is a requirement by 2025). But the development of a whole-school culture of staff wellbeing and mental health requires leadership. This is best achieved by appointing a member of staff to the post of senior mental health lead (SMHL). The role of SMHL includes supporting the mental health of children but this intention focuses on the role as it relates to staff mental health.

As the post requires an understanding of whole-school coordination and change, the DfE is currently providing a £1,200 grant for free training to every school in England. Where the school accesses training that is below £1,200, the school can spend the remainder on wellbeing and mental health.

Your school should appoint a member of staff to the post of senior mental health lead (SMHL) and as soon as possible after the appointment is made, access the DfE funding to provide the postholder with training.

The role of the SMHL includes:

  • steering whole-school change to develop a culture of staff wellbeing and mental health
  • considering working practices that might lead to staff mental ill-health
  • working closely in collaboration with staff, for example, leading a staff wellbeing group
  • writing or rewriting the school’s staff mental health policy in conjunction with writing or rewriting the pupil mental health policy
  • working alongside the pastoral/year/phase teams to incorporate mental health into strategies and processes of pupil pastoral care.

Further resources

  • Choose a provider of the SMHL training from the DfE approved provider list. You will also find links on how to apply for funding for the training.

As with the role of SMHL, the role of wellbeing governor has not had a long history in schools. There is, however, an increasing awareness of the significance of having someone on the governing body who can provide a mental health link between the staff and the school community.

It is also important that, through the role of wellbeing governor, the SMHL feels supported and their role is understood by those ultimately responsible for endorsing decisions made by the school leadership. An understanding of the work of the wellbeing governor is critical if it is not to be a nominal role, without real purpose or impact.

The link wellbeing governor could carry out the following duties (they are not exhaustive):

  • Work with the SMHL to review the curriculum to develop content on mental health.
  • Find out what other schools are doing to support staff mental health. If the school belongs to a multi-academy trust (MAT), this might include liaising with other link wellbeing governors of individual schools to aim for a coordinated approach across all schools in the MAT.
  • Ensure that staff mental health is a standing item on the agendas of all governing body meetings.
  • Recommend external bodies with whom the school might liaise or gain support.
  • Visit the school and talk with staff to find out how support for their mental health is being implemented.
  • Compile and deliver a staff/pupil mental health survey and report to the school on their conclusions.

Further resources

  • The organisation Governors for Schools has a focus on wellbeing governors which provides suggestions for how the role can be practised.

The appointment of an SMHL will bring the topic of mental health out into the open and as time passes, the stigma of talking about mental health will reduce. Acknowledging that you are mentally unwell should be received in school in the same way as someone saying they are physically ill. However, it is not always the case that clear procedures are in place to support the member of staff who is suffering from mental ill-health. This can lead to staff feeling that they have failed or that they are ‘not up to the job’. Sadly, this message can be conveyed to the member of staff, further increasing their mental ill-health.

A member of staff who is mentally unwell should remain at home. They should either self-certify and then book an appointment with their GP or book an appointment with their GP straight away if they feel that they need medical help and/or their absence could potentially be lengthy.

The school should not contact the person who is mentally unwell, apart from to wish them well or send a card, flowers or get-well gift. They should not be asked to complete any school-related tasks such as marking, writing reports, entering data or planning cover lessons. Asking them to carry out work will add to their mental ill-health.

Teachers invariably feel guilty when they are absent from school, as more responsibility and additional work falls on their colleagues. Increasing this guilt by asking them to work while ill is dangerous. Guilt is a large component of depression. They need reassurance that they have the school’s support and the school’s protection to prevent them from working.

In the case of a long-term absence, the school should follow its human resources (HR) procedures to consult occupational health (OH). It should be made clear to the ill member of staff that the purpose of an OH meeting is so that a plan can be put in place for continuing medical support and if appropriate, a return to work. It is not to formally assess their capacity to return to work. This decision should be taken in conjunction with their GP.

If the GP has declared that the member of staff is fit to return to work, discussion with OH might include a gradual return. A gradual or phased return on a reduced timetable but on full pay is often more successful than an ‘in at the deep end’ return to full teaching duties. Teachers with appropriate years of service are entitled to six months full pay when signed off by their GP and six months half pay. The school should send details of the member of staff’s entitlement if it becomes clear that the absence is likely to be lengthy. The SMHL and line manager should make it clear that they are available to talk if the returning member of staff needs support as they increase their duties.

Many teachers/leaders have returned to full-time teaching and responsibilities with the support of their school. Suffering from mental ill-health should not be seen as an indicator that the member of staff is unable to cope.

Top tip

  • Use the term ‘mental ill-health’ rather than ‘mental illness’. The latter has been used to indicate a formal diagnosis of a mental health condition, such as depression and anxiety. While a formal diagnosis might be made by a doctor, the use of the term ‘mental ill-health’ includes stress conditions and burnout, which may or may not be followed by a diagnosis.

Further resources

Staff can need support with their mental health at any time, so knowing that help is available and where to find it can make a big difference. Having clear signposting information within your school will provide reassurance to staff that support is available should they need it.

It might help to think of support services at three different levels:

  1. what’s available in school for everyone
  2. what’s available in school for those who need more support
  3. what’s available outside of the school (that is, local or national services).

Remember, there is any number of reasons why staff might be suffering with their mental health (stress, addiction, relationship difficulties, discrimination, financial problems) so try to cater for all types of support.

It is important that signposts for support should be visible to all staff and easy for them to access, including online for when they are needed ‘out of hours’. Ways of communicating to staff what support is available to them include:

  • Display a staff wellbeing noticeboard or screen in staff areas, containing both preventative ideas and support resources.
  • Circulate staff wellbeing newsletters or leaflets, offering a directory of the support services and benefits that staff are entitled to (for example, private medical insurance, free gym memberships, employee assistance programmes). You can make your own leaflets or simply use those from an established organisation like the Anna Freud Society or download this Education Support poster.
  • ‘Help’ pages on staff intranet pages or planners.
  • Staff induction and training sessions.

Top tip

  • Signposting support services is a work in progress: make sure you review materials periodically to keep them up to date.

Further resources

A sound initiative to help staff cope with difficult situations in their work and home life is the establishment of free counselling and debriefing services. These can offer staff outlets for sharing difficult situations, helping them to reflect on their practice and explore the impact of stressful situations on their own wellbeing.

Some schools might be able to budget for an employee assistance programme. These offer confidential 24/7 telephone services, supporting a wide range of issues such as stress, critical incidents, anxiety, relationship and family problems. For others, free helplines may be a better option – such as the one provided by Education Support (08000 562 561) where teachers can talk to a qualified counsellor and get immediate, confidential emotional support.

Top tip

Further resources

It’s important that your staff have the opportunity to talk about any of their problems, openly and safely. A good way to start these conversations is to provide regular ‘wellbeing check-ins’, which could take any number of formats:

  • Have a ‘wellbeing check-in’ at the start of each meeting. Even just asking the question ‘how are you?’ can open up some interesting responses.
  • Organise a termly ‘time for talk’ – an informal chat about mental health and wellbeing issues.

A more dedicated way for staff to check in could be through confidential drop-in sessions during lunchtimes or after school, or staff debriefings/clinical supervisions. After a challenging day or incident, these offer staff the opportunity to talk about any issues, how they did things and how they have been impacted. Supervisors for these sessions might need to be sought outside the school unless there is someone like a school counsellor who is trained to be objective and offer confidential support.

Holding ‘wellbeing check-ins’ will allow leaders to get a better sense of their staff’s wellbeing – both individually and as a group – so that compassionate and informed plans can be developed for moving forward together. By slowing down, asking questions and sometimes just listening, staff will feel more supported and heard. 

 

 

Reflection

Further resources

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